From the Pastor
A number of years ago, Malcolm Boyd published this prayer: “It’s morning again, Jesus, and here‘s that light and sound all over again. I’ve got to move fast…get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite, and run some more. I just don’t feel like it, Lord. What I really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep, and here I’ve got to run all over again. Where I am running? You know these things I can’t understand. It’s not that I need to have you tell me. What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it’s you. That helps a lot. So I’ll follow long, okay? But lead, Lord. Now I’ve got to run. Are you running with me, Jesus?”
As I write this, I am emerging from a June that felt as hectic and busy as Christmas or Easter. I was involved in projects, both within and outside the church, which took a lot of time and effort. I was feeling stretched pretty thin - anxious and pressed for time - feeling very much like the individual in Malcolm Boyd’s prayer. But unlike him, when I am feeling pushed and pulled in all directions at once, with no time and little patience, what I often fail to do is to step back and ask, “Are you running with me, Jesus?”
Perhaps, now that June is over, this is the gift the remainder of the summer will give to me…an opportunity to step back; to step outside my worries and busyness and see that yes, goodness and mercy do follow me all the days of my life, even when – especially when – I am not aware of or even open to them. All of which is to say that when I do step back, I discover that yes, Jesus has been running with me all the while.
The great African-American mystic and educator, Howard Thurman, once spoke of the deep joy we know when God makes God’s presence known to us in our lives. Said Thurman, “This is the joy that the world cannot give. This is the joy that keeps watch against all the emissaries of sadness of mind and weariness of soul. This is the joy that comforts and is the companion as we walk even through the valley of the shadow of death.” May this be the joy that opens for each of us as we step back this summer and discover the One who has been running with us all along.
Gene
