Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgments are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
-Psalm 36:5-10 (NRSV)
The steadfast love of God surrounds all of us, humans and animals alike. More than a passing feeling, this is a love marked by action — providing refuge, sustenance, abundance, and even delight. This the Psalmist makes clear in words that will be heard in many of our congregations this weekend.
That same steadfast love animates this interconnected web of relationship that we call Bega Kwa Bega. It animates our prayer life, drives us to board airplanes, and inspires us to join hands and hearts in acts of service. In it, we too find refuge, sustenance, abundance, and — yes — even delight. All thanks be to God.
Mindful of the 95 travelers we'll receive in Iringa this month, the 1100 sponsored students beginning their studies in schools across the region, and the many ways in which all of our lives intersect, my hope and my prayer simply is this: that all of us may knowingly find ourselves wrapped in God's steadfast love.
With joy and delight,
-peter
The Rev. Peter Harrits
Director of Bega Kwa Bega and Assistant to the Bishop