The Rock We Need

Not the Rock of Gibraltar, but the Rock of God is what we need in these tumultuous times when just about every financial resource we have counted on has either melted or is awfully soft.  Some say all of us should have seen it coming, or at least the government should have, when it failed to catch how valueless the mortgage products were that investment banks were allowed to package and sell.  The supposed rocks of Wall Street quickly became molten lava flowing off into the sea as the subprime mortgage crisis reached its pinnacle recently.

The government is shaken, the politicians are shaken, and the rest of us wonder what will happen next in an upheaval that still does not seem to be over.   The short answer is:  no one knows.  But, just as Wall Street and the government have had to reassess their values and take some kind of action, it is a good time for each one of us to do the same.  For we could well be heading toward a Great Recession, hopefully not a Depression.

As people of faith and members of this church we have the tools to weather the storm.  (Don’t forget, "Offering Sanctuary to All in the Storms of Life" applies to every one of us.)  And we start off with our rock, the One who is Alpha and Omega, and who promises to be with us in times of trouble. Unchanging in crisis, Christ is there for us and connects us to himself and to one another.  That is the power of the church: being a connected, related community caring for one another and reaching out to the world.

It is easy to get completely caught up in a culture that would destroy Sunday morning as a sacred time for worship and substitute the Sunday paper, Meet the Press and kids’ sports as activities more important than Christian Education and Worship.  This is the same overly materialistic culture that has brought our nation to its financial knees.

The church provides many alternatives. Here is a short list of important ones that I believe we all need in these days of uncertainty: 

• An unchanging God who is our rock and salvation and who is with us in the hard times 
• Hope - Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” What is better to be part of than that?
• Connection - A community that cares, supports and sustains us in many ways—from calls to prayers, to genuine concern.
• Meaning - When meaning seems to wane in the uncertain world, we still have it in the church: the ever-present activity of growing as adults and children; meeting the needs that we can. 
• Passion - The way we raised funds for Camp Discovery and volunteered, ESL classes, Rainbow Experience, worship.

These are things we already have. We may need to create more - even to the point of sharing food and finances for those who are neediest in our midst. (And that may well be ALL of us!)

The walls of our sanctuary are stone for a reason: they represent the strength and durability of our God.  Take heart.  Come to church.  Participate.  Make suggestions for new activities and ways of caring.  The miracle is that all of can be fed, sustained and cared for; and we can share with others.

The times are surely perilous. But we have more than enough to get through them, because we are not alone.

In faith,
Rev. Jim Colvin