"Stand firm against the winter wind, whether of age
or illness, struggle or loss, grief or lack, do not bend or break, but be
lifted up, held up, made strong by the power of love that surrounds you. You
are safe within the walls of hope. You are sheltered by the strength of
goodness. It is the hand, the very hand of God, that holds you. It is the will
of God that you be brought to quiet harbor once your storm has passed. Do not
be anxious or afraid. Do not look into the long night and fear you will find no
answer, but look out to the flags flying around you, the host of angels that
guard you night and day. Stand firm and let faith find you." -Bishop
Steven Charleston, 12/2/2014
Hope. A four
letter word that sometimes gets lost in the Monday morning quarterbacking that
follows tragic events like those in Ferguson, Missouri. I
am certain that other four-lettered words were hurled on both sides of the
fence, but hope, was not one of them.
As an Episcopalian I hold fast to the concept of the
“via media,” or middle way. Our lives are lived on the broad path between
two curbs, two borders if you will - the conservative and the progressive. Some of us choose from time to time to walk
on one side of the path or the other.
What we are called to do as a people of faith is to walk in the
middle. To walk in the middle is to walk
holding the tensions of two opposing sides in the loving embrace of a thing
called hope. We are called to listen to
the side that is opposite of the one we might prefer, to be open to the Spirit
asking us to listen to the voices of the “sacred others” in our midst.
Keith
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments will be moderated prior to being added to the page. Thank you.