God’s solace
Photograph by Dio Hasbi Saniskoro via Pexels
Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil
Earlier this year, God started to nudge me to engage in deeper fashion ministers of the Gospel who seek to embrace stillness, those who also desire to uphold the prophetic call to “Be still before the Lord, all mankind…” (Zechariah 2:13 NIV). I saw it as an invitation to deepen my call to ministry, as I walk or stand at the crossroads with faith leaders, pastors, chaplains, colleagues in ministry, and pastors’ spouses. That whisper came during a nine-month training I was participating in with The Shalem Institute, titled “Transforming Community.” The nudging started to manifest itself through prayer walks, music, and journaling. I was preparing the content for a Lenten Bible study of the Good Samaritan, found in the gospel of Luke chapter 10. I read the biblical story in a couple of different versions. I noticed that I would linger as I read verse 30: “…on the way he was attacked by thieves, who beat him, stripped him of his clothes, and left him bleeding to death” (First Nations Version), and “he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead” (New International Version). The scene of a beaten fellow traveler left naked and bleeding to death is one that happens again and again through the ages. How deeply disturbing to notice that some scenes of injustice have not changed over centuries!
During this Lenten study, I pondered specifically on the reasons others did not stop to help the injured person. They did not slow down their pace, but hurried past him. Were they late to attend a council meeting? Had they themselves been attacked before in that same place? What were the heavy burdens that they carried in their hearts that distracted them from helping a severely injured fellow traveler? The question God had me sit with was trying to identify the fellow traveler I have yet to see.
This was my own journal prompt to unpack. Yes, I was providing one-on-one ministry coaching to ordained clergy and some spouses who had knocked at my door. What about the others who had been stopped or seriously held back along the way to seeking help, by the burdens of cultural stigma, negative thoughts, timidity, or shame at daring to ask for help? Where were these fellow travelers? How could God’s beloved be reached? How could they be reassured that the Holy Spirit had made space for them as well?
God knows the intensity of the burdens many of us carry, and extends a hand and meets us where we stand, sit, kneel, or lie down.
God extends a hand and meets us where we stand, sit, kneel, or lie down. I received an affirmation in my heart as God’s blessed key that opened the door to sacred solace. A call for me to offer a contemplative hour via Zoom to all my fellow travelers on a regular basis. I call that time the “Hour of Soul Care,” a time of God’s solace where a clergy community crosses a non-judgmental threshold and comes to be immersed in the verse from Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”
Since the early spring of this year, clergy representing all US time zones, as well as Canada and Europe have entered the Hour of Soul Care Zoom room, and we have all been fed by Jesus’ living water. We have lived the verses from the gospel of John 21: 9-13 and especially verse 12: “Jesus said to them, ‘come and have breakfast.’” Jesus had been waiting at the shore, sitting by the fire, cooking fresh manna to nourish us in this season. The beauty of these Zoom gatherings is that all receive their daily bread and fill their cups. Candles of kindness, peace, and love are reignited by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The meditative silences are welcomed like warm blankets being passed around to cover each shivering shoulder.
The communal silences are sacred because we all recognize that we are held in God’s loving hands during those dedicated hours. God knows the intensity of the burdens many of us carry. This divisive era is real for many who sit in the Zoom circle. God continues to invite humanity from all walks of life to face societal injuries laying down on the side of the roads. How are we, Christ followers, called to be the Good Samaritan and notice Jesus in vacant apartments, Jesus held by gangs, Jesus waiting to cross borders safely, Jesus waiting in line for hours to receive a slice of bread, Jesus invited in boardrooms, but not invited to sit at the main table? The burdens are indeed heavy to carry.
These dedicated contemplative hours of soul care are from God. We are reminded that we walk in community. We stand when others need to sit and rest. We speak for those who are silenced. We rejoice for lived miracles. We remember to light a candle of kindness, a candle of hope, and a candle of peace every time we gather. Clergy are seen, heard, and noticed. We are God’s image of love.
An ordained minister with ABC-USA, Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil serves as a Ministry Coach and Women’s Group Retreat Facilitator with the Center for Career Development & Ministry. Fluent in English and French, she has had cross-cultural lived experiences in several countries in Africa, Europe and North America. Rev. Sandra is a published author of three devotionals, “Walk with Generosity,” “Beacons of Hope” and “Luces de Esperanza,” as well as co-author of a leader’s guide for leaders of short-term mission teams of volunteers, “Short-Term Mission Team Essentials – Together on The Journey.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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