week 34, post 1: manna for the journey
"Behold I will rain bread from heaven..."
"I can't do it."
"There is so much to do and we are so small."
"I/we are exhausted."
One of my colleagues remarked to me, "Warren, do you have a support group? You're emotionally close to the edge." I was a bit embarrassed by his observation, but I acknowledged that he was right. We have all pushed hard, and we stay close to the edge. There is so much to do...
A group of volunteers from Chicago left this morning. They'd been here for a week. Their wonderful pastor came with them and cared for us of Bayou Grace as the rest of them worked on houses or in the warehouse or with the case manager. Groups like this are like manna from heaven. We are energized and renewed by their enthusiasm and presence among us.
No, we really can't do it alone. We were never meant to. No we don't have anywhere near enough resources to hire enough professionals to do all that's needed; we were never meant to. But, day by day we find enough to keep going. Just enough. And we have to learn to pace ourselves, to "honor the sabbath and keep it holy." But we're still going...
Peace, Warren.
posted by warren @ 8:10 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Warren,
Thank you for posting about vulnerability.
I think that too many times, we don't want to think of ourselves, of our leaders, of those of us who call ourselves Church, as vulnerable. We like to pull out Scriptures about God's power and overcoming and how the blessings of God will just barrel us through.
Phooey.
If vulnerability was good enough for Jesus, then why not us?
I've been thinking a lot lately of how people will go out of their way to prove that a historical Jesus didn't really exist, BUT, rarely do we hear of someone going out to prove St. Paul didn't exist. What do you do with old Paul, anyway? Struck down in his religious righteousness by a vision of the Resurrected (and Ascended) Jesus Christ. Try telling Paul Jesus isn't/wasn't real!
Then, he had to convince the Christians that he was persecuting that he was now one of them.
Vulnerability.
Needing others.
Interconnectedness while simultaneously on an individual journey.
On the edge.
Some soft hugz to pad the edges,
Ritagail
Post a Comment
<< Home