As we journey through this season of Lent, I’ve been challenging you & me to consider repenting from the sins of our’ isms. The initial challenge has focused on individualism, the narrative that says we should stand on our own two feet & not rely on others. Several of you gathered with me on Wednesday evening for our first Fellowship & Formation time, answering questions & engaging in conversations about how we can be more intentional in our faith journey. It was a time of vulnerability, joy, & honesty. We talked about how we miss the mark on our faith journey & yet keep trying again to surrender our lives to the One we serve.
As we watched together as a hot air balloon attempted landing, I thought about how it was a metaphor for sin & our need for others. The balloon first attempted to land south of the church, going lower than the horizon. Suddenly, two vans pulled into the parking lot, turning around. They were marked “Hot Air Balloon Rides.” Did the vans “miss the mark” on where they were supposed to meet the balloon, or did the balloon’s pilot miss the mark? Either way, the balloon & vans needed to adjust their courses so they could finish their journey.
Suddenly, we saw the balloon rise again on the southern horizon, traveling closer to the church. While we couldn’t see where they’d failed their initial landing, they clearly missed the mark. We were captivated, watching & joking as the balloon came closer. We speculated they were trying to reach the church property, & the vans would likely be coming back. However, the balloon started to lower to the northwest corner of the intersection between Sossaman & Queen Creek Roads. It took several times going up & back down at lower levels to finally touchdown. It’s not completely clear, but it did seem possible they were still struggling in the end to hit the mark for their landing. Either way, they needed those vans to meet them wherever they landed to transport everyone to their following destinations. Staying in the air indefinitely or walking from their landing site wouldn’t be logical conclusions to the ride.
We will sin in this life; that is, we will miss the mark of living righteous & holy lives, failing to live according to God’s good & perfect will. We are human & have the gift of free will, so it is bound to happen more often than we’d like to admit. & when we miss the mark, if we have community, they will adjust their plans to find us wherever we land. Just like the vans adjusted where they were meeting the balloon, our community of faith, family, & friends will adapt their plans to meet us wherever we might land. If we were to live according to individualism, we would land wherever in the world, missing the mark, & then insist on figuring out how we get back to our cars or home on our own. We wouldn’t look for or use the ride those vans provided those balloon riders. Individualism has us going back up in the air, running out of fuel, & walking more miles than we’d want to walk to get to the next destination of life. May we realize in the hot air balloon ride of life there are many places to land & that when we miss the mark, we have a community of people ready to adjust their plans to meet us wherever we might be to help us get to where we need to go next.
In Christ’s Love,
