“Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.” Zechariah 8:13
It was eight years ago that I was with my priest in my car. We pulled into the back parking lot of the church from lunch where we explored what God was doing in my life. I remember sharing some things about loss of interest in some things that used to fill my life and instead spending a lot of time praying. We sat in quiet, some, as others filled in other spaces in the lot. She brought up the priesthood. “I think you’re a priest, she said.” I shriveled in my seat. I think it was as much about the bluntness as it was the content. She explained a beautiful metaphor relating a call to be a priest to having a baby. “You have two choices, Laura. You can accept it and let it happen or you can moan and wail and worry. Either way, the baby is coming. Think about it.”
I did think about it but also did a lot more of that letting go and praying. I'll bet to someone looking at me from the outside, it looked like a lot of sitting around. To me, this little snapshot illustrates the value of discernment in community, the power of human fear, and even aspects of leadership. Today, though, I see truth as the theme. It is the same sort of truth, or "meet" in Hebrew, that this passage in Zechariah references. “Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgements that are true…”(v. 16) This was the truth she saw in me.
All over the Old Testament, the idea of “truth” refers to an experiential reality instead of a reasoned fact. God desires “truth in the inward being.” God judges according to emet, a part of righteousness and peace.
It was a miracle that day that I could hear the truth. It was something hidden even to me, but still in existence. Still visible or felt in the quiet times and somehow conveyed to my mentor. The day before my ordination, I presented her with a Byzantine icon of the Annunciation- Mary and Elizabeth as they sat in disbelief in what God had done. The baby was coming.
In this time of waiting, of perhaps discernment of your own in some way, may your eyes and heart be opened to truth, and may you not be afraid, for the baby is coming.
God of Truth, You are the truth of our being. Help me today to experience all that you are, and to do it without fear. Amen.
The Reverend Laura Masterson
No comments:
Post a Comment