Dear Caldwell,
As we travel from Sunday to Sunday this week, I am drawn again to the psalms. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has a wonderful book titled, “The Cycle of the Psalms.” He writes that the psalms, which express seemingly every aspect and emotion of the human experience, fit within three categories that suggest a cycle of life with God and with each other. Psalms of “orientation” are mostly praise to God for times of peace and wholeness; psalms of disorientation, cries of anguish and help to God in times of despair; and, psalms of reorientation, in times when we feel our walk with God and our lives are regaining balance and wholeness.
Our own lives move through those cycles, as does the life of the church. As a church family, we have experienced many emotions in the last week or so. We may feel disoriented, uncertain, out of balance, questioning, angry, hopeless, fearful even vengeful. Or, we may feel oriented, that while church life brings ups and downs, good times and bad, we trust that all will be well with us under God, through Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. Or, we may feel re-oriented, that our walk with God and each other, once disrupted, is regaining balance and normalcy … or we may hope, trust and pray that those days are coming soon.
Most members did not attend the town hall on Sunday afternoon, at which the session listened to the reaction from some members of the congregation to the news that Rev. Evie Landrau’s contract relationship with the church will expire. Some spoke raw emotion, others listened and witnessed silently. Anger, hurt and disappointment, among many other emotions and words, were expressed toward the session, along with support and understanding. Some may have felt the pain they had coming in the room was addressed. Others may have left the room with more pain than when they came in. As of today, some may be healed or healing, some were fine to begin with, others elsewhere on the emotional spectrum.
Orientation. Disorientation. Reorientation.
On Sunday, I said that, as a church family, “we belong to God and we belong to each other.” Families – including church families – work things out over time. As one new member reminded us on Sunday afternoon, sometimes life together is messy and hurtful. I want to thank those who have since reached out to the session and to me to check on us. Those calls and emails have been life-giving and hope-inspiring.
So I leave you again with Psalm 46, which I’ve quoted twice in the last few weeks. As with many psalms, it doesn’t avoid the reality of hard times. Even more unflinchingly, it affirms that “God’s got us” – in all times. I hope you will take a moment to read it and say a prayer.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
Look for Caldwell This Week Saturday. Happy Fourth. May God guide and direct our nation and its leaders.
In Christ,
John