Hover and Risk

Continuing on with Drawn In based on a book by Troy Bronsink and a Worship Design Studio series by Dr. Marcia McFee after dreaming comes hover and risk. 
Sometimes we are called to wait. To hover. To pay attention. Then once we have stopped for a bit we do need to move, to risk even if we don't know the whole picture. 

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Welcome to season four of Faith in the Cracks. I'm Pastor Karen Wright. Life has cracks, moments between activities, places where we feel fractured. This is the space where we listen for God in the ordinary moments of life, where we are reminded that just as cracks let things in, it's a space for light and love to shine through. So just like plants grow in the cracks of a sidewalk, let faith grow in the cracks of our lives, trusting that God is at work within us. Episode 28. Hover and risk. Have you ever had one of those moments when you know you need to do something? But you just don't know what? Maybe it's you need to make a decision, have a conversation, maybe say yes, maybe say no. And you find yourself thinking, okay, God, what am I supposed to do here? I've been thinking about that as I have preached on a series drawn in. And this is based on a book by Troy Bronsink. And the series itself comes from the Worship Design Studio with Dr. Marcia McPhee. And it's been an amazing series. And so these were two separate ideas of hover and risk. But as I've sat with them, they feel like they need to go together. So hovering is waiting. And risk is jumping in. But I think they're connected. Because sometimes before we're ready to take the risk, we need to pause. We need to hover. In my backyard, I love watching hummingbirds. They move so fast, but they look like they're completely still. They're hovering. And it's not that they're doing nothing. Well, I mean, obviously they're flapping their wings a billion times a second, but they're paying attention and they're figuring out which flower they're gonna go to next. And I think that's a good image. Because maybe we sometimes think faith means moving and doing, making something happen. But I wonder if we change that and remember that sometimes faith looks like staying still long enough to notice what's around us. And the story that goes with hover is the story of Jesus in the wilderness. Before he begins his public ministry, before teaching and healing, he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He's there for 40 days, he's hungry, he's vulnerable, and then he's tempted. He's not been given a roadmap, but he hovers. He pays attention, he learns what it means to be grounded in himself before doing all the things he's gonna do. And I think there's some importance to that because we live in a world that is not a big fan of hovering. We are much more comfortable with urgency. We've got to respond to the email or the voicemail or make the decision or fix the problem and get on with it, get going, keep moving. And we can start believing that if we're not moving, we're somehow falling behind. But maybe that's not the case. Maybe if we're hovering, it's not that we're stuck. But we're waiting, we're paying attention. I think about it in terms of when you have a problem and you sit and think about it and you don't know what you're gonna do, and you think about it some more, and then you talk with somebody about it, and you make a list, and then you maybe make another list, but you don't find yourself any closer to an answer, and then you stop. And maybe you take a nap, or you sleep on it overnight, or you go for a walk, or you sit outside, or you pray, or maybe you take a shower, and as I always I kind of go back to the elves in the back of my head, that you don't think actively about it. But then the next day something has changed. But it's not the problem, it's not the situation, it's you. You've made a little space, and maybe it's in that space you notice something you hadn't seen before. See, it's not a passive thing, but it's hovering. It's making room for a possibility that God is up to something, and maybe you just haven't noticed it yet. And hovering, we can't just hover forever. It does need to go somewhere. And when we move, that's where risk comes in. Because faith isn't necessarily about certainty, it's enough trust to take the next step. Jesus eventually leaves the wilderness and begins his ministry. He calls people to follow him. And again and again, this always astounds me. Jesus asks people to do things and doesn't give them any hint as to exactly what or the timeline or how it's going to turn out or what the plan is. He says, Come and see, follow me, leave your nets, take up your mat. There's always some risk involved. And I think it's true for us too, especially when we feel called to create something. Maybe it's a new idea or a different way of living. Anything that we create eventually will become bigger than our control over it. And I think that's scary. Our culture doesn't like that because we want to know how things are going to turn out. We want to know that our risk was worth it, that our hard work will pay off, that the people we love will be okay. We want guarantees, but that's not how faith works. And so risk is about moving forward even though we don't know the outcome. It might mean that we need to speak up. It might mean we need to change our mind or admit that we were wrong. It means creating something new without knowing whether it's gonna work. And I think this is part of where hovering and risk kind of go together for me is every risk that we encounter is maybe not the risk that we're supposed to take. Like, we don't need to just risk something because we want to feel brave. If we hover, we give ourselves time to listen and to pay attention and to ask, what is God up to? And then maybe it is time for us to take the risk. Or maybe we need to let that opportunity pass. So maybe you're in a season where you don't know exactly what's next. And you're telling yourself, oh, I should know. But maybe it's time to hover, to see what God is doing when you get are given the space, when you give yourself the space to notice. Or maybe you've been hovering for a long time and you feel kind of stuck. And ask yourself if you're waiting for absolute certainty. Do you know how things will turn out? Waiting until the risk doesn't feel quite so risky. But maybe it's time to take the next step. Not know the whole thing, just the next step. And so I think our faith kind of hovers in between that space of hovering and risking, to hover long enough to notice things, to risk because we see the next step even if we don't see the whole picture. In the middle, it's about trust. Trust that God is at work, that we don't have to make everything happen ourselves, but that we can pay attention and take the next fess faithful step and not have to control the outcome. So that's the practice this week. Notice the places you're invited to hover, to slow down and pay attention. And then notice where you're invited to risk. What small step might you take if you didn't need a guarantee? You don't need to know the whole path. You don't need to control the ending. Just willing to notice. And then when the time comes, take the next step. Because faith is learning how to hover long enough to hear the invitation and risking enough to follow it. Until next time. Thanks for listening. New podcasts are released every Monday. If you like the show, share it with a friend, or scroll to the bottom of the episode description and support the show for the cost of a cup of coffee once a month. You can also check out my webpage at faithinthecracks.com. As you go through your week, remember you are a child of God and you are love. May God seep into the cracks and bring forth new life.