Kurt Kovalovich
Trinity, Pottsville
Defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
The past of our faithful forbearers in Trinity, Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, and in the Diocese, has been supplanted today by a world of need, by spiritual but not religious seekers, and by saccharin Christianity with a buffet of dessert and no substance on the table.
The worshipers of our time may have forgotten what our treasure is to be: Isaiah says it very succinctly–we are to defend the orphan and the widow. Today the orphan is the one without guidance, the widow the one without resources.
I assert we are the orphan, hoping for, desiring, seeking guidance from the authority far off, the authority who has no easy answers to or solutions for our myriad difficulties in filling our needs, yet some of our orphans are reluctant to consider the wisdom of each other or the guidance of those in other regions who have walked the paths we find ourselves walking. And we are widows, lacking in the resources necessary to mimic the past abundance, but fearful, unsure, uncertain that our current limited monetary situation is sufficient to fulfill our current desires and wants, while ignoring the abundance of fellowship and skill permeating this community, this county, this region, this Church.
Earlier in the passage, Isaiah asserts that the worship and the kingdom do not end at the doors of the building. Sometimes, that worship does not even occur in these walls, but beyond the walls.
So this conviction is worship: we are offering ourselves, our souls and bodies to one another for a new way, a different way, and I hope and I have faith a better way–to worship, to share, and frankly to LIVE, because, all in all, isn’t that what our worship is, but living?
Image Copyright: yelo34 / 123RF Stock Photo