Dear St. Luke’s,

Locally and globally things are moving at a rapid pace. I am overwhelmed, excited and a bit nervous as we move into our first program year at St. Luke’s. While our ministries come alive, history is being made almost on a monthly basis. In the shadow of these massive events, the challenges we face can feel trivial. I have been struggling to wrap my mind around all of the big things happening at St. Luke’s, while I often find myself grieving the state of the world. With the smallest and biggest things, I am trying something different; I am trying to listen more and to listen better. I find the more that I listen, the more I realize how small I am compared to our world, our country and our Church, and this realization can be liberating and be motivation to do more for others.

We have been at war in Afghanistan well before I could drive a car, and all of a sudden, the constant of that war has ended. I wish I could feel better about the end of a war being fought by service members who are too young to remember its beginning, but I don’t. I feel horrified when I watch the videos of civilians chasing military cargo planes in a desperate bid to escape the Taliban. I believe the beginning of the war was justified, I believe it needed to end, I believe this is not the way to do it, and I would be a fool to think I could have done a better job. I just don’t mean in the past couple of months, but over the course of the last two decades.

In my lifetime, four presidents have faced the challenge that is Afghanistan, and presidents on both sides of the aisle implemented troops surges and withdrawals. With all of the bombs, death and tea diplomacy the enemy took the country back in less than two weeks at the end of our longest war. I think politicians and policy makers should feel the effects of their decisions, but I am personally trying to stay away from the trap of self-righteous indignation when it comes to how this war was handled. I try to remember that along with most of our country, I haven’t been at war all of this time. War was for the military while I continued on with my life, so right now I should probably be listening more than speaking. When I listen more, I realize that all of this actually has less to do with me than I may be tempted to believe. Though the world is not centered around me, I can still do my part to make it better, and I believe listening is the key to doing this well.

If do not listen, then everything I do will only be a reflection of my limited perspective and personal desires, and the only thing I will be working for is myself. Truly listening to others, and trying to listen to God is an act that innately goes beyond the self. If I sit down with someone whose experience is different than my own, and all I do is try to figure out how to respond, or fish through my own experiences looking for something related, then I am not really listening, and I am likely missing out on something they are trying to tell me. I don’t always succeed, but I strive to understand the other before I respond with my own thoughts, and this is something that we need to work on when it comes to global and local issues.

The happenings at St. Luke’s pale in comparison to what is happening in Afghanistan, but our issues certainly matter to us. Like global issues, I try to remember that a first step of being part of our faith community is realizing that I am not the smartest, most faithful or most important person. When I let the worries of the world and within our Church overwhelm me, the focus is always on me. When I hear the news, I wonder if I should have served, done more to advocate for refugees or support democracy abroad, instead of listening and deciding what I should be doing now. When my mind is on Church, I think maybe I should have gone a different way with my sermon, maybe I should have reached out to a different group to help with a project, or taken more time to visit that person, instead of seeing where the spirit is leading us next. When I reflect on the past, I have something to learn, but if I stay there too long, I enter an echo chamber of my personal regrets, and I don’t hear the people around me.

Moving forward I am determined to listen and try to understand things I cannot fathom on my own, because if I don’t then I have no business voting in elections or try to be part of Christ’s Church. We are moving into uncertain times. In many ways, I am excited and energized, while at other times I am left with a feeling of dread, but I hope that by listening to and with you we can be a brighter beacon to a hurting world.

Blessings,

Nick