From the Bishop: God and the Impossible

We have been bombarded by a plethora of events in our world that shout to us that this is impossible for us to solve. So many events:

• The perennial poverty and catastrophe in Haiti
• The violence in Iraq and Afghanistan
• The persistent unemployment in our country
• The ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine
• HIV and Malaria in Africa
• Religious violence in Nigeria
• The family tragedies of foreclosures
• The murders in Minneapolis

And yet, as I look to the Biblical record, it seems that there are a series of events (personal and material) that seemed impossible to deal with.

• Abraham and Sarah without an heir to carry on Israel’s legacy
• The poverty stricken Israelites enslaved in oppressive and imposing Egypt.
• The Babylonian Death March and Captivity
• The Philistines terrorizing Israel
• The early fledgling Christians being arrested and imprisoned by the Pharisee Saul.
• The people of God oppressed by the law.

The Biblical stories are a series of stories indicating to us that God works in special ways when the pathway seems impossible. Usually the way through to a new day involved a leader. Either reluctant or enthusiastic (like Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, the Apostle Paul, King David, Amos, Jeremiah, etal.). And in our country, beginning the change from racism to civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr., and in South Africa, Nelson Mandela.

It seems apparent that God inspires God’s people at the most difficult and impossible times to move forward or to move a nation forward. Our faith is always a faith peppered with hope--looking toward liberation and trust.

Bishop Craig Johnson