Earthquake

We want to be the earthquake when actually we are the slow drip. We want to know the next steps all the way to the finish line. Our faith isn’t like that. It is a slow grind, a foggy path where just the next step is visible. We have to trust that the step after that won’t take us over a cliff edge. Our faith is work, it’s water on stone, shaping our lives choice by choice, minute by minute.  This is why the work of reading the bible is important. Why daily devotionals matter.  Just like exercising our bodies, or keeping our minds sharp by doing the daily Wordle our faith takes tending and work.

In the bible it seems so fast. Jesus says follow me and the disciples get up and go right away and are blessed. Paul says here’s the holy spirit and people begin speaking in tongues and performing miracles. Those are the earthquake moments. And maybe some of us have those sometimes, but I think maybe there is more to the story in the bible. That these flashes we see are really the result of years of prayer and study and longing for God. That afterwards there are doubts and disappointments and questions and growth.

It’s not like we say yes to God and then we and our lives become magic and perfect. When we say yes to God we are choosing something so meaningful and valuable. It’s a way of life. A way of seeing the world. A way of creating community. This requires us to show up, to build relationships with a wide variety of people, to keep at it when it would be easier to turn to self.

We long for God to come in big and mighty ways, and God does. God also comes in the still small voice that whispers as we live, as we love, and as we labor. This parish is a place where we can rest together, hold each other accountable, and be nourished and healed for the journey ahead.

So know that this day you are loved, you are seen, and you are walking on the path God has set for you.

-Eilidh