Remembering Our Way Ahead

So, we have emerged from our annual Lent and Easter journey into what the church calendar stylishly names “the fourth Sunday of Easter” and we move from the Easter stories – befuddled, bewildered and blessed disciples – into words of encouragement and challenge about what lies ahead.

There are whispers of the Spirit in Jesus’ words, as we learn our way to Pentecost and the ignition of the Church.

Where have we walked, at Southside, in these last forty and twenty days?

We considered the value of the siblings, doubt and faith, and how they inform our lives as Jesus’ people. Too many of us were shaped by a church which, in our varied pasts, told us that doubt was failing, a weakness, or some class of sin. We were taught that doubt was the bastard cousin of faith and was to be denied, or expunged, at all costs.

It was refreshing to remember how doubt and faith join hands and, together, help us find our way with Jesus in our world, where so many questions arise about justice, hope and forgiveness.

We walk as disciples of the crucified, risen Jesus and there is grace for us as we struggle and an equal grace as we find our feet and dance.

This year’s journey to the cross was free of incident for many of us, and that’s wonderful. But for more of us, we have needed to know that God is with us in every aspect of our lives, especially when all is not well.

Each time I walk the formal journey towards Easter, I discover more about myself – my frailty, God’s goodness, friends’ wisdom, lessons I have learned. In Saturday’s watchful silence I attend to my hope that the resurrection will speak to all my fears about our lives and world right now; my fear of being inadequate for the task, or that the violence of our world community will become the dominant tale in our lives.

The resurrection always addresses me in hope, as it does each of us.

Our worship space at Southside has been reoriented for these days, as our lives find new direction, defined always by the cross, empty and standing sentinel, in the midst of us all.

As we wait for the wonder of the Spirit’s arrival, we consider this call from the risen Christ: to forgive as we are forgiven; to bear peace with us; to remember the stories which shape all of history and creation; to invite others to walk alongside us.

In the midst of our worship and our faith sit the font and the communion table. Jesus will feed us; we will be offered unceasing forgiveness; we will have companions with our path oriented always into Christ, our end and our beginning.