May 11, 2022
The events of the past weeks, when put in the context of the past two years, may leave you disillusioned, despairing, or at least distracted. So let’s deal with the distracted first.
Some opportunities are coming up at our church that I wouldn’t want you to overlook. The first two have to do with our support of missions. On Saturday, May 21, many of us will be walking at Green Lake and Alki to raise money to make clean water more accessible for those people in the world who walk 6 kilometers or more to get their water. That’s about 3 ½ miles. There is information below about this event. Please join us as you are able, or donate to someone who is walking. This is an easy way to significantly impact an important problem in our world.
On a similar note, I have continued to correspond with Rev. Matthew Jock Moses, President of the Covenant Church of South Sudan and Ethiopia. He informed me that the daughter of Pastor James Tang, whom we support as a missionary, is still missing. He wrote, “Thank you for your prayers for Rev. Missionary James Tang's daughter Nyawuor who is still missing. Pastor James Tang is now on the plane to the USA and will arrive around 9 AM (this past Monday) in the USA. Let us continue our prayers to do miracles through Nyawuor whom we still believe will be found in Jesus’ name.” Let us join our prayers with theirs as this search continues in Minnesota.
Also, President Moses expressed his disappointment a representative from our church would not attend their 25th anniversary celebration but was understanding given the circumstances. He was also appreciative of our decision to give financial resources directly to them in lieu of paying for travel. If you are interested, please donate through our Breeze portal here.
On a different note, poet and theologian Malcolm Guite and singer-songwriter Steve Bell will be in Seattle June 4-7 for a series of five events exploring “Faith and the Imagination.” Their schedule can be found here. The third of those five events will be held at our church on Sunday evening, June 5th at 6:30 pm. It will be an evening of words, music, and a conversation about faith and the arts. The event is free but does require a ticket. Please get your tickets here. We hope you will consider coming—and bringing a friend or two.
More information about this event is below.
Now, finally, back to being disillusioned or despairing. The past few years have been unrelentingly heavy ones. We have experienced the fatigue of living in a pandemic while trying to soldier on as best we can. At the same time, we have had to negotiate all those other events and occurrences that have happened in the world to us all, and to us personally—directly as individuals and indirectly through those close to us. I wonder how we might best process the thoughts and feelings we are carrying in an honest, healthy, helpful way? I am not sure what the answer to that question is. I consider things like creating a “wailing wall” where we can write anonymous thoughts and feelings—joyful, as well as painful—and post them on a board for us to read and prompt us to pray. I also consider creating listening groups where people gather to talk about issues and concerns they have with someone to facilitate those conversations. I am not making a proposal. I simply want to say that I see and hear the heaviness and fatigue that you are bearing—some more than others—and am trying to discern how to best care for you all and care for you individually. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to talk, or if you have ideas for addressing this concern.
There is no sign that things will be letting up much in the near future. Let us consider how we can create healthy and familiar patterns of listening, care, and prayer for one another now before even more things are piled on the loads we are currently carrying.
With love in Christ for you all,