September 27, 2020
When the trauma of past generations catches up with us, and we become afraid of being left out, and we are cut off from the ones who have been entrusted to us, we can feel the promises of the past slipping away, we can feel the dreams within us dying. The impulse is to give up. Why would we seek to restore relationships with the ones who have hurt us? Why would we choose to remain in conversation with the people with whom we disagree? Why would we continue to fight for something that seems so out of reach? “The only way out is through.” We’ve all been through a lot. For our relationships, for our families, for our church, for our nation, the only way out of our problems is to do the work, to pick up the phone, to connect to each other, to have grace-filled conversations about our differences, disagreements, and disappointments. We have been give a command to do to others as we would have them do to us. It’s not too much to ask for us to be the ones who break through cultural norms, to rise above challenges, and to trust in the power of God to bring good from the setbacks we face.
