I have walked past this church probably 100s of times. It is across the street from a lake around which I often take my morning walk. This morning, a contrast caught my attention. The cross at the top of the church building rising up above everything else and then the cross in the utility pole connected to wires stretching out into the street. (Disclaimer - this is in no way a commentary on that specific congregation). What stirred in me was the connection. One of the crosses was clean and crisp and unconnected. The other was rough but connected to the community around.
Does this speak to who we are called to be as followers of Jesus? To me, it does. We aren’t called to be rising above everything and everyone else but instead, in the midst of everything and with everyone. We aren’t called to be the prettiest or smoothest or the most perfect but instead being we are who we are - rough edges and all. We are called to be rooted and connected to our source of life and hope and love and truth and grace and joy. And if I looked up that street some more, I bet I’d see that pole connected to others and that through those lines, each home, each person, each family was connected one to another and to that source.
I believe that is who I am called to be. And I believe those of us walking the way of Jesus are called to be.
