ReOrientation

It was in reading Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggeman that I first encountered the understanding of the seasons that we all go through in our lives.  He says that we will find ourselves in one of three places:

- the place of orientation where everything makes sense.  It is comfortable and predictable.

 - the place of disorientation - in which we feel we have sunk into a pit or found ourselves in unfamiliar and difficult terrain.  There is emotional pain and anxiety

- the place of reorientation as we are aware that God has lifted us out and we are in a new place of amazement and gratitude.

After almost two weeks of living in my home waiting for covid to go away I feel like I am back in that place of reorientation.  During that time I was definitely in disorientation - impatient, worried, concerned.

Yesterday I went back to work and it was as if the light was shining on me and I could see the many blessings of life at Gender Road Christian Church.  There is nothing like being away from your "normal life" to realize how special it is to be in relationship with others who are working together for God.

What I  know to be true is that all of us go through all of these phases throughout our lives.  As a church we continue to be in "disorientation" of a sort because of the pandemic.  We keep wondering about when to meet in person and when to zoom, about when to bring back the choir again, what to do about communion, etc etc.  I hear people talking about the "new normal" but we are not there yet - because we are still in disorientation. And have to wait in the discomfort of not knowing.

I am just happy to be through the covid journey of wondering how serious it is and when I am going to stop coughing and when I am no longer contagious.  To be back yesterday, working at the church put me in my happy place in a new way - grateful for the opportunity to use my gifts and to be with people I have grown to love.

One thing you know when you lived seven decades - that whatever place you are in will not last.  "This too shall pass" and I certainly want to savor the goodness and the blessing of reorientation for as long as I can.

Here is a prayer that reflects ME

May the RENEWING God be with you,recreating, enlivening, filling you with Gods worn life.

As you claim this life, cherish it and allow it to grow,

and celebrate it with "thank you" forever etched upon your heart.

With love may you call others to be renewed and refreshed.

May the blessing of the RENEWING God be upon you.