Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My wife and I have lived in the same location for over nineteen years. For both of us, the longest either of us have lived. Moving is a fearful thing in so many ways. Where we will go is not certain, but we both know God will direct us where our creator wants us to be. Connie began packing over a month ago. Pictures have come off the walls, knickknacks are wrapped and stored away. Soon it will be my time to start. What books will I take, and which will be gotten rid of. So many of them are reference books, others I had to have for seminary, and then there are all those that people recommended that I will probably never read again, but fear I will want to keep, just in case. Files, I have two full filing cabinets of church records, most of which will never be needed and certainly never see the light of day again. While I have already filled a couple of banker’s boxes, there will be many more. And then comes the basement. Saturday I walked around taking photos of all the machines: lathe, table saw, planner, jointer, morticing machine, and so many more. All the hand tools, clamps, and wood. I have all that cherry that was going to be made into a bed well over a decade ago that I never found time to build. Boxes and boxes of screws and nails and plumbing fittings. Dare I mention the banker’s box filled to the brim with pieces of saved wire, just because that short length might come in handy in the future as one did when we moved into the vicarage in Corbin and a six-inch wire burned out in the oven a week after we arrived. Yes, that box had one about seven inches long, the same gauge, even the same color. I know if I get rid of it, there will be something in it I will need in the future. So much baggage. How much spiritual baggage do we all carry around? Resentments from years ago, anger at someone or something. In his meditation for Monday, Jay Sidebotham commented on our collect for Sunday, and the phrase “forgive us those things of which our conscience is afraid”. As he said, he would not enumerate his, but I suspect we all have things we can look back on we don’t want to admit. No, they may not be illegal or would destroy relationships or people’s opinions of us, but still, we would not want them known, even being unwilling to mention them to God. And yet, we know God already knows them. I remember after graduating from college I made my first formal confession. It was a humbling experience. It wasn’t so much saying out loud to someone else, but taking a week to look at my life, actions, and thoughts in detail that brought me to acknowledge those things of which my conscience was afraid. Just as moving forces us to clear clutter from our belongings, prayers like Sunday’s collect may help us to clear our spiritual lives if we let them.
Peace,
Bryant+
