We no longer know what to do
Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 1:31PM
Robert Gallagher

It may be that when we no longer  know what to do we have come to our real work

 

I just got off a Zoom meeting with novices in the Order of the Ascension. All four are rectors. Michelle Heyne (Presiding Sister) and I (formation director) were looking at how to do the novitiate in these times.  

When I left the meeting the newsletter from Atonement, Chicago arrived. Mother Erika’s reflection captured what I was experiencing. It seemed to capture what all those in that Zoom meeting were experiencing.

Erika gave permission to share it with you.

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Singing Streams

Last week at our regular diocesan meeting, a member of our diocesan staff shared this poem by the remarkable American novelist and poet Wendell Berry:

           It may be that when we no longer know what to do
           we have come to our real work,
           and that when we no longer know which way to go
           we have come to our real journey.
           The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
           The impeded stream is the one that sings.


I don’t usually like to think of myself as impeded. I don’t like to think of myself as not knowing what to do, or not knowing which way to go. I certainly don’t like to think of myself as baffled. But I’m sure I’m not alone in confessing that these past several months I have found myself baffled, unknowing, and impeded in multiple ways and on multiple days. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.

But to be fair to myself, I’ve never been a rector in a time of pandemic before. And to be fair to you – you’ve never been a [fill-in-the-blank] in a time of pandemic before. It’s no wonder we’re feeling unsure about where to step and where to invest our energies, unclear about what to let go of and what to cling to. 

Could it be that this is our real work? To learn to live as followers of Jesus even though we’re baffled? To follow in his footsteps even when we aren’t sure which way to go? To sing even though we feel impeded? As I ask myself these questions, I feel the presence of every single character in our holy scripture who did not know what was coming, who did not feel prepared, and who sang their faith anyway. Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Ruth, David, Mary, Peter, James, and John – who amongst this group wouldn’t have nodded their heads at Berry’s wise words? We know how their story ends, and so at times their faith can seem inevitable, like the flow of a wide, eternal river. But they did not know. And they sang anyway.

I pray that this week we will all continue to step forward in our faith, to allow the circumstances that we’re in to shape a new and deeper alleluia, and to let the stream shape a beautiful song. 

Yours in Christ,
 
The Rev’d Erika L. Takacs, Rector


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Postings on the inner life and the virus

You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives    

Intercessions and the virus              Solitude.                                                                             

The mystery of the cross                 Solitude in Surrey                                                         

We'll meet again                            God's not indifferent to our pain            

Endures all things                          Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order

People Touch

Spiritual vitality and authenticity      The path of servanthood

Down into the mess                        Missing the Eucharist 

In you we live                                Faith to perceive

Faith to perceive: In your great compassion  

Turn everything that happens to account

We no longer know what to do        The cares and occupations

The Peace of God

 

Postings on Parish Development during the Virus

Power from the center pervades the whole           To everything there is a season

Faith to perceive: Remaining inseparable            Communities of love, prayer and service 

 

 

 

Article originally appeared on Congregational Development (http://www.congregationaldevelopment.com/).
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