This past Friday the students and faculty at United
Theological Seminary gathered for “Community Day.” The theme this year was “Family.” Dr. Barbara Holmes (Dr. B) gave the sermon at
our worship service that morning. The
theme of family and the text from the book of Ruth were strong reminders of how
community functions both effectively and ineffectively at times. They also reminded us that we are constantly
in a state of change that affects who we are, where we are.
Dr. B repeated throughout her sermon, “Sometimes you gotta
leave what you know to receive what you need.”
Isn’t that the truth?
These past few weeks have been full of leaving. My mother-in-law left the faith community
that has nurtured her for the majority of her life when she left the apartment
she has lived in for the past 8 or so years.
She moved to a new faith community and a new apartment. She is now living within four miles of us and
has joined us at the faith community that has nurtured us for the past 26
years. She can now attend church more
often and can become involved in more activities than she has been able to do
since she stopped driving a number of years ago. She is living in a senior building where she
can buy meals as she wishes and where the population is smaller and more like
her than where she previously lived. She
had to leave what she knew to get what she needs.
Today was my first Sunday at my internship church. I will be learning about worship at a parish
where a man presides at the altar and where there has been a deacon for
years. The church itself has undergone
major refreshing with the redesign of the sanctuary and a remodel of the parish
hall and kitchen. Today was the first
time the parish hall and kitchen were used.
I will get to see faith in action by experiencing someplace new to
me. I will learn more about myself and
about what I do and do not know about “running” a church. I have to leave what I know to receive what I
need.
On Tuesday I begin my third year of seminary. I will meet new people, I will form new study
groups, I will fill my mind and my soul and my heart with knowledge and love of
God. Whenever a new school year begins
we leave behind something—a friend who graduated or did not return to school, a
teacher who retired, and in seminary, a part of our theology as we deconstruct
what we have known to reconstruct what we need.
Dr. B went on to say that it is important, when we leave
what we know to receive what we need, to “return to your source and anchor your
soul.” Ruth and Naomi left what they
knew when their husbands died, but they remained anchored to their faith and
trust in God. Naomi returned to the home
of her family—her source—because there was an anchor there, she had more of a
chance to be cared for in her hometown than in Moab. Ruth stayed with Naomi, leaving her homeland
of Moab, trusting in Ruth’s God and anchoring herself to this exquisite
relationship. And their faith was
rewarded. They left what they knew to
receive what they needed and they returned to their source to anchor their
souls.
Dear God, life is risky business. When we stay in our secure spaces we limit
ourselves to the possibilities you have in store for us. Our thoughts, the things we were taught by
our parents and families and teachers and friends sometimes need to be
challenged to help us move forward in our lives as your people. Walking away from the familiar, even for a
short time, to become “more,” to trust “more,” to receive “more,” is
risky. You do not ask us to forget where
we come from, and you promise to be with us wherever we go. Help us to take the risks, leaving what we
know to receive what we need, but always keep us ever mindful that you are our
source and you are our anchor and you are the one who will give us everything
we need. Amen.