On the bulletin board in my office I have a short poem by Wendell Berry, a farmer, environmental advocate and writer, entitled “Real Work.”
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
For several weeks, this Lent we have learned more about and dwelt within the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer whose theological and political witness in Germany during World War II continues to inspire engaged Christians today.
Each session ended with this question: What should we be doing today?
Each of our presenters shied away from giving any easy answers because there are no easy answers.
A significant part of being a Christian community together is about being in discernment, study and conversation with one other to try to find the answer together. And then to do that work alongside each other.
As Berry says - when you don’t know what to do, you have finally come to the real work of figuring it out.
This Sunday at 11:15 a.m. in Witherspoon Parlor, we are delighted to be able to welcome Dr. Rob Trawick, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at St. Thomas Aquinas College outside of New York City. For several years now Rob has been a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.
In case you have never heard of this particular entity within our denomination, here is how they describe themselves:
The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) serves the prophetic calling of the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by providing the General Assembly with careful studies of pressing moral challenges, media for discussion and discernment of Christian responsibilities, and policy recommendations for faithful action.
This week Rob will walk us through how Presbyterians “take a stand” both locally and nationally on the pressing issues of our day. To just give you a small taste of all the issues that Presbyterians have created policy statements on, you can check out their website which includes information on Presbyterian statements again McCarthyism in the 1950s to gun violence awareness and a clear stand against human trafficking today.
I hope you will be able to join us as we intentionally and thoughtfully do this work together.
