I’m part of a group of clergy called Bethany Fellows, and twice a year, we gather together in person. During these retreats, we practice Sabbath, awareness, discernment, and action. Our goal is to find God, where God is speaking, what God is directing, and then moving toward where God is calling us to go. I also have a small group that meet monthly. I get to attend one of these amazing retreats in April in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, last week I had a small group session, and our leader read to us a poem called Patient Trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. But I was struck by so much when it comes to this poem. It’s definitely far more like a prayer, and it’s one I needed to hear. I shared it with the elders who felt the same, so now I’m sharing it with you. Find the poem here!
God’s time isn’t our time, and having the patience to wait for the beautiful creation that we’re to become is hard. We’re in a shifting period in the church as we look at our structure, as we discuss our vision and mission, as we find our footing in ministry together.
It’s a time of transition, of progress, of kind of feeling stuck, and I know a lot of us would love to be on the other side of this and know exactly what it’s going to look like. But we don’t know. We can only dream and hope that our dreams are part of God’s plan.
Kevin Brewin writes in his book Signs of Emergence, “What we are about to undertake may not make rational sense, and it is unlikely that we will be able to fully understand what is happening, but it is vital to our painful revival.”
We have to trust God. We have to do the things that will put us in the position to hear God’s voice and be able to act. That involves Sabbath, awareness, discernment, and action. This is a process we need to be continually involved in, a process of rest and listening for God to speak and moving to action from there.
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