We Walk by Faith and not by Sight 1

      To all the Saints,

Grace to you all, and peace!

It is good to be back among you after three months away. Thank you again for the generosity that made my sabbatical possible, with special thanks to Jack Felch of the Presbytery Lead Team and Sue Wonderland of the Synod of the Trinity for keeping an eye on things. And thank you for no(t too many) major crises in absence!

It would be impossible to say all that I want to about my sabbatical in one short column, so you can be sure I’ll be sharing things over the months ahead. The “theme” that emerged was “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7), which actually took root much earlier in the year. Unlike my outdoor or treadmill walks, when I can use my phone for music, swimming pools and electronic devices are not compatible! So when I would exercise in the water, my mantra (a repetitive word or phrase used for prayerful purpose) was Paul’s famous phrase. Sometimes it was more of a command, for example, if my mind starting wandering into unhealthy places “Walk by faith , not by sight!” Most of the time, however, it was a reminder of how we are called to live.

On my six-day, 49-mile hike in South Carolina, these words took on new meaning. Each morning we would ascend the mountainside, usually on what might generously be called “steps”: roots, rocks, tree trunks, slabs half-buried in the mud. “This is not up to code!” I would say to myself, as “steps” might be three inches apart, or three feet. Four or five hours later we would enjoy “flat” for a little bit before descending that same kind of step toward the river where we would camp.

Because of echoes, you could hear the water well before you could see it. Hours before. With every step my exhausted mind would think, “I’m getting close!” only to discover that I was not. My mantra took on new meaning, because I had to trust that eventually I would get there — even if I didn’t know where there was! —and even if I had absolutely no evidence that was true.

It didn’t take long to realize how much this represented today’s church. The “there” many have relied on for decades is no longer a sitting target. Whose we are, who we are, and how we are to live haven’t changed, but how we are to minister in our world is changing all the time. It is hard work any way you go, and unhealthy ways of thinking and being are always a threat. But we are called to “walk by faith, and not by sight,” not to ignore discouraging things but not to let them define us either. Because, as Paul reminds us later in this passage, “Yes, we do have confidence, and … we make it our aim to please the Lord.”

God is all in all,

Steve