Sunday, July 5, 2020
Dear St Luke Community,
With the recent increases in Covid cases - county, state and countrywide - I imagine we are all feeling weary: weary for others and for ourselves. I’m reminded of one of my favorite pieces of writing from John O’Donahue in his Blessing for the The Interim Time, part of which says:
You are in this time of interim
Where everything seems withheld.
The path you took to get here was washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.
“The old is not old enough to have died away;
The new is still too young to be born.”
You cannot lay claim to anything;
I might suggest that we actually can lay claim to one (or three) things: God, Christ and Spirit. As people of faith, when we feel groundless, weary, angry, or in need, we look to God to carry us.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
This interim time is not a time to look back and desire things the way they used to be, nor is it a time to start planning for a future that’s entirely unknown. This is a time to renew our faith, and to find strength so that we might affect change both within our own lives but also for the lives of those around us in need.
The blessing by O’Donahue ends with the promise of a new dawn, suggesting that the longer we can endure the interim time, the more refined our hearts will be when that dawn arrives.
May it be so.
See you Sunday on Zoom,
Nicole