Faith Is Grasping Our Place in God’s Crocheted Tapestry
written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“But he [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
When you take the Christian faith seriously, it can become frustrating. Quickly, you realize that you are incapable of fulfilling the divine expectations. Not living up to God’s desire for yourself is God’s intention. The first step in the process of faith is the recognition that, alone, we are incapable of achieving much that is lasting. Then, if you read the Biblical characters or the “saints” of the Church, from the early Church through the Reformation to today, we are humbled even more. But rather than shrug in despair, God calls us to embrace our limitations and use them as a motivator.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, in his book The Wound of Knowledge, sympathizes with the limitations of our human plight. “The failure of every Christian to grasp and express the fullness of God’s act in history can itself be a sustaining, even a heartening witness to our own particular doubts.” When we brush aside the shallow treatments of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ezekiel, the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, Paul, etc., we see human individuals who accomplished much amid their human limitations. The Apostles have always been my comfort. Peter, the rock on whom the Church was built, was also the great denier who almost always acted before he thought. Or Thomas, who always thought, often leaving him unable to act.
Even in our modern world, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who did so much for the Civil Rights movement and fought fearlessly for the soul of the Christian faith, fell short when it came to extra-marital affairs. No one is free to cast the first stone. Father Williams is correct in reminding us that God’s acts in history are remarkable because God used us, fallible humans, to transform an unjust world. If God could use other limited human beings, perhaps there is room for you and me.
Today, reflect on a time you did something meaningful and out of your comfort zone. Before patting yourself on the back too quickly, think about the circumstances that made your fortunate moment successful. Odds are, behind your actions, God used other people to help you respond profoundly. Then, thank God because God chose to use you, warts and all, spending time and energy to transform your life in that moment. The more we recognize God’s handiwork, the more we connect our separate lives as one imperfect but beautiful crocheted world, one strand interacting with so many others to complete God’s ministry. Offer God your thanks for inviting you into God’s divine tapestry!
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