How do we live with that? How do we settle in to a reality in which new germs evolve, and war threatens once again overseas? In terms of our confidence, we’ve had our feet knocked out from under us. And yet we don’t really have any other choice. We have to get up. We have to live into the reality in which we find ourselves. And both in being knocked down and in having to get back up, we are humbled, and that—shall we say—is not fun.
But that is the story that we see, over and over, in the Bible. All of those Old Testament stories involve people getting knocked down, or things not turning out how they expected, and how they learn to change or respond to the circumstances. They keep getting up. They keep seeking God.
As I was thinking about all of this, I was also reading Shauna Niequist’s book “I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet,” and I came across this: “nothing gets healed or restored or brought back to life unless those of us who still believe in hope, in honesty, in confession and prayer and the sacred reality of the church gathered keep gathering, keep working, keep praying, keep making changes. And so I stay.”
She reminded me that nothing changes without us continuing to show up. And so I say to you, thank you. Thank you for getting up again. Thank you for continuing to gather, to work, and to pray. And thank you for thinking with love and with honesty about what we might change as we continue to be a church together, as we pray for growth and love and community.
I’ll see you in church—
Becky
Prayer
Holy and loving God,
Over and over again, we learn that we are not you.
We do not control everything,
much as we wish we did.
We want to know all of the why’s,
And where we’re all going,
And how it will all turn out—
in as much detail as possible.
But for today, let us acknowledge
That we don’t get to know all of that.
And let us acknowledge also
That we are still the lucky ones:
The ones who already know
That however difficult the road,
You are not only at the end,
But you are with us now.
Teach us to trust in your presence—
and in your love.
In this name of your Son,
Who put flesh on that love
To show us just how much we mean to you.
Amen.