CTS Pastoral Care Team – Weekly Reflection
It is hard to believe that a few weeks after ending the longest government shutdown in our country’s history, we are facing the possibility of yet another one this week. While we all watch and wait to see if our elected leaders can avoid another government closure, I find myself reflecting on where it is that we place our trust.
But the reliability of our government isn’t the first institution in our lives to have its dependability called into question. Indeed, it is just the latest reminder of the fallibility of so many things in our society: the financial system, corporate responsibility, law enforcement, the justice system, and the American dream itself. Even churches have not escaped this death of trustworthiness—in my own state of Connecticut, we are dealing with the release of the names of over two hundred priests going back several decades credibly implicated in sexual abuse and misconduct by the Archdiocese of Hartford.
All around us, the things and institutions in which we have placed our trust for so long are crumbling away and revealing themselves to be poor foundations. So where do we put our trust? When everything else in life feels uncertain and undependable, where will you place your trust?
In times like this, I am thankful for my faith, because God is the sure foundation that I so desperately need in my world, the foundation that I cannot find anywhere else. And I know that I am not alone in the experience; I have only to look to scripture to find countless stories of others, who when faced with the uncertainty and instability of the world, found comfort in God’s steadfastness. There is Ruth and Naomi, who trusted in God and rebuilt their lives after their world fell apart. And there was Joseph, for whom nothing was ever stable and whose life oscillated between highs and lows, but through whom God would bring salvation to the people of God.
So, in the political theatre and uncertainty that will play out this week, I invite you to join me in in consciously choosing to place our trust in God, that we might find comfort there. And not just comfort, but the strength to forge ahead through the chaos, anchored to God alone.
Blessings,
Rev. Adam Yates | Pastoral Care Team
Based on Chicago’s South Side, Chicago Theological Seminary is committed to creating leaders for the next generation of religious leadership ... whatever that may be. A leader in social justice, CTS is committed to LGBTQ and gender issues, interreligious understanding, and racial justice. CTS is an affiliated seminary of the United Church of Christ. Since its founding in 1855, CTS has pushed at the growing boundaries of the church in order to make faith more relevant and transform society towards greater justice and mercy. The student body now represents more than 40 different faith traditions, perspectives, and denominations.
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