11/1/20 “Dimly and Partly” by Nancy E. Petty

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  -I Corinthians 13:12

What grounds me? We gather on the precipice of one of the most historical presidential elections of our lifetime. From all outward signs, our country is divided, societal institutions are facing major reforms if they are going to remain a strong thread in our nations fabric, communities are struggling to take care of one another amid a pandemic that seems to worsen day-by-day, families are having to rethink and re-prioritize the structure of their lives and days.

There is a dismantling or a “turning” from the ways things have been, and are, to what will be more sustainable, just and loving for the path ahead. Even though these have been and are anxious and worrisome days, I imagine, on some level, all of us are feeling that (or have that knowing inside) that things are, in Bob Dylan’s words, “a changin.” There is no going back. There is only a path forward.

So how do we live in these times going forward? How do we get through the next two days and then the next two and the next twenty and the next two hundred and the next two years? What resonates with us about how to live, and not just live and survive, but thrive in these days? What a time it is to be alive. What a time!

I, along, with Chalice have been thinking about what our faith says to us about this time and what it means to be alive in this time. It seems to me that while our faith might understand our worry and anxiety, it calls us to live out trust, faith and encouragement. While our faith speaks to our fear and despair, it calls us to live out courage and hope. And while our faith acknowledges our human tendencies toward judgment and vengeance, it calls us to forgiveness and mercy and compassion and love.

The question I have been asking myself during these last four years and the question I am asking myself as I prepare for Tuesday, and the days beyond Tuesday, is: Who do I want to be in this world and how do I want to live – in relationship to myself and others. Over and over, I keep coming back to Paul’s words to the people of Corinth. In that beautiful chapter on Love, Paul writes:

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Oddly, the comforting part of this text is not the part about the “then.” Then, we will see face to face. Then, I will know fully. The comforting part for me is the part that says now we see dimly; and now we know only in part.

Don’t get me wrong – I try my best every day to see clearly what God is showing me – what my faith wants me to see that shows me how to live; and I try my best to live in a fullness of knowing what God and my faith desires of me. And yet, I crave this longing to live from a place of acceptance that, at best, I see dimly and know in part. I crave this place because when I can live there I feel more open, more alive within my heart and soul to grow and transform and allow God/Spirit/Love to keep revealing and unfolding hope and truth and forgiveness and grace. To see dimly, to know in part means that I have more living to do, more to discover, more to experience. And that’s how I want to meet this moment in time and future moments in time. I want to be able to proclaim in all times – times of great hope and times of deep despair – that it is a great time to be alive, that there is always a turning; and while I can’t always see clearly or know fully what we are turning toward I put my trust and hope in a God who stays beside us and present to us in all the turning and changing and becoming.

I want to leave you with this image, Chalice. You know how right now we are entering the season of barrenness. The leaves are beginning to fall of the trees. Soon we will be left with bare branches. But what we can’t see are the buds that are already forming on those branches that in a different season will bloom and burst forth with new life. We can’t see those tiny buds. And we don’t know fully that they are actually there. But we have this promise, that:

In the bulb there is a flower, in the seed an apple tree, in cocoons a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free. In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season something God alone can see.

Today we can’t know how things will turn this Tuesday. Today, we see dimly and we know only partly. It is so with the next Tuesday and the next and the next. We can, though, know who we want to be and how we want to live in this world today and the next and the next. And although, from day to day, we see dimly and know in part our faith calls us to keep our turning toward Love, toward Love, toward Love.

Statement of Worship

Our worship brings together three threads of our communal life: the remembrance of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples; the remembrance of the saints who have gone before us, bequeath to us a great spiritual heritage, and light our path today; and the acknowledgement of our thoughts and feeling as we prepare for the election of our next president and elected officials – a sacred civil responsibility.

On this communion and all Saints Sunday, and on the Sunday before our nation elects our next president we gather first and foremost to worship God. In our worship of God, we also gather draw strength from one another, from our faith and from our spiritual ancestors.

Our liturgy will take us first to the table of remembrance as we share in a meal of love and grace. As we share our bread and cup, we will hear the names of our saints read aloud. Then, centered and grounded in these remembrances, Chalice and I will reflect on what grounds us as people of faith in these unusual times.

So, I invite you to take a deep breath. Feel the Spirit that connects us to one another. Feel the love of your Pullen community. Listen for God’s voice that is speaking to you. Open your heart and mind to be surprised by God’s love for you. And give praise to the One who created you and never leaves you.