|
What does WWW stand for? We were asked that the other
day. I attended a joint conference ten days ago between
our presbytery and this region’s ELCA synod
(Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) in Mt. Vernon.
One of the presenters that Saturday asked us what WWW
represented. And of course, anyone with any savvy in the
electronic medium of the internet rightly responded World
Wide Web. But, also of course, they were wrong (yes, me
included). “No,” he said, “it stands for White Water
World” and then proceeded to explain whathe meant.
Have you seen photos of folks going down one of these
raging rivers in a large rubber raft decked out with helmets
on their heads, life jackets securely fastened around their
chests, and paddles in hand? There have been several movies
over the years that feature this motif as well or perhaps so
me of you have even tried this. I can’t add that to my list
of attempted insanities (yet), but… Anyway, the action
never stops when white water rafting. Now there may be
times when it’s not so intense, when the river is perhaps a
bit wider and calmer, but forward progress doesn’t stop,
there's a flow there. And so it is with our lives individually
and together as the church. Rapid change is the norm
these days. So, since we live in a white water world, let’s learn
from the rules of white water rafting. Rule number one-
Rest in the calm spots, there’s more coming. Hey, that’s a
good one…resting, taking it easy, except that to rest in
the calm spot on the river you still have to keep paddling
to stay there or the current will carry you down stream.
Which leads us to Rule #2—Never stop paddling. No matter
how wild the ride or how seemingly monumental the obstacles
ahead are, keep paddling. Once you’ve stopped paddling
you’re at the mercy of the currents. Then there’s the third rule-
Lean into the rock not away from it. Initially, that
doesn’t make much sense does it? But if we recall some of
the Biblical imagery for God, for Jesus, and remember the
lyrics of that hymn that go “on Christ the solid rock I
stand” then leaning toward our rock when the oncoming
situations of life appear ominous does make sense. And then
there’s Rule #4—Let go of everything but your life jacket.
On the river of life, when there’s no doubt your boat’s
going over, cling to the one thing that will save you—
that is Christ, my friends. We cling to a lot of stuff that
we think is important and necessary but in those moments
when we are truly living, when we’re the most alive, it is
with Christ. I write you this as something to think about
as we journey together; consider where you’re seated in the
boat. And with Lent upon us, this river is flowing straight
towards the cross and we’re headed there to.
|
