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Dear San Marco Church Family and Friends: I have often described myself as a patient person. The truth, however, is not so simple. I think I am pretty good at hiding my impatience until my frustration takes over and my impatience becomes apparent. Lately, for a variety of reasons, this has been the case. I borrowed the title of this week's blog post from an article by Rachel Mann, a Church of England priest who admits that she is not a patient person. Despite her impatience, she says she is able to remain hopeful and even joyful in what she describes as "the present, terrifying moment" in the state of the world. She references the beginning words of John's gospel as the anchor for her ability to wait patiently for God's transformation of the world. John's gospel begins, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." (John 1:1-3). Mann says that these words remind her that, "Jesus Christ was not merely a good man with a kind and gracious message. From the beginning, Christ has been God's Word, who was before, is now, and shall ever be, world without end." The point, as Mann explains, is that it is God's world, not ours. She explains this so well that I will quote her directly rather than paraphrasing her thoughts. Mann writes, "The story of God is a reminder that fear, death, anxiety-real though they are-are not the final words. We can dwell and wait in the fearsome challenges of the present, because God is remaking the world in Jesus Christ." Sometimes I think that seeing the world through the lens of the gospel means living in an alternate universe. It invites us into a sense of awe and wonder that says, "I often don't know how God is at work, and I certainly don't understand human behavior, yet I get glimpses and assurances that God's Spirit infuses the world with the same love and hope that created the world and all of us "in the beginning." Through all the dark and tragic moments of human history, God's identity as the source of everything, rooted in love, has not changed. January 31, 2027, will be the 30th anniversary of the day my father died suddenly of a heart attack. He was an uneducated, plain spoken man who worked as a butcher and grocery store owner. I remember having conversations with him about the problems in the world and our inability to solve them. He would sometimes end the conversation by saying, "But we love each other, and that's all that matters." At the time, his comment sounded trite. Yet the older I get, the more his comment means to me. Today, I wait with holy impatience for the day when I can embrace him in heaven and tell him he was right. I hope to see you Sunday in worship, and I look forward to serving you holy communion! Steve Hart
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