May 27, 2020

Stepping Out

Monday was the rare day in my household when all three of us had the day off. We could have opted to spend the day sleeping, which, given our recent schedules, would have been totally appropriate. We could have opted to meet with some new neighbor friends who apparently have the skills and tools to put in a patio/fire pit. Given how long the bricks have been in our driveway, that would have been even more appropriate. Instead we opted for a spur-of-the-moment, 4-hour drive up to Kinzua Bridge State Park in Pennsylvania.

The Kinzua Bridge spans the Kinzua Creek and gorge, and was originally 301' high and 2053' long. Up until about 2001 it was used as a rail excursion. But then the middle section of the bridge was destroyed by an F-1 tornado in 2003, and now the bridge ends mid-span with a viewing area and clear Plexiglas floor to see down to the bottom of the gorge. It is now known as the Kinzua Bridge Skywalk, and the remains of the bridge have been left as-is to show the power of nature.

There were a few places on that walk that gave several people pause. Looking over the edge can induce a bit of vertigo, as can looking down through the Plexiglas. And climbing up one of the supporting towers for pictures could be a bit dicey.

I began thinking about this bridge and our faith. The bridge is sturdy enough, but there can be forces at work which may cause severe damage. After that damage, though, the bridge was reworked from a railroad excursion into a sky bridge for pedestrians. And even though the bridge is sturdy enough (it doesn't sway and you won't fall through the cracks), it does take some bit of courage to step out there, peer through the Plexiglas down below, or lean over the edge a bit to get a good picture.

Sometimes our faith is the same way. Our faith may be sturdy enough, but there can be forces at work which may cause damage, sometimes severe, to our faith. COVID19 is one we are experiencing right now. Questions about what is church? How can we be church? What is the relevance and meaning of our building? How will we continue? And more, come up over and over again. But, like the bridge, our faith will not be totally destroyed. We will probably have to rework some of our old things and habits into new ways of doing and being the church. It may take a bit of courage to step out and see how things have changed, or to peer out past the safety barrier to see how things are different.

The attraction of the Kinzua bridge is not gone, it's just different. Likewise, coming through this time of pandemic will not make our faith disappear, but it may change it in some way; and that's okay. Sometimes those changes, though, feel like we've been hit by a tornado and leave us twisted and battered. But those scars are all part of our story. We are just being reworked into something new and different.

Through it all, remember those final words of Jesus and the beginning words of the Church, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In this time of stress and change, I hope you are doing well,