4/26/20
Sermon Notes:
Friends,
This week I got stuck.
There are plans I’ve had for the church that simply cannot move forward until we know how to proceed safely, and new plans that need to take shape to respond to our current reality. I miss my people, and the question of whether or not I am doing all I can do for you is constantly in the back of my mind. I am working on an issue for Presbytery that is not coming to the tidy conclusion I wanted. While Annie has been homeschooling for the most part for four years now, we have relied heavily on small classes at a local tutorial and individual tutors with an academic agency here in town. We find ourselves trying to wrap up her freshman year of high school with none of these resources, and she is climbing the walls to see her friends. Stuck, frazzled, frayed, at a loss. I called a trusted friend.
My friend listened intently, sometimes asking questions, sometimes just sitting quietly with me during pauses. Finally, he said, “I have something to say. It won’t change any of this. I do not have any answers. But this is what I know and what I believe: God did not promise us we would not walk through the fire. God did promise to walk through the fire with us.” He said, “Jane – I’m with you. I hear you. And I know God is with you.”
It wasn’t anything I don’t know. It wasn’t anything I have not told others or been told before.
However, it felt new again and lifegiving and very real.
It meant everything to hear it after being heard, to hear it in my moment of need, and to hear it from a trusted friend. The knot it my heart began to loosen up. My head felt a little less fuzzy. I made a list of the things I know I can do and the things I cannot do, and I even made a third list of things I am not quite sure about just yet. I took a deep breath and a short nap and then got back to work. But first, I said a little prayer of thanksgiving that Jesus showed up in my life in the words of my friend and was able to pierce my heart that had become hardened with worry and fatigue.
This Sunday we will hear the story of the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus. My prayer for us all is that we recognize Jesus on the road as well. In the words of Rueben Job, “May we, like the disciples before us, have our eyes opened to recognize Christ as he comes to walk beside us this day.”
See you online Sunday!
Much love to you, in Christ –
Jane