As I write this, I have no idea if the Bills will be successful against the Chiefs.  Win or lose, they have had a successful season that has made their fans ecstatic and brought the people of our community together at a time when we can’t actually get together.  We’re all impressed with the talent and grit of the players, but it seems the players themselves are impressed with their unflappable, steady-as-she-goes head coach.  Sean McDermott has been repeating the mantra, “trust the process,” since joining the Bills.  Players and fans can see now that their trust was justified.

Although I am not very “sport-y” and I’m not given to using sports analogies, this phrase came to me the other day in a very personal setting.  I had the Book of Common Prayer open on my lap and I was following the order for morning prayer.  I was reading scripture and meditating on the Psalms and reading the prayers and offering up intercessions for people in need and all the while I was feeling…

Nothing.

At.

All.

It happens to all of us.  We read passages of scripture that have comforted us in the past, challenged us out of our apathy, lifted us from hopelessness to joy, but when we turn to them again, we find the words just lie there on the page.  Nothing enters our hearts.  We find ourselves dully mumbling prayers that have previously caused us to burn with devotion, which now fail to move us.  We sit through a worship service, hoping for a moment of transcendence, and all we ‘get out of the service’ is a sore backside from a hard pew.  We take ourselves outside for a time of quiet companionship with God in nature, only to arrive back home feeling unmet by the Friend whose company we sought.

This is a normal part of spiritual life.  Sometimes we connect easily and sometimes we feel like God is totally absent.  Let’s be honest, sometimes we create the distance through neglect of our relationship with God and through our sinful ways.  But often we are not to blame.  So don’t make the situation worse by carrying inappropriate guilt.

Trust the process.

Keep reading scripture.  Pray, even when you have no immediate sense of God’s presence.  Maintain the bonds of community with fellow Christians (obviously more of a challenge in this time of pandemic).  Give thanks for God’s faithfulness in days past and remind yourself that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” (Lamentations 3:22)

Trust the process.  Maintain the spiritual disciplines.  Keep taking in spiritual food, even when you have little appetite.

Prayer:  Faithful Friend, here I am again, trusting to find you where we have met before.  Amen.