This Advent, Iowa Conference Communications invited members of the newly formed Bishop’s Leadership Team to share reflections based upon the themes and scriptures of “Unrelenting Grace.” We pray that these devotions meet you where you are in the midst of this season.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. — Hebrews 10:19-25
Oh, how these words hold me together in these days! Yesterday, after fielding phone calls that began even while in the shower, running from meeting to meeting for eight consecutive hours, adding names to my thank you list, eating my first meal of the day at 7pm, scrounged up in the Taco Bell drive thru with the last dollars in my wallet after misplacing my check card, and reading scripture before writing a grant which was submitted just after midnight, wrapping up a few loose ends, and crashing at 1am, it was a rough start this morning. Something has happened that has put an already stressed and busy system in a tailspin here. Our community requires immediate attention from our church because real people, real lives are at stake. This season of Advent has been a true Advent for us here, and the meaning of Unrelenting Grace has blissfully and blisteringly embraced us all. Let me explain.
This Fall, from late October through December, we have been receiving refugee families, adding approximately 120 new ELL students into our school district, and their families into our community, most coming with nothing more than fear, tiny shreds of hope, and the clothes on their backs as they flee from the threat of death. There are no words for the amount of overwhelming panic this has thrust upon a community whose school district just increased by 10% and whose ELL program increased over 50%, along with families whose needs would be great and whose fear would be greater. In the midst of this, sits our congregation with a heart for mission but not a penny in the bank to part with since the ravages of COVID and inflation have plagued our finances beyond their limits. How, God?
But today, Hebrews provides a therapeutic dose of unrelenting grace in the midst of our overwhelming and statistically impossible challenges. "The one who has promised is faithful." How did it become so hard to trust in the grace we know is real? Yet when it stares us down as children without underwear, shoes, understanding, and hope, our trust can dissolve to fear and a crisis of faith. Should I pay the bill before I have the money? Will there be a grant, a package of macaroni, a bar of soap, a blanket waiting for me if I give this one away? Is God's grace truly unrelenting, even in this? Even in our poverty, our exhaustion, and our emptiness of Advent when we are still waiting for deliverance?
The study of Unrelenting Grace this week focuses on love that is "provoked by the remembrance of who we are," (p. 61). Our love is currently being provoked by the remembrance of who we are: We are a connection. We are people who can endure a long Advent of waiting for help because with the connection of our denomination, we know that help will come, that Christ is coming to us and coming soon, not just as that child in the manger, but as each of you. We are free to love and trust that everything God wills for this difficult moment shall come to pass because Christmas comes disguised as our circuit churches bringing food, our conference churches funding grants, our neighbors tutoring after school and the Word becoming flesh right here in our own backyards. Today, our love is provoked by the remembrance of who we are because the one who has promised is faithful, and we have provoked one another to love and good deeds. That is the United Methodist Church in Iowa!
That is the kingdom building neighborhood of Iowa unleashed upon the fear and doubt that would otherwise hold us back from doing the things that are needed before the funds exist. It is nothing less than God's unrelenting grace. The blessing of Advent comes when we say yes before the promise is yet fulfilled and trust in the one who promised it to be faithful. The one who promised is God, but also the one who promised is you. I trust that in our conference, unto us a child will indeed be born. Unto us a promise will be fulfilled. Unto us, a kingdom will come in our midst with a ferocity that outmatches the vigor of our challenges, provoked by the remembrance of who we are. I have faith that Christmas is almost here. I am United Methodist.
The Rev. Amy Johnson is an Elder in the Aldersgate District, pastoring at Osceola, Afton, Arispe, Lorimor, and Jerusalem United Methodist Churches. Beyond the first loves of her kids, Alex and Andrew, and husband Jaye, she has a heart for community, social justice, art, nature, backpacking, bouldering, rafting, travel, teaching, learning, cats, and the Greenbay Packers.