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6/9/2024 0 Comments June 9, 2024: Steadfast Love![]() Old Testament Reading: 1 Samuel 8:4-20 Gospel: Mark 3:20-35 To be steadfast is to be firm in belief or determination. It means standing strong, not giving up. In Psalm 138, the psalmist reminds us that that is the kind of love that God has for us that we should be thankful for: “steadfast love and faithfulness”. This isn’t talking about the kind of love and faith we have or should have for God. It is the love and faith God has in each and every one of us! It is firm, unwavering, solid and ever present, even when we don’t love God back, even when we don’t have faith in ourselves. Even when we have doubts about God or get so caught up in the many challenges of this world that we do not think about God, God is still thinking about us and not doubting us- she just loves us and believes in us. Our challenge is being open to receiving that steadfast love - to acknowledging that it is there and leaning into it rather than being distracted or overwhelmed by all of the problems in our lives, in our country and in our world. Friday afternoon was a very difficult one for me at school. I won’t go into the details, but there were some behavior issues that I had to deal with. Full disclosure, I am not really a disciplinarian. I would rather engage and inspire my students to participate in learning rather than punish them for avoiding it. However, I am not always successful. And too often, I give warnings without following through which continues the cycle. So Friday, I was more firm but this backfired with one student and it made me second guess myself and had me so keyed up, I could hardly teach my last class. When I get frustrated and tense over life’s challenges like this, I walk. Movement seems to be the only way I can work through these issues. Luckily, I had planned on walking home from school that day anyway. Behind Proctor High School, where I teach, there is an old carriage trail to Rutland where I live. It is 5.5 miles long, the last couple of miles of which are in Rutland’s Pine Hill Park. Normally when I walk this trail, which I try to do at least once a month when the weather is good, I enjoy the solitude, listening to the birds, enjoying the lush foliage and streams along the way. However, this Friday, I could not hear or see any of it at first. My heart was racing and so were my feet as I replayed the afternoon’s events wondering what I could have done differently to reach this student. The only part of the environment which seemed to reach me were the black flies buzzing around and biting me, which I took in Dante’s Inferno style, as some kind of symbolic retribution for my failures. But then there were the Red Efts - the small red salamanders that I so love seeing. And they were everywhere along the trail. They are small and I had to watch where I was walking so I would not step on them. They would freeze in the trail at my approach. And even with my heart and feet racing as I strode through my frustration, I found myself pausing when I saw the Red Efts saying “Hi Buddy, how are you?” And after about 4 miles and at least 30 Red Eft conversations, I found that my heart wasn’t racing anymore and neither were my feet. In fact, I found myself looking at the beautiful water of Rocky Pond and, like the Psalmist, saying a prayer of Thanks that went something like this: Thank you God for the sun sparkling on the water before me, for the fact that the black flies have finally abandoned me, for letting me walk through my pain and frustration to reach this beautiful place and for your Red Eft angels that led me to this spiritual place of peace. Thank you for reaching out to me in a way that I could finally feel and lean into your steadfast love. Help me to show steadfast love and support to all my students as well. Have you ever had that kind of experience when you are so sad, or angry, or frustrated that you cannot hear, or see, or feel anything else? Not even God’s steadfast love trying to reach out and pull you through? I think most of us have. Our challenge is to move through it, looking for the angels that God’s steadfast love sends in whatever form they may be - friends, strangers, pets, or even Red Efts. Those angels will bring us through to the other side where God is waiting with open arms to reassure us that “this too shall pass” and that we are indeed, all of us, beloved children of God. We humans are fallible though and we often forget about God’s steadfast love. In the Samuel scripture for today, the people want a king. They realize that Samuel’s sons, just like Eli’s sons, are not following their father’s paths and they want someone to protect them and to lead them in battle. God tells Samuel to warn them about what an earthly King will do: tax them and work them mercilessly, but that is what they think they need rather than relying on their previous leadership under the 12 tribes of Israel united by their religious beliefs and traditions. God sees this as a rejection of God as king, but his steadfast love for his children had Samuel warn them and because of God’s steadfast love, they still receive what they asked for: King Saul. God's love is so steadfast that God sometimes gives us what we ask for even when it is not ultimately what we need and yet God chose Saul who would lead the people in their fight against the Philistines. And God’s love is so steadfast that it is not limited to just immediate family as we heard in the Mark scripture today. When Jesus’ family comes to check in on him, fearing that he might need a break from the crowds pressing in on him to learn more, he says, “Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” God’s steadfast love is there for anyone who wishes to receive it and it is even there supporting us when we do not know we need it, when we are angry, frustrated or doubting. God puts reminders of this steadfast love in our path whether they be my Red Efts on Friday, the hearts like this provided in nature, or the helping hand that is there just when we need it. Open your hearts to God, whose heart is always open to you. Amen. Pastor Michelle Fountain
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