As we move through life, some of these changes can be anticipated. How we manage these transitions is important in our emotional and spiritual development.
Some changes are filled with anxiety. Even though we often can’t name that anxiety, it is still felt. And it causes us to behave in ways that we don’t often understand.
We are experiencing a great deal of change in our society – which sometimes gets reflected in our congregations. Uncertainty is very perplexing as we experience A.P.E. – Anxiety Producing Events. (Gives new meaning to “going ape” doesn’t it?)
In times like these, we have to anchor ourselves in something deeper than what is being touted in the news and on social media. Richard Rohr reminds us, “Mystics and prophets see things as they truly are – not through the lens of fear, but through the eyes of love and truth.”
It is our task to hold onto God’s truth, and to remain deeply connected to one another. Right now, there seems to be a growing sense of helplessness among many people. But we are not helpless. Our strength comes from holding to the Word of God and striving to further the ministries of Jesus Christ as a body. Wringing our hands does little good.
Perhaps instead of trying to grasp for what seems to be falling away, we can put our trust in God that something deeper is happening. That beyond seemingly losing what we once knew, there is a new birth on the horizon. That even in this time of transition and uncertainty, God’s Holy Spirit is at work, preparing us for what we cannot yet see.
As God said through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” We must place our trust in God. And while we do, we do not sit idly by.
Let us even more strongly engage the love of Christ. Show kindness to the stranger. Care for the hungry and the poor. Minister to the stranger at our gate. Let the world know that as followers of Jesus Christ we are alive and well, furthering the ministries of our Lord and Savior – no matter what changes come our way.
