Today’s Word from Rev. David Bieniek…
For this week I offer you an ancient story, that some wise person told me along my spiritual journey.
An old woman leaves her village. She is tired of the pettiness, dishonesty, and unfriendliness of the people she lives with. She knows there has to be a better place to live. So, she decides to walk to a new village. She walks all day. And when evening comes, she decides to sleep near the road, but she points her shoes the way she would continue walking the next morning.
That night, the Trickster comes and turns her shoes.
The next morning, the woman starts on the path toward her new home in a new village. As she walks, she is amazed at how familiar the path seems and how fast she travels. Her heart is light because she knows she is on her way to new her home. As she walks into the village (her old village) she’s amazed. It is familiar, yet different. People are friendly, welcoming, happy to see her, and everything in this new village is good and happy.
Sometimes we need a shoe-turning. Sometimes we need to be pulled out of the crowd to make a change in our lives, and thus, in our world.
The Communion Table is a shoe-turning. It did not mean the same thing to the followers of Jesus that night. He turned the shoes on them. It was no longer a table of remembrance, but it was a table of promise.
May this time we are living through, which feels so much like a time of sadness, isolation, and despair, also be a shoe-turning for you. May it be a time when we realize the importance of relationships, hugs, worshiping together, and finding an abundance of things we need.
And may you know that our God is already there, smiling and ready to welcome us into our “new village” which is actually the same old place with our new perspective.
Rev. Dave Bieniek
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