Hymn of Promise

What a job you have done! Like a gardener you have given space for seedlings to grow, grounded in rich nutrients. Practiced hands have shaped and pruned, protection has been offered from harsh elements, shared study recommended further counsel, and affirmations of love have been spoken continually. Imagine the growth in such an incubator! As living proof you've helped raise seminary students, young adult volunteers, mission workers for local and global needs, youth who get up before 6am on a Saturday to help feed the homeless, and a loving congregation that visits and offers prayers, putting their own needs aside.

I don't even pretend to be one of those industrious partners of action, but if I have found the strength to step out in faith, if I have found the courage to seek the mystery, and if I have found the will to make it happen, then I only have you to thank! It truly is a testament to the abundance of support and love that I carry with me. I have a knapsack of treasures; I can feel the weight of the saints, and a song to pass the time.

Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth
In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see….

I also know where I can find a warm bowl of soup, a hug to feel arms around me, and a reminder to whom I belong. There is also a bit of trepidation with the hiatus. I am reminded of so many who have been given an unexpected offering of time – only to find that was ultimately a timely gift as family needs and health required unprecedented concentration and attendance. I will find times when I need that bowl of soup, a hug, and a reminder that God provides, and I hope to find that always with you.

As one who can argue with myself unmercifully about the smallest of decisions in normal conditions, I cannot recognize this sense of peace of decision with this most unusual circumstance. Out of nowhere I find words about change, others on the journey.

These are days that rumble with the distant thunder of change…. We have certain things about our lives that we cannot imagine doing without, and some of them are things we shouldn’t discard…. Beyond our defining covenants, though, we are called to be willing to leave our nets, to pull down the house, to do what it takes to go when God calls. In that year that King Uzziah died, the passage ends with Isaiah answering, “Here am I, Lord; send me.” We cannot let ourselves become so convinced that we are living our best life that we are not willing to see what else God might have for us. And we have to find a way to an “Uzziah moment” when the despairing details of life pull us to a place where we see only empty nets and long nights and have no ears for those calling from the shore. DontEatAlone

Finally I said, “There is something I need to tell you. It’s not a bad thing, but it is a hard thing.” I paused for a moment on the edge of everything. On the edge of my life for the last 20 years and on the edge of whatever is to come.... Every time I told someone my burden lightened. It is VERY clear to me that this was the right decision to make. RealLivePreacher