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I’ve been thinking a lot about stress lately. I can’t imagine why, but there it is (said with sarcasm). There are good stressors and bad stressors, but regardless of the type, they affect us in nearly identical ways. We sometimes teach this when working with young couples with active lives. Even a string of happy changes, like marriage, new jobs, buying a home, and having a child, all of which can happen in a relatively short period of time, is a lot of stress for a couple or an individual. Throw in something unexpectedly bad, and the total stress load is noticeable, to say the least.
Christ Church has faced a number of stressors in a short period, whether perceived as good or bad, and I’m aware that systems experience stress much the same way we do as individuals. Within a span of ten days, for example, we said goodbye to Mother Ashton, hello to Deacon Ethan, and then announced that I am on the ballot for the Diocese of Florida’s upcoming bishop election. I am aware of the current stress load on the parish. In the letters James Turner and I sent to the congregation this week, we assured you that everything will be okay. Because it will. Maybe even better than ok.
First, though, let’s make sure we remember healthy ways to navigate stress, whether good or bad – and our stressors over these last two weeks are a mix of both. I think the prescription for both types is the same: prayer. During our interim period without a Parish Administrator, as I’ve been wearing both of those hats, someone asked me how I was managing to “do all the things,” and at that point, they didn’t know the discernment with Florida was also going on in the background. Let’s just say it has been a very “active” time in ministry. My quick and true response was that it was only possible because of my connection to God through my prayer life. On a good day, I am able to hand God things that are too heavy for me to carry on my own.
This past Sunday, we had Jesus’ invitation to us to take on his yoke, with which we “will find rest for [our] souls.” That’s a favorite passage of mine for a reason. Paired with a theology we know from the prayer Reinhold Niebuhr penned over a hundred years ago, we get a powerful tool kit: “O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other.” If there is work to be done, the work is ours to do, but if it’s not our work to do, we need not carry the burden of worry about it. With God, we can discern what needs doing and entrust the rest to God, and, with Jesus’ assistance, we find that our souls can find the rest and restoration we require to navigate almost any challenge.
In the context of parish life, what is the work of the parish itself? Basically, we keep doing the things God has called us to do and let God handle the discernment outcomes (as God has, does, and will). We can celebrate someone who leaves, welcome someone who arrives, and share the work of proclaiming and being Christ in our community. When we feel some anxiety or worry about “the changes and chances of this life,” we rest in God’s “eternal changelessness,” as the collect in the Book of Common Prayer invites in one of the services of Compline’s prayers. As I’ve written about before, life is, in a manner of speaking, a series of changes. God is our constant.
I often have to remind myself that God’s got things in hand, and by often, at least lately, I mean at least once per day! Given the health and vitality of our community, Christ Church and its members will continue to thrive in the months and years to come, no matter what comes our way, because God’s got us. We won’t just be ok, but better than ok, because our God often manages to do more than we even know to ask or could ever imagine. We never know what the course ahead will look like until we reach each moment, but we manage those moments through God’s grace and our faithful commitment to follow Jesus at every turn.
I’d like to say, “Don’t stress, I’m not!” That’s not a genuine statement, though. Instead, I will say what I hear in whispers in those moments of prayer and meditation: “Be not afraid, for I am with you.” Last year, I sang a song for you all at the end of a sermon: “Nothing to Fear” by Paul Zach. I listen to it from time to time, including one of the mornings I was in Florida for their discernment retreat. I commend it to you if you can find it on your streaming service. It’s worth playing on repeat.
