brave

 

One day last week, the Preacher and I were in our office discussing the things that we needed to do before our Sunday's worship service. The Preacher became silent and I could tell he had something on his mind. He then said, "In order to keep church going through these crazy times, you have to be brave. I can forgo the restaurants--that's not worth the risk, but church, it's worth the risk."

Brave? I never thought of that word being associated with opening the church doors on a Sunday morning. 

The mainstream media had told us that if we went outside and touched another person or breathed the air, air that someone else has breathed, we could potentially die, people had panicked. We went from joking about hoarding toilet paper to actually hiding in our houses. The world, our world, shut down. So the church had to change the status quo as to how the Word was preached.

We continued our discussion for a while and then we went on to our daily duties. As the week went on the word 'brave' kept repeating in my mind. I began hearing Nicole Nordeman's song, "Brave", running through my head.

"The gate is wide, the road is paved in moderation  The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in  Welcome to the middle ground  You're safe and sound and until now it's where I've been.

'Cause it's been fear  That ties me down to everything  But it's been love, Your love  That cuts the strings

So long status quo, I think I just let go  You make me wanna be brave  The way it always was is no longer good enough  You make me wanna be brave" 

And then, as the Lord always does when He wants to teach me something, two articles came across my computer screen. 

Susie Hawkins from namb.net writes

"(1) Bravery is faith fearlessness, (2) Bravery demonstrates trust, (3) Bravery takes risks.   C.S. Lewis said, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point...a chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky". And as he points out, kingdom-minded lives require us to be brave in living out all biblical principles, even challenging conditions. In fact that is exactly where "true bravery" occurs. 

 Laura Stephens Reed, from laurastephensreed.com writes:

"Prior to the pandemic, a number of clergy were working under unrealistic expectations, whether those came from their congregations or from their own internal "shoulds". And then in March they had to change the ways they did nearly everything and fast. They became not just preachers but tech experts with all that entails: recording, editing, sound mixing, lighting, inviting people to and teaching them how to participate in and managing online meetings, exploring the most accessible social media platforms, and monitoring cyber security. They spend many hours trying to get all of this right because worship and Bible study and fellowship are so critical, not knowing that they'd have to continue all that they started beyond a few weeks, often without much help from others. The effects of all these difficulties are taking their toll. They have deepened pre-existing fault lines and created new ones. Clergy who already had some sense of discontent now have one foot out the door, and some who were happy are seriously questioning whether their current context is still a good fit. The result, I predict, is going to be a tidal wave of pastoral departures once churches re-gather, and maybe sooner depending on how long the pandemic rages on. Church folks, this time is hard for everyone, It's hard for you and it's hard for your pastor." 

 Yes it has been hard and tiring. There were some days when the Preacher and I were very tired from trying to keep it all going as if there was nothing wrong. 

But brave? Did we feel brave? No.

The Preacher has taken precautions due to some breathing issues but he loves the Word of God and loves his congregation. So he will continue to be brave for the Word and for you.

 

 

out of the stump

Five years ago we were searching for a new home. We came across a nice 2-story house and while walking through the house with the previous owner, she took us outside to show us her flower gardens and she turned to one of the trees in the yard. Actually it was just a stump. She explained that it had not flourished and had begun to die so her husband decided to cut out the dead limbs but left the last main stump of what was once a pretty tree.

After purchasing the home we thought about going ahead and cutting the tree stump completely down. But with the busyness of moving in and with everyday life and work we forgot about our plans of cutting it down.

So the stump sat there during the long, cold winter just waiting for the spring. And in the spring we began to notice that there was new life coming up out of that old stump. So we decided to leave it and see what might come of the once dead stump.

Now after these five years all that is left of the stump is a dried, dead log. You can see what is left in the above picture. But as you can see, there is a healthy tree surrounding that stump. New life came back from the dead.

Sometimes we may feel cut off and cut out. But you can't stop God. He is there waiting to make you new again.

You were made by Him in His image as His child. He has been waiting for you since the beginning of time to grow and to look up to Him. Just as the trees and the flowers reach up to the sun for its rays to give them life, so should we look up to the Son. 

You can begin again, anew, in His love. Let His love help you to have hope again. Be still and wait. If your heart is in a place where it feels like a long, cold winter just be still and know that He is there working for you to help you grow into who He always knew you could be.