Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
Persistence in a Stressed-out World
October 14, 2020
“But we have this treasure [of the Gospel] in pottery jars, easily broken, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” — 2 Cor 4:7-10
We are all feeling a bit beaten down. I have heard from several parishioners that they are not sleeping well. Some have told me they are deeply depressed. This is the result from long, ongoing stress from the pandemic and public hygiene measures, the economic crash, the viciously divided election cycle with concerns about achieving a free and fair election whose results are peacefully respected, and the horror of the wildfires last month and the bad, smoky air that we breathe as we try to address the almost overwhelming need the Almeda fire kindled.
Even achieving regular, ongoing tasks has become immeasurably harder: shopping, getting a haircut, exercising—they all take longer and involve more preparation and recovery time. In Church, updating and maintaining the technical setup for our services takes hours each week. After initially getting the technology right, this has generally worked seamlessly. But last Sunday, we had a short ISP-triggered break in our feed at the 10 a.m. service that totally shut down our mevo camera and mic, locking them so that I could not reboot. The result was that for many of you, Sunday Mass ended after 17 minutes and only 3 minutes of homily. Due to all sorts of little problems (an i-phone system upgrade, the need to restore all the links and preferences, and a required program upgrade for the camera/mic itself) it took me three full days of work before I could get the system working. It is now up and running again and there should be no problems this week.
Trying to fix a technical problem can be very frustrating. But the needed way forward through it is to be persistent, and keep on doing the next right thing. If that doesn’t work, reassess and then do the next next right thing. Read the manuals, talk to tech support, and keep on trying. Patience and intentionally relaxing the neck and hands, taut because of stress, helps get us through. In the end, it works.
I think this applies not just to technical fixes, but to getting through stressful hassles in general. Be persistent. Don’t give in and don’t give up. Just do the next right thing.
A priest friend of mine once told me of an unexpected conversation he had a few years ago at a gas station in rural North Carolina. He handed the attendant his credit card, which listed his name prefaced with “the Rev.” The attendant paused, stared at it, looked up, and asked, “Are you some kind of a preacher?” My friend said, “Yes, I am an Episcopal priest.” The attendant paused and said, “I’m an agnostic. I think we agnostics and you Episcopalians are closer than anybody.” My friend replied, “I think you might be right,” and then asked, “How did you become an agnostic?” The attendant said, rather sadly, “Out of disillusionment with life. But, I do read a lot about religion.” They talked about books on spirituality, and began a long-distance exchange of books and articles. When my friend visited there next, the attendant no longer worked at the station: he had gone to seminary, been ordained, and was a minister in the nearby town. “Unexpected sharing can go in unexpected, but great, directions,” was my friend’s moral of the story.
We Episcopalians may indeed be very close to agnostics: we remain open to things beyond our ken, unwilling to claim to know things that remained cloaked in uncertainty. We are sensitive enough that on occasion we become disillusioned with life. And we know that faith is more an orientation of the heart and on-going practice than it is adherence to a set of dogmas.
But here’s the thing: it is at those very moments when we are most beaten down that we need to persist, and always seek to take the next required step, to do the next right thing. A regular, daily practice of prayer helps us get through the rough bits. And if we persist, in the end, all will be well.
Grace and peace.
Fr. Tony+
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