Through Suffering---Trusting and Changing with God

Salutations Pilgrims and Friends,

I'm wishing the best for you and would love to hear from any and all of you, and not just during my "come and chat times" on zoom. We can talk about anything that's on your mind; feelings, church ideas, what you've been watching on netflix....(answer---Unorthodox!).

I have been sporadically reading the daily devotionals from Richard Rohr both for my own benefit and as a tool for Mondays when I lead evening prayer. I read this quote this week and it stood out to me so strongly because I felt like it encapsulated the opportunity that is before us right now---an opportunity that is inextricably and necessarily bound up with suffering. One of the themes of the piece is the practice of trusting in God's grace knowing that this practice is most needed and transformative when we do it in times of darkness. Opening ourselves to trust and change when vulnerable is the way to freedom in God. 

"I find myself in prayer much of the time right now, not simply because of the limitations of our current circumstances, but because I want to be a witness to such divine freedom. I believe it is this kind of prayer that may keep us from simply hoping things quickly return to "normal" (though that is a comforting thought to many) and instead praying for the courage to "change and grow in love." Such courage is surely what we and the world truly need." 

This quote speaks to a two part fear that I'm sure I share with many of you. The first part of the fear is that we won't respond lovingly and thoughtfully to this crisis---that we will stay focused on our own worries and amusements and either not reach out for help or not reach out to help. I'm not under the illusion that a couple months of being forced out of our habits would magically fix all the pain in the world---but it does give us space to reflect and reorient ourselves to do better. The second part of the fear is that when it is over we will just return to business as usual. As a person with relative privilege and comfort in my life that is so easy, it's the natural default. But we know that it wasn't like "business as usual" was working for everyone anyways. Oooof. 

So I pray that when we notice ourselves just hunkering down to wait it out, in our sweatpants, greasy and grumpy,---that we gently remind ourselves that this is an invitation on a global scale to "change and grown in love." With Easter just behind us, it's a message I'm trying to cling to.

Much love,
Felix