The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
Canon for Ministry Formation and Transitions
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:8
Although I drive down this street almost everyday on my way home from work, I didn’t know the art gallery was there. But today I am on foot, and the street unfolds before me in a different way, offering more than one new perspective. I enter the storefront and am startled—this isn’t the boutique that used to be here.
Knowing this is not what I came looking for I begin to exit. But I hesitate, and in the space of that breath I am lost. I am completely drawn in as I begin my journey from room to room, delighting in the work of local artists so caringly and meticulously displayed. What began as an errand to buy a trinket is transformed into an afternoon of savoring art. It is not what I expected, not what I came looking for, not what was on my agenda.
I see now it would be possible to move along through the season of Advent assuming I know what I will encounter along the way, limiting my expectations and my viewpoint. But what God has to offer is more than will ever fit on my agenda. I could at any given moment step out of my way and set my feet someplace new, losing myself in God’s expanse. I could risk the possibility of transformation.
I think I will try to lose my way again tomorrow, and see what there is to see in the presence of the Lord and how I am invited to live.