Rollercoaster – October 25, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48
Lam. 2:8-15; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Matt. 12:1-14

Groups of teenagers and adults at Saint Stephen’s are preparing for a very special day – November 5. It is on this day that we celebrate All Saints Day and welcome the Rt. Rev. Glenda Curry, our Bishop Diocesan, to lay her hands upon their heads and welcome them as confirmed members of the Episcopal Church. Through classes, conversation, study, and prayer, these people have been preparing themselves. They have been exploring what commitment to God looks like as they get read to affirm their faith in our Lord.

Faith in God is sometimes beautiful and other times it is messy. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth about the promise of God’s mystery – that we will not all fall asleep or die, but we will be changed. Our mortal bodies will be swept up into immortality. Sin and death will be no more through the power of Jesus. Those are sweet words upon the ears of those who also sit in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, wrestling with the prophetic lyrical composition that described the defeated Jerusalem. Because of the Lord, “Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; guidance is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord.” There is weeping from the prophet’s eyes, churning of the stomach, and retching. There is much illness, hunger, and brokenness…and it is grounded in the sinful nature and flailing faith of the Israelites.

There are days when we feel the promise of leaning upon God. There are other times when we feel at an all-time low. If we remember that we experience those mountaintops and deep valleys, then perhaps in our prayer life we will remember that others go through those cycles and rollercoasters, too. How are you and I staying in tune with those around us? How are we listening to the needs of others? Faith in God through Jesus steadies us so that we are inwardly fed and then looking outward to others. Let us not neglect those in our net who are hurting this day. For, it is in nurturing our own that our faith in God is deeply revealed.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection and Daily Challenge:

Think about what commitment means to you.

In the Baptismal Covenant, we promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.” In what ways are you serving others in your circle of influence?