Saturday, October 29, 2011

Dearest God,

I believe the ability to endure, to overcome, and to triumph in the midst of great challenge is your gift to humanity. With your power, unknown resources emerge and we grab hold to march with hope to your tune leading the way to health, wholeness, and a new way of life.

Last night we watched the film on Ernest Shackleton's expedition to Antarctica. Shackleton, a 20th century explorer, took 27 skilled men to explore the vast white at the bottom of the earth. The untold number of dangers that faced him called for a power beyond himself. He kept his men alive for 17 months at a place where no rescue was possible. Having made his way back to South Georgia Island through perilous seas in a tiny boat all his men were saved.

As I gazed upon the giant IMAX screen I felt as if I were on the ice, beyond rescue, hopelessly caught, and yet I realized that when the impossible presents itself, your possibility opens up.

We need a leader like that in our church, I thought. We need someone like Shackleton leading our nation and our world. With that kind of tenacity, love, determination, vision, and courage, we could indeed move mountains of inertia, doubt, fear, greed, and selfishness. We could build unity where every person would be valued and loved, where each person would do their part to make a community thrive, and where all would sense they were equal. We could create the world you intended.

Almighty God,
Giver of Power and Grace,
teach us
to trust you,
to explore
our inner resources,
to burst
with compassion,
to love
our neighbor,
and to work
toward solutions
to the problems
we face
in our world.
Lead us
to follow you,
I pray.

Love, Andrea