What is saving your life right now? Years ago Barbara Brown Taylor was invited to speak at an Episcopal church. “What should I talk about?” she asked the priest. “Just talk about what is saving your life right now,” the priest responded.
It’s a wonderful question that rolls around in my brain sometimes. In my father in law’s final week of life on this earth, the pain became difficult to manage. One day the hospice nurse administered some morphine and he grimaced at the terrible taste in his mouth. His daughter leaned in to stroke his arm and tears spilled down her cheeks. Though his voice was weak, Dad mouthed to her, “It’s ok, sweetie” Through those brutally heavy days, what saved us was seeing his gentle kindness. We held on to each other. Seeing the family reach out with love and compassion, weeping together, that saved us too.
Over the past several months, I got to sit with several church members to dialogue about our 100 year heritage and ponder our next 100 years. One member told me “the church completely changed my life.” And another said “the church helped us become a family.” Every person I talked to acknowledged the shifting cultural trends that adversely affect the church. It is no secret that church membership and church participation in the U.S. is on a downward trajectory. But at the same time, the messages I kept hearing from young and old was that the church was pivotal in their own personal formation, a spiritual anchor. These conversations were life-saving to me. They reminded me that the church is not just a cultural institution, a pretty building, or a dinosaur, but rather a group of folks who seek the life changing love of God. It gave me courage and hope to hear that God is still whispering and shouting, still challenging and comforting, inside these old stone walls and shimmering stained glass.
As we journey through Lent, let’s keep asking ourselves, “What is saving my life right now?” Because the God who walked around in the person of Jesus 2000 years ago, still moves and breathes in our world today. We experience some terrible days and some joyful ones. Much of that is beyond our control. But we can keep asking “What is saving your life right now?” Is it a friend, a spouse, a garden, a song, a job, a child, a dream, a goal? Asking the question may help us experience the Christ who went to the cross for love and rose again. It is more than an old story. It is happening to us today.
Grace and peace,
Carla
