Forever!

vaD joH'a' ghaH QaQ. Daj muSHa'taH pung SIQtaH reH, Daj voqtaHghach Daq Hoch DISmey.
For the LORD is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations. psalm 100:5

podcast version

Some people may remember, when the world waited and worried about Y2K, and when clocks began ticking over - in Australia part of the celebration was emblazoning the word "ETERNITY" in script at the climax of Sydney's New Year's fireworks. Some may have been curious about the story. If they looked into it, they'd have learned about a man, Arthur Stace, who once heard a preacher say "Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You’ve got to meet it, where will you spend Eternity?"

Mr. Stace was so taken with this that he took to chalking the word - just that word everywhere on the sidewalks of Sydney.

It is a good word to reflect on - because, looking around the world, and at the works of our own hands, we'll see: nothing lasts forever. And if we think that, the psalmist is there to remind us: we're wrong.

vaD joH'a' ghaH QaQ. Daj muSHa'taH pung SIQtaH reH
For the LORD is good. His loving kindness endures forever

l'olam - is the word behind "forever" here. It means something like unto-the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind, ALWAYS. In the context of this Psalm, it says there isn't a limit to God's love. Without an assurance that God's loving kindness is unlimited a word like "eternity" frightens me - it sounds like extinction. For I see an unlimited future that will swallow up anything I might be or do.

But when I know God' s loving kindness endures forever - then I know I've trusted the one who can bring me through this life, and into that eternity.

Now it is always dicey to make too much of wordplay - especially in a constructed, fictional language like Klingon, but I like this "coincidence." Namely, that the word I've used for "forever" is reH: always. This word is also the word for "play," as in play a game. As I said - don't make too much of this - but isn't it a wonderful thought that - at least in Klingon when we spell out eternity, we may also be looking forward to the delights of playing together in the courts of the Lord.