Greater than gold

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Published on Sunday, February 18, 2018

By Rev. Glenna Beauchamp

Rivers United Church

Gold is pretty substantial stuff. The gold medals won at this year’s Winter Olympics will still be there long after the athletes who won them are gone. A hundred years from now, they could still remind us of the achievements, records broken, parades and celebrations held for the athletes returning home. The gold medals will outlast the athletes on whom they were placed as their country’s national anthem was played. The vast majority of us will never come close to winning an Olympic medal, but are there things in our lives that will outlast us?

Yes.

If we have touched another person’s heart with kindness, if we have encouraged someone who was ready to give up, if we have forgiven someone who hurt or even betrayed us, if we have given someone another chance, if we have challenged people when they express prejudice against a group of people who are different from most of us, if we have used our resources to make life easier for someone in need. If we have, by our words and the way we live our lives, pointed to the God whose love and grace we have known in Jesus Christ, then yes! These kinds of things can have an impact on the lives of people for many generations,

Gold is very durable, but things like kindness, grace, justice and compassion endure beyond forever.