We aren’t too good with vulnerability. When we choose leaders, we look for those who promise power and might. But instead, on this Christ the King Sunday, we get a God who is incredibly vulnerable; who hangs on the cross and will not save himself. And in so doing, invites us into our own vulnerability as a source of life.
Daniel’s dream could be something right out of an epic fantasy novel: Four beasts come out of the water to wreck havoc and there’s no telling what will happen. Whatever it is, it won’t be good.
Which is how many of us feel about this election. Pastor Kate explores the election, what beasts may be in our world, and what God’s up to in the midst of all that.
When Jesus tells a parable about two men praying, one a Pharisee who does everything right and the other a tax collector who recognizes his own faults yet asks for God’s mercy, it’s tempting to side with the tax collector. Especially since Jesus ends the parable in a way that basically states we must be humble.
Jacob wrestles all night with a holy presence. He cannot win, but he will not let his opponent go until he gives Jacob his blessing.
A widow brings a case of injustice to the attention of a judge who neither fears God nor respects the people he is supposed to serve. But the widow refuses to let go, and returns to the court day after day seeking justice.
Mother Teresa experienced years of feeling that God was absent from her, yet through those years she continued to pour herself out in love for the poorest and most vulnerable people in Calcutta, India.
In times of anxiety, in the face of injustice, and grief, what does faith look like? What does faith look like in your life?
When we pray, God promises to respond with God’s presence, whatever the outcome of the situation we are facing in this imperfect, broken world. Very often, we are the presence of God for one another.
Hope is not the end of the spiritual journey. If there is to be a journey at all, hope comes at the beginning, carrying us through even when all seems lost.