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New Year’s Message of HOPE
2021
“If God doesn’t guard the City, the night watchman might as well (take a) nap.”
Psalm 127: 1b MSG
We awakened on Christmas morning at our residence in Franklin, Tennessee, to a cloudless sky, except for a plumb of smoke rising into the atmosphere. A terrorist had set off an explosion in downtown Nashville next to the AT&T switching station – the hub of telephone and Wi-Fi communications for Central Tennessee, Kentucky, Northern Alabama, and parts of Georgia. Flights in and out of the Nashville Airport were halted, hospital data systems were inaccessible, networks for long distance calls were reported “down.” For the eternal optimist who looks for a bright spot in tragedy, in the midst of devastation that impacted more than forty-one structures within four blocks of North Second Avenue, there was no immediate report of loss of life.
Prior to Christmas morning, there had been no “National Terrorist Alerts” of yellow or orange or red. Nevertheless, an old model recreational vehicle containing explosives had been strategically parked, then detonated in a way that disrupted life for millions in the Mid-State area!
“If God doesn’t guard the City, the night watchman might as well take a nap!”
For all who ask, “Why on Christmas morn?”
My answer would be that at no other time is humankind more painfully aware of our inability to “save ourselves” than during the Season when we pause to recognize, to celebrate, to embrace the coming of the Lord’s Christ – Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
In the days ahead, in a New Year whose mysteries will unfold, whose challenges will present themselves, we must be vigilant, we must be faithful (“for without faith it is impossible to please Him,” Hebrews 11: 6), we must stand, and having done all to stand, stand on. (Ephesians 6: 13) Finally, we must approach the uncertainty of the days ahead with the assurance that “the weapons of this warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” (II Corinthians 10: 4)
Do your part, then trust the Lord to guard your life, your household, the City, the Nation, the World!
Clement W. Fugh
Bishop
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