The New Colossus

We talked about the elephant in the room at our Friday night service. You know, the familiar idiom that describes an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook. It's obvious, it's present, but everyone acts as if the elephant is not in the room. In church, that elephant is often our doubts. You can't voice them for fear of being seen as unfaithful or wandering from the community, but they are there. For some reason I was reminded of the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus whose last lines are usually associated with the Statue of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The Worship Team invited us to bring our tired souls, weary of keeping pretense and a stiff upper chin; to bring our huddled masses yearning to voice freely our doubts and our fears; and to bring our homeless thoughts of not belonging to the community if we owned those doubts. The lamp was lit, the doors were held wide. Bring your doubts! We are a faith tradition that welcomes questions! God is big enough to handle what concerns you have! And if you just can't set aside your doubts, then the community is there to encourage, and hold you until you can find peace with your prayers and questions. Just now I'm taken aback by the poet's name - Lazarus! We are raised from our doubts!

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, It is natural for us to question and doubt, especially when we experience change and suffering. Our congregation has questions about our mission and our process of transforming through the new millennium. How do we face our fears? How do we release the stifling bondage of worry? How are we raised anew from a huddled mass yearning to breathe the fresh air of new life? Only through your grace is it possible, O God, only through your wisdom and patience and love for your people. I pray that the imposing colossus in our faith journey will not be a statue devoted to worry and doubts, but that we become heroic in our growth and our faith in your mission, and that we light a beacon for those who are seeking safe passage home. The new colossus - life with Christ! Amen