Chaplaincy and Care Director's Note August 2020

We are entering into another time of transition. Summer is starting to fade into fall. Parents and children are trying to get mentally, emotionally, and physically ready to begin a new school year. The US and Canada are holding federal, state/provincial, party, and local elections throughout this fall. As I theologically reflect on the last 6 months, I find myself asking many questions:

• What has made an imprint on my own soul?
• What is the Holy Spirit teaching me?
• What do I/our church need to let go? What am I/is the church being called to act upon?
• How have I seen God work in unexpected ways?

Through these last months, I have felt the weight of the privilege that I have been given and deeply benefited from. I did not earn these blessings and benefits, but I was adopted into them as a small child. I feel the weight of the privilege in my soul. The Holy Spirit is calling the church to be seekers of justice and extend radical grace in this world. Answering the Spirit’s call is never easy or a quick solution. It is more than social media post. It is personal conversations with loved ones about why public safety is important above one’s personal preferences. It is having hard conversations about privilege, unconscious bias, prejudice, and racism with our children, parents, and those near to us. It is about non-defensive listening to the cries of pain and stories of injustice from fellow imagine bearers.

I recently came across a Brene Brown quote from her Podcast “Unlocking Us.” She states that she enters into conversations about race  (and other difficult topics) by repeating the phrase:
                I’m not here to be right.
                I’m not here to be right.
                I’m not here to be right.
                I’m here to get it right.

Our church (including myself) needs to continue to be learning, growing, and allowing itself to be stretched by the Holy Spirit to continue to live into its call to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this world. And it’s HARD to do that… especially now during this time of transition and crisis in our world. But we’ve not been left up to our own efforts, God the Father in his infinite wisdom has equipped us with the Holy Spirit to provide help and comfort (John 14:15-21).

We, the church, are here to get it right and share the Gospel in this world.