..."Our church over the centuries has maintained a steady and usually reliable course. Today by many accounts, however, it is a ship in troubled waters. We have not reached calm seas on many issues: married clergy, women deacons and priests, shared authority at top levels of decision making, trusting the consciences of it members and incompetence in leadership roles.
Above all, how does our church prepare for the stormy weather in the forecast? How do we reach disenfranchised Millennial and Pluralist generations? How do we plan for a greater shortage of priests? How do we break the chains that continue to moor our church in safe harbors, a church often afraid to jump into the waters much less sail the high seas.
The first reading implies that God is not found in these storms. Instead they are indications of how God works in our lives. God is found in the aftermath of the storms — whatever it is that frightened us to death. The revelation of God in our lives is ever evolving. Our collective awareness of new epiphanies sustains us and gives us courage. There is no one way to understand how God works. We do believe God continues to speak to us. Psalm 85 that we sang this morning challenges us to be still enough to hear the soft, comforting words of God. [Pause]
Maybe for this week you and I can take time to notice what is stirring in our lives that requires acting beyond our fears. Maybe there is something that is challenging us to take a bold step forward in the face of those fears. Just maybe this is the time to let go of whatever it is that holds us back so that we can chart a course forward trusting that the God of all creation will guide us safely home."
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