Weekly I receive heartfelt, dispirited comments. Whether through email, face-to-face conversation, or on Facebook. These comments come from people of all ages, all socioeconomic backgrounds, and all political leanings. I’m pretty sure every pastor of any era has experienced a season of disgruntled, fearful congregants who long for a more idyllic time.

There is something that feels different about this present age, though. Cell phones, a 24-hour news cycle, Netflix, the internet, a lack of civil discourse, and the demotion of compassion – the world seems to be both very small and yet we are immensely more disconnected to one another. But, perhaps the same was said with the invention of the telephone, mass media, and the highway system?

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times. Focus on what is from God – the kind, the lovely, the holy, the just.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times. Focus on the light where God’s people are standing.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. Do not make yourself ill with overwhelm. There is a tendency too to fall into being weakened by preserving on what is outside your reach, by what you cannot be. Do not focus there. We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn’t you say you were a believer? Did you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Did you ask for grace? Don’t you remember that to be in grace means to submit to a voice greater? (Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “A Letter To A Young Activist During Troubled Times”)

Do not lose heart. Jesus is Lord.

Cheers.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Stacee

 

As shared in the July edition of the Muncie High Street UMC monthly newsletter.