Faces on Faith: The three R’s
Recently, we celebrated a beautiful rededication service here at St. Michael’s. Our bishop was with us to rededicate the rebuilt sanctuary, consecrate the new altar and bless our new bell tower. The theme of the service was “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). We sang “All are Welcome” and “Lord, You give the Great Commission.” We heard a Gospel reading where Jesus encouraged his followers to be wise and build their house on rock (hard to find here on Sanibel).
During his sermon, Bishop Doug talked about the “three R’s” we engaged in after Hurricanes Ian and Milton: remediation, restoration and resilience. Remediation is the cleanup work, removing muck, sand, damaged materials and contents. Restoration is the long process of rebuilding and putting things back together. Resilience is steps we are taking to protect against damage from future storms.
The bishop went on to talk about how the three R’s are a paradigm for our spiritual journey. We all experience storms in life. We go through difficult things. We have our struggles. This is part of the human condition. Spiritual remediation is honestly dealing with the bad things that happen in life. It’s a cleansing and “prepping” for a better life.
Restoration is God’s promise for us. “Behold I make all things new.” God can work through our struggles and difficulties to lead us to a new a better life. God works through people who reach out to us in our time of need, and God inspires us to reach out to others who are experiencing the storms of life. With God’s help and the help of others, we are able to put our lives back together.
Resilience is a spiritual place beyond restoration where we see that a life built on God is like a house built on rock. Bishop Doug said: “At the end of the sermon the mount, Jesus doesn’t say ‘if you o all these things your life will be perfect, if you do all these things you won’t have any problems, do all these things and the storms will go away.’ Rather, he’s telling us that if you do these things when the storms come you will be able to stand, together and strong. When the hard things happen, you will have an inherent resilience because your life is built on rock.”
For me, that rock is God’s unconditional, everlasting love that fills us and surrounds us and sustains us through every storm of life.
The Rev. William “Bill” Van Oss is the rector at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.