Dear Saint Stephen’s
I was really struck last week with our Wednesday Night Live event with Sean Dietrich, aka Sean of the South, co-sponsored by our wonderful ECW. By the way, he shared some thoughts from his evening with us on his daily blog
here
. Our theme for our Fall Wednesday nights has been “Finding God through Storytelling, Art, Music, and Celebration” and last week touched on storytelling. Someone shared with me how much they appreciated the event and acknowledged that so much emphasis is often placed on theology, and this was just nurturing to the soul.
I have been thinking about her words ever since. I think a lot of people feel that church is about having all the answers or believing the “right” things about God. There are certainly things I believe and other things that I want to believe and a whole lot of space in between, but I wonder if a more helpful image of the Body of Christ is more about finding a place for our souls to be nurtured.
I don’t know what you believe. If it is important to you, I would love nothing more than to sit down and reflect, pray, and grow. I hope our formation opportunities help you grow in your faith. But I’m not too concerned if we don’t have it all figured out. Instead, my hope is that our souls are being nurtured and fed, that we are filled with an awareness that we are all a part of the Body of Christ, that our lives are enriched, and that we come to see our Lord manifest in our lives in new and powerful ways.
It’s not about answers, it might not even be too much about theology. But it does take us being intentional, open, and present. I hope you are finding opportunities here to do just that.
Faithfully,
John+