Pastor's Pen February 2025

    Not long before his death, Henri Nouwen wrote a book called Sabbatical Journeys. He writes about some friends of his who were trapeze artists, called the Flying Rouvelas.

They told Nouwen there's a special relationship between flyer and catcher on the trapeze. The flyer is the one that lets go, and the catcher is the one that catches. As the flyer swings high above the crowd on the trapeze, the moment comes when he must let go. He arcs out into the air. His job is to remain as still as possible and wait for the strong hands of the catcher to pluck him from the air.

One of the Flying Rouvelas told Nouwen, "The flyer must never try to catch the catcher." The flyer must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him, but he must wait.

          Who do you trust? Who is worth waiting for in your life? (Lamentations 3:25) “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks him” I suppose if I were a trapeze artist I would have to trust my catcher that they would do just that, catch me. It takes a lot of practice and trust. So on a trapeze, so with God. It takes a lot of practice, trial and error, doing what is right in our lives and having a relationship with God to know that He will catch us.  Just like with anything worthwhile it is a two-way relationship. Unlike with earthly relationships, sometimes if we have hurt someone or they have hurt us the relationship is over. Not so with God! We hurt him repeatedly and He still waits. We only need to look for Him and come back to Him. Even though we have moved away from Him, He still waits patiently for us to ask for forgiveness and walk the right path beside Him. God is looking especially for three crucial qualities: humility, faithfulness, and loyalty. Isn’t that what we are all looking for?  It seems we are always judging God! Why would He do this? Why did God let this happen to me or my family? Why didn’t He give this one thing to me? Why, why, why?  God does not retaliate and do things because we have done bad things. We would all be looking downward for eternity. He lets us choose. Then life happens and our consequences must be lived with, from our own choices, not His. He waits for us to come back to Him. We don’t get punished from God by what we do or don’t do we punish ourselves.  It is just that God get judged and blamed. So If you are not trusting God, who are you trusting? None of us are strong enough to do the flying and the catching on our own.  It is up to us to live, fly, do what is right and wait.  God the catcher will reach out His strong hands and pluck us from the air. But, we must do what is right. Aim towards Him and TRUST HIM.

                                                        Blessing to all,

                                                        Rev.Walter Coy