FBC Family, I am holding you in prayer today. These are tumultuous days! I took great comfort in the candlelight vigil and prayer service last night. I brought the little worship guide home with me. The responsive prayer on page 3 is now affixed our refrigerator and I’ve found myself returning to it repeatedly today, whispering the words in my kitchen.
I shared the story in worship on Sunday of how, in 1952, at the threshold of the Cold War, Harry Emerson Fosdick, a Baptist minister and founding pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City, spoke to students and faculty at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. After acknowledging the uncertainty and chaos in the world at that time, he spoke these now-famous words: “The highest use of a shaken time is to discover the unshakable.”
This is the Church’s task in tumultuous times: we return to the unshakable. We come back to the Source that does not move. We listen to our spiritual ancestors who, amidst cataclysm and uncertainty, raised their voices to sing:
God is our refuge and strength...
And though the whole earth should change,
we will not fear.
Though the mountains themselves should tremble
and fall into the seas…
we will not be afraid.
For God, our God, is with us,
a refuge and strength." (Psalm 46)
As the political, social and religious structures roll and quake beneath our feet, may we return again and again to that which cannot be shaken.
What remains constant following the election? The love of God. The calling of Christ. The empowerment of the Spirit.
Come Wednesday…and Thursday…and Friday—what will the community of Christ do, regardless of the outcome?
We will love and worship God.
We will love and serve our neighbors.
We will pray.
We will act.
We’ll speak up for the voiceless.
We’ll stand with the powerless.
We’ll come alongside the hopeless.
We’ll plant seeds and paint pictures.
We’ll sing songs and hug our children.
We’ll do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with our Maker.
We’ll break bread with friends and strangers.
We’ll invite people to take a chance on God.
And maybe we’ll even take some fresh chances ourselves.
In other words, some things remain the same after Election Day. All the best things.
Peace and every good…
Pastor Julie