Greetings Friends,
I find myself torn these days between staying informed and maintaining my sanity. It feels like every time I open my phone or turn on the TV, there’s some new ‘breaking news’ to contend with, and I admit, it challenges my faith. The age-old theological question jumps into my mind often: “How do we reconcile the existence of evil with our faith in an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God?” Dubbed the theodicy problem, several philosophers and theologians have attempted to answer this question over the last millennium, yet none have come to a truly satisfactory conclusion. This scholastic struggle combined with the ever-present suffering in our world challenges me greatly, as I’m sure it does many of you.
However, this past weekend, I was able to find some respite in the company of a friend. We shared some delicious meals, many laughs, and enjoyed the gorgeous Colorado landscape together. This time brought back into focus for me the things in which God encourages to seek comfort. As we took a dip in the Big Thompson River and marveled at the mountains surrounding us, Jesus’ message in Matthew 6:26-27 popped into my mind:
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not for more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?
As we divulged moments of hardship and frustration to each other, I was drawn to Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Our interconnectedness is part of God’s design to bring us comfort and alleviate our anxieties. We can trust in God’s care by seeing that care extended to others, and we can face any obstacle through the support of a good friend. As I mentioned in my sermon this week, I don’t know if this scriptural wisdom provides an answer to the problem of evil, but I trust in the goodness of God that I encounter throughout the breadth of Creation, and that is true faith.
In the midst of the instability around us, may you find something or someone that offers you divine peace in the week ahead. The hope of belonging will certainly be found in service this Sunday, as Jeslyn Haux offers us her testimony. We need each other’s stories and the gift of presence now more than ever.
In hope and love,
Delaney (they/them)
Interim Pastor
