Locs, Heels, and the Bible

It is no small thing to hold gratitude in a year like this, where everything feels stretched thin and the space between us and God feels so thick. I’ve heard fear humming at front doors, while anxiety makes the bed as if their names are on the  mortgage or the rental agreement. “Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, and God’s steadfast love endures forever.” “How’s that working for you?” says the voice that will not let me go. I thought it was love that was supposed to hold on like that.  Instead, what stalks are policies that bruise communities, and the reports of people disappearing into systems that do not know their names. And yet, we are still here; breathing, choosing to gather, daring to hope in a time that punishes hope and continues to scope  out where a good dream is hiding that it might crush it. “Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, and God’s steadfast love endures forever.” I insist, even as the sound of terror persists  and tries to snuff o...

Pastors are human beings and we gather stories the way chalices gather the fruit of the vine - in pours. The cup is beautiful, yes. However, it gets heavy. We do grieve more than we admit. We grieve the saints whose funerals we preside over. We grieve when members leave, sometimes with words that bruise, sometimes with silence that lingers. We grieve colleagues who retire, because their absence rearranges the hallways, the Zoom room, and the denominational map. We grieve the ministry plans that were not approved by the committee, the initiatives that ran out of volunteers, and we are not immune to the shifting ground. In addition, we carry our own private griefs.  Grief in ministry is part of the road. Scripture is honest about this. Israel sang laments in public. Jesus wept at a friend’s tomb and lamented over a city that would not listen. Jeremiah ’s tears watered the pages of prophecy. Paul writes of being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” and the Psalms teach us to bring both...