Skip to main content

The Time Being

"And not only that,
but we also boast in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope"

"It will never last" is what the cynics said.

The cynics didn't know either Elaine and me well enough to make that prediction, but they made it anyway.

Were there sufferings? Of course. Deaths, disappointments, moving from one church to another, stresses in pastoral ministry are sufferings.

Like any married couple, we had our peaks and valleys.

There wasn't a tear shed, a frustration, hurt or loss which God didn't notice.

But let me be clear, we didn't boast because we had sufferings. 

Instead, we knew God was present in the midst of the sufferings which gave us a reason to rejoice.

We also rejoiced in the midst of suffering because we knew they were temporary.

Another chapter in our lives would begin and the future we hoped for was already changing the way we lived.

For example, from the time I knew I was changing churches, there was the "suffering" of packing up and moving. 

That was followed by hope for the future which had already begun by imagining life in the new church.

W. H. Auden once wrote, “The time being,” is often “the hardest time of all.” 

It seems to me the hardest time is in the back and forth between what was and what is going to be; between the farewells and the welcomes.

Into this "time being", this endurance time, we can become grounded as we meet Jesus through gathering to hear the Word and breaking bread with Holy Communion.

For parents at Uvalde elementary school, the endurance time can seem impossibly long.

But wasn't Jesus there comforting the grieving through others?

For Ukrainian soldiers, the displaced, the grieving, isn't Jesus encouraging them? 

And in our daily lives, isn't Jesus encouraging us in our peaks and valleys as we love God's people around us?


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ruler of All Earthly Kings

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (from Rev. 1:4-8 ) About 17 years ago I wrote a letter to the people in the United Church of Underhill. The purpose of the letter was to explain I was retiring at the end of the Conference Year. I felt the time had come for me personally to move on and for the church to grow with a new pastor. I secured a moving company while the church formed a search committee as we both prepared for the inevitable. This is the nature of the book of Revelation, as recorded in 1:4: “John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia.” This is Revelation’s context: it was written for the benefit of particular people at a particular time for their particular situation. John’s letter narrates a drama about God’s imminent invasion of the “kingdom of this world” ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grantchester's Warning

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, the owner would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (from Luke 12:32-40 ) I regularly watch Grantchester; a murder mystery set in 1950s England. The main characters are a local detective and an Anglican priest who, as a team, solve mysteries set in the town. Two aspects of Grantchester impress me. First, the simplicity of the 1950’s police communications done by a landline phone and not cell phone. Second, the simplicity of daily life with little television and fewer possessions allowing the characters to focus on their vocation of detective and priest. This simplicity is more than a nostalgic return to the “good old days”. Instead, it’s a Shaker type of simplicity where austerity allows freedom from distractions to focus on worship and community. Today’s distraction-filled world has seemingly countless activ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus, Deliverance, and Demons

"Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind." (from Luke 8:26-39 ) Astrid is a streaming program I often watch. The plot is a basic cops and robbers action until the criminal is caught. The uniqueness of the program is Astrid, who is on the Autism spectrum, is brilliant at solving puzzles including connecting clues to solve the crime. Watching this program has given me a more profound insight to people living with this condition and their acceptance in society. My first-hand experience with children on the Spectrum was driving a Special Needs school bus for 6 years. With this experience, I can imagine the life the possessed man was experiencing, especially living among the tombs, bound with chains and shackles, having to live in the wilds. It was no wonder he cried for mercy. Jesus, with his power and mercy, cast the demons out and even...
Post a Comment
Read more