| | Last Tuesday I sat with a group of nearly twenty pastors of local congregations, in a service of word and sacrament, this being the first time I had been with them as a group in a year’s time. The leader of the worship, one of my colleagues in ministry in this Conference, Allen Fluent, invited us to name moments of faith. With little prompting, those gathered in the circle began to quote verses of scripture and hymn texts that meant the most to them, telling stories as they went to describe situations or people who had showed them the deep truths, whether in children’s church school, or in seminary, or in the grief counseling we do before a funeral. I was amazed, not that they knew scripture, of course, but rather to hear the affirmation of how much the scripture meant to them personally, sustained them in their hard times, led them forward. One tends to think that pastors today are, if not jaded, at least a tad cynical about the difficulty of ministry or the prospect for hope and change in this time of division and retrenchment. It is an echo of what I believe people in general are hoping to find in church---the word of hope, the comfort of presence, the healing touch. Allen also read a poem called something like “The Mystical Weaver” by a 19th century pastor, by the name of Henry Harbaugh, who served here in Penn Central Conference. Perhaps there is even now a mystical weaver, who sees the pattern, who weaves us into something new when we are not looking. I believe it’s my responsibility to stay open, and to do whatever I can, but in the end, I must also believe that there is a power greater than me who indeed, as the prophet Isaiah says, is “doing a new thing.” Praying is hard when you don’t know what you are praying for. But the one to whom we pray knows. It has to be enough. |
