Week of Sabbath II, Day Five

Prayer in preparation for meditation:

O God,
I turn to you for a word of hope. Write your word onto my heart, that I may know your ways better through the proclamation you have for me today.

Reading: Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord.
“Plans to prosper you
and not to harm you,
plans to give you a hope and a future.”

Meditation:

After I was removed from candidacy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and while I was still nursing the wounds of that rotten experience, a dear friend, Pam, sent me these words from Jeremiah. I cherish that 8 ½ X 11 square print, with its beautiful calligraphy. It was just what I needed to hear. I didn’t even dare to hope that those words would bear out for me within the year.

Pam and her husband Paul were parishioners at my internship site, Lord of Light Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was at Lord of Light that I learned that God’s plan for me really was that I would become a pastor. And it was the support of that congregation which carried me in the sad days after the ELCA declared that it didn’t share God’s plans for me, since I was unwilling to get into that crowded closet with its other gay and lesbian pastors.

Thirteen of those great folks from Lord of Light flew to Kansas City for my ordination at Abiding Peace in Kansas City. That event was the culmination of a year in which God’s plan had broken through the darkness of policy and prejudice. The future God promised, the future which they had assured me would come, had indeed arrived. They told me there was a shout of joy when their rented van turned into the driveway and they saw “Pastor Donna Simon” on the sign.

Sometimes it takes others to proclaim God’s promise to us. I am grateful to the shepherds of Lord of Light and Abiding Peace Lutheran churches, who have shown God’s face to me so many times. Truly God is present in their words, their love for one another, and their loving actions on behalf of others.

Prayer of joy:

Spirit of Love,
May we be the reflection of your hope to the world today. May others see in us the love of God, which sustains and nourishes the world. Grant us a spirit of true joy, and allow others to see you in us. Amen