Thursday, February 20, 2014

Everlasting Faithfulness

Yesterday I went to the dentist.
You might be wondering how the dentist connects to faith (though for those of you who have not sat in the dentist chair in a while you might not be wondering at all).  Well, let me tell you.

As with in most offices, a local radio station was playing while the office personnel and patients went about their daily business.  I had just asked the dental hygienist whether or not she ever got tired of the same radio station (to which she replied "YES!") that I heard the words "gun shot" and "Kentfield", the final ends to a news update.  I probably wouldn't have even heard the words had I not brought up the radio while trying to make small talk.

I immediately thought of the neighborhood just down the street from my church; a neighborhood community in which we have held various events over the past seven years.  Was this the Kentfield that the DJ was speaking about.

Upon arriving home I went to The Record website to check and sure enough two individuals had been killed in and around the neighborhood at different times two days prior.  I was heartbroken.  I didn't know the individuals who had been killed, had never heard their names, but I was heartbroken for both those who were not dead and those who had killed.  I thought of the people who come to our church from that neighborhood, new friends and beautiful faces who have joined our community of faith.  I prayed for their safety and for the safety of all of the children and adults whose faces rushed through my mind as I thought about our different visits to the park.

Too often, when confronted with the violence and apathy that is so prevalent in our country, Stockton being no exception, we despair thinking that nothing can be done, that there is no hope for change in our lives and in the lives of others.

This is perhaps the hardest part about faith; about hope.  Hope calls us to look at what is right in front of us and see it as God does - something that he has and is redeeming.  Hope calls us to not only see the world around us as something that can be restored and renewed but to believe it to be possible.

Now it isn't possible because of our hard work or anything that we do, because we will grow weary in our work.  It is possible because of the everlasting faithfulness of our God.

Later that evening I pulled out my Bible and rather then taking up in Genesis where I had been reading I opened to Isaiah.  I started in chapter 37 and just read, unsure of what I might be "looking for".  Then I got to the end of chapter 40 and read:

"Why do you say, O Jacob, 
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

- Isaiah 40:27-31-

It was here that I stopped, thought, and found hope.  God does not tire or grow weary.  He gives each of us strength even though we will fall.  When we put our hope in God we will be able to do far more than if we place our hope in ourselves or in others.

Join me in praying for our community:

Gracious and everlasting Father - 
We thank you for your faithfulness and strength when we feel helpless, hopeless and worn.
Grant the families in the Kentfield neighborhood your mercy and protection.  May those who have been torn down, beaten, broken and in any other way hurt, find comfort in you.  May they find people to hold them up.  We pray for the families of those who have been killed asking for your peace.  We pray for those who have taken the lives of the two individuals.
Lord, we ask that you would be with us in reaching out and holding up this community in our hearts, hands and prayers.
Amen.