Living Faithfully, Acting Bravely
Reflecting on Seven Years
Seven is one of those biblical numbers. Common wisdom has it that seven represents completion, perfection. But sometimes seven is just a mid-way point. In Genesis 29, Jacob meets his future wife. Well, he meets one of them. Jacob has traveled a long way and he comes to a well, where shepherds were watering their flocks. He tells some of those gathered he's looking for his cousin Laban, and lo and behold, Laban's daughter Rachel arrives with a flock. Hearing that this is the daughter of Laban, Jacob waters the flock. Laban hears about it and runs to greet his cousin, who had done this good deed for him. When Laban asks what sort of payment he'd be willing to take, Jacob, because he is smitten with Rachel, offers to work for Laban for seven years for her hand in marriage. At the end of seven years Laban tricks Jacob into marrying his older daughter Leah. When Jacob confronts him, Laban agrees to give him Rachel's hand, too, in exchange for another seven years of work.
All of that to say, sometimes seven is completion, sometimes, it's just in the middle.
This week marks the seventh anniversary since I came to St. Mary's In-The-Hills, so I've been looking back and reflecting on how far we've come together.
Our Vestry met for a retreat on Saturday, and we talked a bit about what it means to live bravely--as a community. We talked about what it might look like for St. Mary's to live our faith more bravely. We studied and discussed together Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 17-21, about what God requires of us, what it means to "fear" God, how to love God and keep the commandments of our God, "the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing." We discussed what God might be calling us to: "You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." What does it mean to live faithfully? What does it mean to act bravely? What does it mean to be God's people?
We listened to a re-enactment of the last speech of John Brown. We watched the video over 150 Episcopal bishops put out a few weeks ago, reminding us that in our baptismal vows we take an oath to respect the dignity of every human being. And we asked ourselves what bravery might look like.
As I look back at the seven years I have served at St. Mary's, I can see how we've grown from a welcoming space into a safe space. And how we've begun to grow from a safe space to a brave space. It's time for us to ask how we learn to live together bravely, how we grow from a brave space, to a brave community, a fellowship of Christians acting bravely in the world.
We don't have all the answers yet, but the Vestry will continue to discuss all of these things, and we will look together for ways to live faithfully and act bravely in our community, to love our neighbor bravely, to love the stranger bravely.
Seven years has not brought us to perfection, but to what feels like a middle. To me, it feels like we are at a fulcrum in our life together, and I am excited to see what's next! I hope and pray that the next seven years continues to find us faithful, full of hope, and learning how to love bravely.
