For I indeed know the plans I am planning for you, says the Lord, plans for wellbeing and not disaster, to give you a future hope. Jeremiah 29:11
David Bentley Hart muses in his recent book, The Experience of God, that the mystery we comprehend, albeit fleetingly, is in turn comprehending us. This Mystery, this God, is planning our wellbeing. Yet ‘planning’ is too bland – God ponders, God mulls over, considers thoughtfully, formulates designs for our wellbeing. And in so doing, God does not contemplate anything other than our wellbeing – “not disaster” is intrinsic to the thoughtfulness of this good God.
And so, from the fount of this deep reservoir of intentional kindheartedness towards us, we are to live as people of a hope-filled future, of everyday recipients of grace and God’s gentle shalom. This is what God is truly on about it when it comes to the human project – and it is wonderful beyond all comprehension.
May Yahweh also bless us all and bestow upon us his life-giving shalom.
May St Barnabas College be a place where this is a lived and breathed reality.
Matthew
Principal, St Barnabas College
Canon Theologian, Anglican Diocese of Adelaide