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So, about this COVID 19 pandemic. Are we out of the woods? Deeper into the woods? Or are we just at the edge of the forest where light ahead is visible? Perhaps the answer is a bit of tossed salad: all three.
I was thinking about this…again!…this morning as we were out for our morning walk, dog in tow. When times were very clear that we were deep within the pandemic, unwritten rules were also clear and followed. If someone was approaching you on the same sidewalk from the opposite direction, one of you had to go. That is, one had to cross the street and keep walking on the other side.

Now the rules are a bit more convoluted. Someone approaches and a sort of dance ensues. While one dodges a bit to the left, the other moves a bit to the right. To cross the street or not cross the street? That is the question. Or just walk briskly by the oncoming pedestrian, nod, smile (but don’t open your mouth to smile), and move on? Oh, such conundrums!

Such seems to be the very condition of life, does it not? To yield or to keep one’s position? To allow for another’s needs or assert our own rights? To be concerned or to not worry? To shift left or shift right or just keep plodding down the middle?

The argument could be made that this also is the condition of faith. Life and faith are full of judgements some deeply moral, and others simply pragmatic. While we are not called to judge another’s status before God or even the person they have become, the quality of life is determined by the judgements we make, including those judgements we make about other people. Frequently in determining a course of action or inaction we dance around a bit until we figure out what course we might take.

Sometimes the point is less what we decide then that we do decide. Decision made, we move forward and live with whatever consequences great or small. Standing on the sidelines refusing to commit or decide is in itself a decision, often with even greater consequences for someone if not us.

As Christians both armed with and covered by grace, sitting safely on the sidelines is quite often not the place for followers of Jesus. Jesus calls us out to the dance of life and faith. Move a little left, move a bit right, but keep moving. Love the neighbor as oneself. Cross the street or just move around oncoming foot traffic. Care about your health and that of others, and a bit less about your right to the walkway.

In the woods or out of the woods? In one way it doesn’t matter. Following Jesus is to be done in both places. The dance of life and faith must go on. After all, it is not about the woods, it is about the followers and, most of all, the one being followed.

In 1687 Isaac Newton theorized the ocean’s tides were affected by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun. This is now the standard teaching in earth science courses. Amazing that a moon and a star from so far away can have such daily effect on a part of the earth’s natural rhythm!

Often I hear people say that many things like climate change or evolution are just a “theory.” Strictly speaking from a science perspective, gravity is still in the theory stage. Yet no one has ever thrown something heavy upward that has not come back down. There is a lot of evidence to support this “theory.”

One of our alumni has a theory. Jake Roselius, who graduated two years ago is now a doctoral student in Hamburg Germany. On a recent trip from Hamburg to his home in Fairbanks, Alaska, Jake stopped off here to say hello. When I thanked him for coming to see us, Jake became a bit thoughtful for a moment and then said, “This place has a gravitational pull to it.” Jake had noticed during his four years here how often alumni, sometimes from many years ago, would show up for a Sunday worship service.

I am not sure Jake’s statement is a theory. If so, like gravity itself, I have seen it play out so often. I remember meeting a couple one Sunday who came here to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They were students here in the late 1950’s and were married in our sanctuary. They have been back two more times since that visit. Frequently I hear from alumni who came through here long before my time. I have also met many former church members from long ago who also feel a need to return for a visit.

Gravitational pull. Not a bad image for how memories of college and campus ministry can affect someone even many years later. I think it also a great image for faith. Sometimes we can’t articulate why we come to worship Sunday after Sunday. Sometimes we just can’t explain our connection to a faith community or faith itself. There just seems to be a certain pull. We are drawn to faith and drawn to a faith community.

So it is with God. Some have dramatic experiences. Some don’t think about it much, they just keep praying, worshiping, and serving. Many, on the other hand also keep praying, worshiping, and serving, but also spend some time wondering and even wandering, asking questions, and trying to analyze their faith. It’s all good.

The tides need both the moon and the sun to go in and out each day. We need God’s pull whether through experience, intellect, emotion, or some combination of these. God is not afraid pull us toward God’s self, and each other. Like tides, God can use more than one way to pull us. God knows we can’t do it on our own, so God keeps tugging. Like the tides, sometimes we go in and sometimes out. Sometimes for us it is also a daily thing. This, however, is not a theory. It is how God works.