Dear friends –
Living with a cartographer, we talk a LOT about maps in our house – needed features of a good map, the history of maps, necessary geospacial data.
How I wish we had a map for pandemic. How long until this new normal feels normal? How long until we can walk up front and tear a piece of bread for ourselves and sing without our mouths getting caught on layers of mask? Pandemic did not come with a scale bar for time.
And there are other questions. In these cold days of winter, do we take more time to rest and heal and experience Sabbath? Or do we urge ourselves forward on the knowledge that there’s nothing like a pep talk and salvation oracle to keep hope alive? What will happen with the Church? What will happen with River Glen? What will happen with our lives? There are a lot of question marks without any estimate on the destination.
What we do have, though, is a north arrow – straight to our connection to God. Somewhere in all of this we hold lament and hope, not in each hand, but both in both hands, because both are practices of our faith that lead to healing and restoration. So if today is a day you need rest and lament and to practice some holy groaning, do so in a long line of prophets and poets and faithful believers who have also been there – a cloud of witnesses in your grief. And if you need a salvation oracle, be reminded that God is always at work for restoration, and something new is right around the corner – open your eyes and you will see it there, God promises. Thanks be to God!
Grace and peace,
Jess
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