This has been a challenging week in ministry.
The beginning of the fall year is always challenging, but this year seems particularly so… Tom’s last day as youth director was this week. We’re grieving the death of Steve our praise band drummer. We’re still looking for the terrific Sunday School teachers and choir members and band members who will fill some holes.
But God has a way of leading us through storms…
Thanks be to God for a Facebook post shared by a friend and my former bishop in the Metro DC Synod. Bishop Leila Ortiz reflected on a passage from Matthew (Matthew 14:22-33) where Jesus takes some time away by himself to pray while his disciples go on ahead by boat. A storm kicks up and the disciples are frightened when they see Jesus walking on the water toward them. They think he’s a ghost.
Bishop Ortiz notes that rather than stop the storm, Jesus encourages Peter to get out of the boat and walk in the midst of the storm.
Jesus doesn’t stop the storm, but calls us to take a holy risk and walk in the midst of it.
Now you may remember, that Peter takes a few steps, falters, and then begins to sink. Jesus reaches out to him, gets into the boat with him, and suddenly the storm doesn’t seem to be raging as much any more.
Fear can distract us from ministry, from taking a risk, from making the next step. But when we recognize that Jesus is right in the boat with us – that fear can lose its power over us.
In Christ,
Pastor Jen