Devotion for February 11, 2022 from Pastor Barbara Caine of Holy Redeemer:
Because I rode the bus to school for the first four years of my school career, riding to school in the fog was a common thing. As hot summer days grow more humid toward the end of the summer, the cooler Fall evenings bring on the Central Valley tule fog. This is a fog so thick that, at times, the driver cannot see the center line down the middle of the road. I remember my mother and siblings warning my five-year-old self, “Stay away from the road. Stay behind the fence! The bus will be coming and the bus driver can’t see you.“
No matter how often we rode in the fog, I never got used to it. It was a strange feeling, riding along, unable to see where you are going, trusting that the bus driver knows where you are going.
I bring this up because it feels as if we are in a bit of a fog right now. We cannot see what is up ahead for us as a church. We have been saying, “Stay away from each other,” so that we can be safe. We’ve been riding along in our separate buses, trusting that our God is in the driver’s seat and knows where we are going.
Apparently St. Paul understood feeling that way. He spoke to the Corinthians, saying, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only [1]in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Cor. 13:12
In the Central Valley, the fog was beginning to dissipate about the time the buses arrived at school, and we all jumped out, mingled together and jumped into (sometimes reluctantly, sometimes excitedly) the task of working together to get an education.
It is my most sincere hope that the fog is lifting. We, through the heroic efforts of so many, have vaccines that will soon be for all ages, antiviral drugs that will aid those who contract COVID, and great procedures and masks that have, in combination with the vaccines, kept so many people from severe illness.
As people of faith our task is to uplift each other. As St. Paul says, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor 13:13 I am so glad that we are embarking on this journey of exploring ministry together, this figuring out how to jump out of our buses, mingle together, and get on with the task of working together to share God’s faith, hope and love, especially love, with the world.
In Christ,
Pastor Barbara.