ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
October 9, 2021
As I was working on my sermon for this coming Sunday, I came across a quote from George Bernard Shaw. He wrote, “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” How often have people who are doing good work, offering small acts of kindness on a daily basis, how often are they interrupted to explain or even justify what they are doing? It makes me wonder if they are interrupted, not so much from a place of curiosity, but a place of guilt. People find themselves feeling bad because they are confronted with what they know they should do. A choice must be made, yet instead of joining the good work, they seek to stop it. If it is not happening, they think to themselves, then I will no longer have this emotional uneasiness within me. Guilt is a funny thing, and I do not believe God wants us to live a life of guilt. At the same time, it is a tool our conscious uses to ask deeper questions. Is there unnecessary or misused guilt? Of course, but from my own experience, there are moments when a hint of guilt emerges from a place where God is suggesting a change within me.
Nudge me, encourage me, Gentle and Generous God. Though sometimes uncomfortable, I desire to change if change is necessary for faithfulness in this life. Amen.
