“Faith is sometimes spelled R.I.S.K.”

“Faith is sometimes spelled R.I.S.K.”

I heard Pastor Kris mention this in his first sermon at Lancaster COGOP. It caught my attention.  This is exactly what my faith looks like (risky), I never considered how it may be spelled, though.

It’s an incredible feeling when a word spoken resonates with what is true for me. Or at least it is an incredible feeling when a word  confirms something that seems empowering and liberating for me. Other spoken words that hit me in vulnerable or wounded areas don’t feel incredible.  These words bring a feeling of resistance. 

But this isn’t a post about those words! Let’s move on…

I’m grateful for the risks I have taken, even the risks that landed me in trouble. I’ve learned so much from the trouble I’ve encountered. I’ve learned much from the risks that have thrust me forward in new ways of seeing and thinking. These ways may not be popular with mainstream Christianity, but my soul is restored from the risks I have taken.

What seemed new age to some was not new age. It was just unfamiliar. It is wild to me how the unfamiliar can seem anything but Christian. I get it. I used to be this person. I avoided everything that was unfamiliar because it seemed too risky.

But then there was this time… that a sermon was preached… I’m not sure about the title or the sermon itself, but I remember what my soul heard, “Reach for the stars.  Anything is possible.” So I did, and that was unfamiliar. I had opened the gate to R.I.S.K. and my faith migrated, matured, and grew.

My faith became a place that held me in all the unfamiliar, joyous, dreadful places I would encounter after.

I’m so glad my soul heard that sermon, whether it was the one preached or the one I heard. I just know I was there, the room I was in, the people present, the preacher that preached it, and the one who translated it to my soul!!

…And I’m glad I heard Pastor Kris’ sermon. It seems these two sermons are book ends for me. One was preached prior to my pastoral ministry.  The other preached toward the end.

These book ends are treasures for me.