“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.” (Isaiah 40.31)
Where is God now? Where is God in the mess of the world around us? Where is God amid the deep evil and hate-filled speech of our time Where is God when we are battered by the storms of life? How do we hold onto our belief in a loving God when everything around us seems to say that God is indifferent—or even worse, absent?
These are all questions that people of faith (and people of no faith) have been asking for centuries. While it often seems easier to give in to despair, our calling as people of faith is to keep looking for God and notice that God is present in surprising and unexpected ways and places.
Sometimes the gift of noticing God’s presence comes through the actions or words of someone courageous enough to speak truth to power, as happened in Washington National Cathedral at a national prayer service Jan. 21. The world took notice when Bishop of Washington Mariann Budde preached a powerful and prophetic sermon at a time when transgendered persons, refugees and undocumented migrant workers in the United States were asking, “Where is God now?” Her sermon ended with a plea to the new president to show mercy to the most vulnerable whose lives and livelihoods are in peril.
Budde also noted each person can do their part in realizing the ideal of a unity “that incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement … with the solid foundations of dignity, honesty and humility that such unity requires.”
Our self-understanding as the Church, as a people made in God’s own image and likeness, demands that we stand with the suffering people in God’s world and hold one another accountable for its repair. There is a Hebrew expression for this work of world-repair—Tikkun Olan—and it’s something we have participated in and borne witness to through our acts of mercy, justice and kindness.
We will gather for General Synod this June under the inspiring theme from Isaiah 40:31, which speaks of hope, strength and renewal: “They will soar on wings like eagles.” In the Anglican Church of Canada, we share a common vision of God’s mission for the world, and are entrusted with being witnesses to Christ in our words and deeds. Bearing the name of Christ, we put our collective faith in God and maintain our hope even in an environment of suspicion and hostility.
When it seems as though we have come to the end of our strength, God, the Creator of all things, will renew us and care for us. We will soar like eagles, and our strength will be renewed. God, after all, has given a pattern to guide us in our healing of this broken world through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As light breaks through the darkness, we are invited to look beyond what we’re seeing, and to live boldly as a people of resurrection hope. God came in a manger and on a cross, and through both showed the possibility of something new.
In writing this month’s message I’ve felt inspired by a powerful image—a painting by Bishop John Watton, of the diocese of Central Newfoundland. It shows a couple with an infant, sitting in a little wooden boat which is being buffeted by rough and stormy seas. The closest land is far on the horizon. But look at the skies filled with streaks of beautiful light! This is the light that no darkness can overcome.
