The Path We Are On
FROM THE RECTOR
This week I spent some time with colleagues at Clergy Conference—our first time together as a clergy community in three years. We shared stories, offered encouragement, and looked for ways to care for each other and ourselves. Among those I visited with was the Rev. Mary Vano, the rector of St. Margaret’s in Little Rock and chair of the Commission on Ministry for the diocese. She rode back to Fayetteville with Adelyn and me in order to meet with a group at St. Paul’s that is doing some vocational discernment, and I heard her say something that helped me find some new focus on recognizing God’s presence in my own life.
“Human beings are not given the gift of telling the future,” Mary remarked in a good-humored tone, “so, instead of trying to predict what will happen down the road, it might be more helpful for us to look back at the past.” She wanted us to resist the need to figure out what will take place in the years ahead and trust that we already know enough to make clear, faithful decisions because of where we have been. Instead of asking questions about how we would handle a situation that might come up someday, she encouraged us to ask questions about how we have already handled analogous situations in the past. When we reflect on those moments, we can get a sense of what path God has put us on and, even without seeing what lies ahead, trust where we are going.
“God is faithful,” Mary reminded us, and, when we remember that, it frees us up to let go of our anxiety about what we cannot know and trust in what we have already learned. At last night’s Eucharist, Adelyn echoed that sentiment in her sermon on Luke 21:5-19, the same gospel lesson we heard in church last Sunday. In that intimidating passage, despite telling his disciples that the end is near and that it will bring considerable hardship and suffering, Jesus commands them not to prepare a defense. Adelyn admitted that, as a natural planner, she finds those words both challenging and freeing. Although her instinct is always to be prepared, she told us that, when it comes to the most important things in life—like what it means to be children of a loving God—we can let go of our need to manage the future because we know that God will be with us no matter what.
I do not know what the future will hold, and neither do you, but we do know that God has journeyed with us and our ancestors from one generation to another. God has always been faithful because God is always faithful. God has been with God’s people in every birth and every death. God has gone with them in triumph and in exile. God has accompanied them through times of plenty and times of want. We cannot see what lies ahead, but we know that the God who loves us and has never forsaken us will guide us each step of the way, and that changes our relationship with the future.
What is God calling you to pursue? Where will God lead us in the years ahead? The work of discernment is a shared exploration whether the direction you seek centers only on you or also on the wider community. We often share the holy work of discernment with close friends and family without thinking about it. We admit to them that we have been experiencing some restlessness or that we have caught sight of a new possibility. We ask them what they think about the risky aspiration we are pondering. Do you think I should quit my job and move across the country? Am I silly to think that I could be a priest? And, when we ask them to help us know what direction our life might take, we seek their understanding of our past as much as their prediction for our future.
Whether a casual conversation with a colleague or a formal meeting with a discernment committee, when we share the work of listening for the Holy Spirit with other people, we ask them to help us know God’s faithfulness in our lives. We invite them to help us remember how God has accompanied us and given us joy and fulfillment in meaningful moments. And we want them to speak honestly about those times when it seemed hardest for us to remain connected with God and the community of faith. Remembering the circumstances in which we felt most strongly the companionship of God helps us see the path that stretches behind us through the years of our lives. Seeing how that path has led us to this point allows us to step forward with confidence even though we cannot see exactly what is around the corner.
Have you been holding onto a dream that has not quite taken shape because you cannot figure out how to make it happen? Do you feel a sense of call but also feel stuck in place because it seems like God is leading you in a risky new direction? Try looking back at what you know to be true instead of waiting for God to reveal what lies ahead. Ask a close friend, a spiritual director, or a member of the clergy to help you see what has brought you to this moment in your life. And ask God to help you know all of the ways that God has been present through your life. Then trust that God will be with you wherever you go next.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan D. Garner