Spiritual Hiccups - No Fear

God is our refuge and strength,
      a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
      though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
      though its waters roar and foam,
      though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

At the church I serve, we often use these opening verses from Psalm 46 as a responsive call to worship.  They seem an appropriate way to speak of our faith that God is with us, even in our darkest moments.  Even in the face of death we can trust that God's love does not fail. 

I know many people whose greatest comfort when they lose a loved one is this hope in God as refuge, the promise that the love of God is stronger even than death.  Despite the huge hole left when someone dies, it is a great solace to know that both we and our loved one are together held in the same love of God in Christ.

I sometimes wish we were as good at claiming the certainty and hope of God's refuge in other parts of life.  All too often in the congregations, I see people who look at the difficulties facing them with a kind of pessimistic resignation.  They see congregational decline and remember those days when the pews were all filled and the youth program was booming and see a dismal future. I have talked to long term members in some congregations who "know" that their end in inevitable.  Their best days are behind them.  Societal changes that have shaken and tossed the church's place in our culture have left them with little hope.

I've occasionally mentioned that my theological tradition highlights the problem of idolatry, of placing our hope or trust in something other than God.  And the most tempting idols are things that aren't intrinsically bad, things like family, country, and even church.  And if the struggles and decline of traditional churches pose a threat to our faith, to our hope for the future, perhaps the problem is that we have misread the Psalm saying, The church is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

One of the certainties of idols is that they will disappoint and fail us.  Perhaps when we find ourselves feeling discouraged about religious decline in America, with children who have left the church, with denominational numbers that keep shrinking, we should recall that our faith is not in religion, or churches, or denominations.  Our faith is in God and in God's love that we see embodied in Jesus. 

Jesus tells us not to worry about anything, to be willing to lose our lives for the gospel's sake.  And Jesus can do this himself because his trust in not in a movement or in his band of followers or even in his own abilities.  He trusts God to bring hope and life even from the cross.  And perhaps the church's current struggles in America offer us the opportunity to rediscover the heart of Christian faith.


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