Glen Avon Presbyterian Church

“A Way in the World”

by Rev. Lon Weaver

The deep freeze of late January provides a metaphor for the puzzle of being faithful in our time and culture. On the Monday evening of our recent bout of freezing rain, I drove to Menard's to stock up on salt in preparation for the ice to come. (During our first winter in Duluth, I was given the advice to use water-softener salt as an affordable way to keep our long and steep driveway ice-free. Salting our “demon”-driveway requires about 80 pounds of salt!) Unfortunately, I was about an hour late in my effort to both resupply our salt-stock and get home before the freezing rain. Thus, as I listened to the radio broadcast of President Bush's final State-of-the-Union address, I was pulling the Durango along the curb of a side street about one block below our home, unable to negotiate the last stretch of the ice-covered hill leading to our street. For nearly twenty-four hours, we were trapped by the icy conditions. It was a temporary situation, but it was also one akin to the state of practicing faithfulness in our culture.

At about this time last year, a church member shared the story of a friend whose middle-school-aged son had a season of some fifty-plus games in his sports season: that is games alone, not including practice time. One wonders how it is possible for such a young person to fit school studies or family time or anything else into his schedule, much less nurturing a youthful faith in Christ!

For adults, the situation can be at least as difficult. Jobs compete with time for personal renewal. For couples, community obligations to fine and worthy causes can sap away the time to nurture a relationship. For parents, quality time with our children is paradoxically frustrated by taxiing our children to one activity after another. Is there any wonder that faithfulness is reduced to “fitting church into” our busy schedules? We've been trapped by the structure of life the world has imposed and that we have accepted.

Thanks be to God that there is hope for life to be different! Thankfully, something gnaws at us, telling us that this harried way of life is not the way it should be. Graciously, a voice within us attests to the fact that life can take another direction and that we can decide to take that direction. It's a voice which speaks to another path on which to make our way in the world. It's the same voice which offers the words, “'Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'” (Matt. 11:28) It's the voice of Christ.

This Lent each of us will have the opportunity to step back and consider the state of our faith walks. With Ash Wednesday worship, we will begin this season of renewal and transformation. Then, for the following five Wednesdays we will gather for a meal and discussion on the theme, “A Way in the World” (inspired by a book by Ernest Boyer). Each Wednesday at 5:30 PM we will gather for seventy-five minutes. First, we will have meal fellowship, making it a point to take the opportunity to get to know folks we don't know very well. Then, we will discuss a specific practice of our faith that can be woven into our daily lives.

We believe that these gatherings will be a great opportunity to renew our spirits and to be reminded of how to make faithfulness to Christ the core of our existence rather than something to be fit into our schedules. We do this because we trust, with the apostle Paul, that the Spirit can melt the icy barriers to passionate faithfulness and renew our minds so that we may know “what is the will of God―what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2) Amen!