I’ve been hearing about a lot of fears lately. I get it, I’m holding onto plenty myself. We look around at so much that has changed, and we wonder, “what happened, where is everyone?” Challenges that we were wrestling with long before Covid hit us, now only feel even more pronounced and heavier than ever. And it’s true, the challenges have only grown. Our children, youth, and family participation in ministry is a shadow of former times. Our facility is showing its age in so many places. We’re struggling to find our focus on what kind of church we’re called to be.
“How can you be so optimistic?” I’ve been asked in a variety of ways of late. One of those fears might be that the pastor of this church is just maintaining a false front, covering up a truth that even darker or more threatening realities are in play. Or there’s the fear that the pastor has his head in the clouds and has lost touch with what is happening on the ground. I can understand how my optimism might trouble the holders of fears like these.
For the past few weeks in worship, we’ve been exploring together how God has provided for God’s people and how God remained faithful throughout the stories recorded in scripture. This Sunday, we hear once again how God acts in and through the community formed around Jesus as 5000 are fed. This familiar story reiterates that we aren’t left alone to fend for ourselves.
My optimism about the future of the church is rooted in these stories. I believe that the God who took care of God’s people thousands of years ago, has not stopped taking care of God’s people. God is still that God and we are that God’s people. I also believe, like the 5000 who were following Jesus, God has already provided everything we need to be the community God imagines us to be. Just as the baskets being passed around that day carried more than enough, we too have more than enough, already in our midst.
My optimism about the future of the church is rooted in my faith that God is alive, present, and actively at work in our midst. The challenges that concern us also matter to God and God will not abandon us now. If anything, our experiences of late are revealing how much opportunity to love God’s world truly exists. One of the reasons I elected to postpone my sabbatical this year was for this very reason, we need to dig in, now more than ever.
It’s my calling to serve this church with the optimism that is born of God’s faithfulness, making sure we have everything we need. I’m blessed that this is what I get to do with this remarkable community of faith.
May God’s peace come to you this day. -Pastor Peter
Let us pray… Merciful God, help us remember that your faithfulness is very much alive, present, and actively at work in our midst. Give us the courage to face our fears, dig into the challenges before us, and live confidently in hope for the future. Amen.