Forward and Back

Dave Brisbin | 12.30.18 The run up to Christmas was full of personal setbacks and a difficult week, but the Christmas service itself seemed to simply erase all that angst in one stroke as I allowed myself to immerse in the images, music, and sense of connection to the people in the room. We think of our spiritual journey as one solid path that we’re either on or off, and once on, should stay on if we only have enough faith. But life and scripture tell a different story: that the spiritual journey is not one path, but one moment—a moment we either choose to be connected or choose not. That being on the spiritual Way of Jesus is stringing enough of those kingdom moments together to form a kingdom necklace, and that our progress along the Way is always marked by two steps forward and a step back. Consider Peter’s journey in the Gospels: from the moment Jesus called him at the shore of the lake to his stepping out of the boat to walk on the water then sinking, to his refusal to let Jesus wash his feet to his declaration of faith and subsequent denial, Peter is a case study in the nature of the journey. Realizing how we humans live and process our spirituality is critical to being able to follow Jesus’ Way, to continuing to grow while seeing our difficulties and setbacks as just the preparation for the next two steps forward.