Sunday, June 28, 2020
Dear St Luke Community,
I’ve been thinking about humility lately. And I’ve been thinking about our ability to say:
- “I don’t know, but I’d like to know.” Or,
- “I don’t understand, but I'd like to understand.” Or,
- "I don’t agree, but I'd like to understand more about why you believe what you believe.”
I’m not entirely sure why I’ve been thinking so much about humility lately. I’m sure the state of the country has much to do with it. Every day there’s more happening that makes me feel inadequate. As a white female pastor I feel inadequate to provide words of wisdom regarding Black Lives. As a relatively wealthy person in the US, I’m all too aware that my neighbors are suffering and any help I give won’t be enough. As a friend of a few people who have been directly affected by the cruelty of this virus, I have no leader to point to as a sign of hope.
And yet, to stay stuck in my own feelings of inadequacy, shame or guilt is not what Jesus calls on any of us to do. What Jesus calls on us to do is to take the lowest seat, or to come from a place a humility. To find our humility, individually or as a nation, is a kind of letting go of everything you think you already know about yourself. To discover humility is to open up your heart like that of a child’s, entering into discussions with curiosity and without judgment. To live in humility is to look forward to how God is doing a new thing and ask how you might be used by God in the process. We are in a wilderness period, not unlike the Hebrew people of long ago. And like any wilderness period, it’s both frightening at times, beautiful at other times, and requires a dependence on God so deep it requires constant humility. Which as it turns out, is a gift.
See you Sunday on Zoom,
Nicole