Still Waters

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
(Psalm 23:1-2)

Thursday, Third Week after Pentecost

O God, out of the great measure of your gracious love, we humbly ask you to bestow on us what we so deeply need and know not how to ask: that in knowing Your love for us, we may have peace; not the peace that comes from our striving, but that which is a gift through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen

Dear friends,

The waters of our city, our community, our country, and the world are troubled. Waves of anger, rage, grief, and sorrow are crashing loudly all around us.  Cries of angst and lament are heard across the world.  How much of that sorrow is allowed to cross the threshold of your own heart?

Regardless of a person’s political leanings, in the Christian realm there is an appropriate place and time to lament tragedies that have occurred, injustices that have been committed, and griefs that are shared as a community.  The scriptures counsel us, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)  Now is the time for weeping.  Now is the time for Christ’s church to mourn the losses of lives that were taken away prematurely for no good reason, even if we did not know them.  Now is the time for us to pause what we are doing in order to listen to those cries.

I’m reminded that denying our pain only allows it to emerge in another form.  Ignoring our pain doesn’t work for long.  Even grieving may not lessen our pain as a community, though the appropriate response to death, especially unjust death, is to lament, “to weep with those who weep.”

Into these troubled waters our Lord speaks and leads us.  Out of his deep and abiding relationship with us, he provides comfort.  There is one place where healing comes.  Only the Lord can still the raging storm.  Only God can quiet the crashing waves.  Only the Holy Spirit is able to give a peace that transcends our human understanding.

Lord lead us again to quiet waters.  Restore our inner lives.  Guide us in right paths for your name’s sake.  Not only for us, O Lord, but for our city, our community, our country, and our world.

Peace to you,
Pastor Langdon Reinke

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