We continue to listen to Job’s story. The Spirit moves the chimes (or not). Is it a persistent sound in the chimes? Is it still and quiet? What do you hear?
Trust
I remember sitting parked by the roadside once, terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter’s illness and what was going on in our family, when out of nowhere a car came along down the highway with a license plate that bore on it the one word out of all the words in the dictionary that I needed most to see exactly then. The word was TRUST. What do you call a moment like that? Something to laugh off as the kind of joke life plays on us every once in a while? The word of God? I am willing to believe that maybe it was something of both, but for me it was an epiphany. The owner of the car turned out to be, as I’d suspected, a trust officer in a bank, and not long ago, having read an account I wrote of the incident somewhere, he found out where I lived and one afternoon brought me the license plate itself, which sits propped up on a bookshelf in my house to this day. It is rusty around the edges and a little battered, and it is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen.
Buechner, Frederick (2009-10-13). Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner (pp. 326-327). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
I AM “None of the above”
The number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has hit an all-time high — about one in five American adults — according to a new study released Tuesday (Oct. 9) by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. … Pew partnered with the PBS television series Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly to survey 500 additional unaffiliated Americans. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly will air a three-part series about the unaffiliated beginning with its Oct. 12 broadcast. —Religion News Service 10/9/2012
Whether we “like it” or not this is where we live now. As people in relationship with God we live and move and work and play among those who are not so sure or who believe there is no God. What are we to make of this new landscape? It is a topic worth exploring in our homes, in our Forum, and in our church.
Note: there is a link to a PBS Preview of the series in the RNS article: Losing our religion: One in five Americans are now ‘nones.’
A prayer
Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give me an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give me an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow on me also, O Lord my God, understanding to know Thee, diligence to seek Thee, wisdom to find Thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace Thee. Amen. —Saint Thomas Aquinas
Shannon, Maggie Oman (2009-12-22). Prayers for Hope and Comfort: Reflections, Meditations, and Inspirations (p. 10). RedWheelWeiser – A. Kindle Edition.
Hear what the Spirit is saying 