Last Sunday I stood in Adult Forum and gave an accounting of my faith journey. Really, it was more like a slice, since I only had 10 minutes, but I mulled over my life with God for a week or two beforehand, and my thoughts took shape, and I sketched out a series of little stories that lined up like lily-pads. When it was time I went up to the front of the little chapel in the back of our church, took a deep breath, and leaped. And the Holy Spirit leaped with me, from spot to spot all along my twenties, as I recounted all the ways God had been with me when it was too difficult to be with him. And wonder of wonders: it was fun! It was incredibly, amazingly fun, and I felt relaxed, and when it was over I sat back down and I have to tell you that I've never in my life been more thankful for the opportunity to stand up in a room filled mostly with strangers. I've done it time and again, and have always enjoyed it, but really haven't had the chance over the past couple of years outside of church mission trips. If I'm being called to be a priest, I am being called to stand up and speak out, and to do something at least tangentially related and feel so affirmed was humbling and exciting and makes me so incredibly thankful.
Sunlight on Lily Pads by John Lautermilch
And then! Then, yesterday, my compadre in teaching Senior High went downstairs to give his faith journey speech, and I solo taught our Sunday School class for the first time ever. And HOLY COW, because it was AWESOME. We're doing a study of Luke, and preparing for our time together is already a high point of my week. I read what we're likely to get to in a fifty minute class, bust out some Joseph Fitzmeyer and William Barclay, take a few notes, and co-pilot as my wonderful co-teacher determines the tone for the class. And it should be noted that we have some amazing students-- thoughtful and intelligent and funny-- but they are all teenagers. Some Sundays they look like they'd rather be asleep. But yesterday, when it was my turn to guide our time, we jumped off with the story of the Transfiguration-- Glowing Jesus! What might be happening here? How great is Peter? What's the deal with Moses and Elijah?-- and they talked! And they kept on talking as we moved on, all of them, a lot, the whole class, and I knew when to ask questions and when to be quiet, and they had some marvelous insights, and I walked out of there and basically floated all the way down to the 11:00 service.
Once again I am humbled and amazed at this journey of discernment. Time and time again I've been called out of my comfort zone, and time and again I've stretched and grown and been a recipient of God's grace and love and a sense that I'm on the right path. And this path could lead in a variety of directions, and I am grateful for the growing number of people prayerfully discerning alongside me, and while I can't deny that I have hopes for where it might take me, how amazing is it that the Body of Christ has been given the gift of the Church? Every single person who walks through those doors every single week and back out of them into the community has the chance to enrich the Body of Christ and the world through the prayer and teaching and fellowship to which we are all called. No matter where the Holy Spirit would have me leap next, those facts remain solid and true and an immense source of possibility and comfort-- thanks be to God!
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