Promise Keeper

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Greetings to you in the name of the One who remembers His covenant and keeps His promises.

Our many years in Africa living with and learning from our brothers and sisters in the churches in Kenya and Ethiopia impressed upon me the importance of beginning communication with greetings and acknowledging our connection as family formed by God. It is so easy for me to jump into the task at hand and miss the people/personal connection that is so important and is usually much longer lasting. So, greetings of grace and peace to each of you.

“You are so brave!” “I could never do what you’re doing!” I used to hear this kind of language when we’d be back in the US speaking at churches and sharing with supporters. Have people said this to you along the way as you are answering God’s call, God’s invitation for you to join Him in some other part of the world from where you started? It has been many years since I have heard that, as John and I now live in the US. Then, back the beginning of May we heard it again–about being brave, being courageous because we were responding to a deep sense of call to go and join with Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference that was held in Bethlehem in the West Bank in Palestine/Israel a few weeks ago. The call came through appeals on Facebook and through emails we get from Bethlehem Bible College, which hosts the conference every other year. “Come and stand with us in these difficult days.” We prayed about it and as we began to share with people what we felt led to do, where we felt led to go, with whom we felt led to be an encouraging presence, friends and family started saying this –about our being brave, courageous, and, was it safe?

I replied, “Well, there is war going on.” I didn’t go into lengthy explanations but what I wanted to say is, “It’s not about being brave. It’s about what God has put on my/our hearts and we can’t let go, we can’t turn away.” The saying may be overused but it is so true, “The best place to be is where God calls you to be.” It doesn’t mean it’s easy or necessarily ‘safe.’ And so we went and spent nine days largely in Bethlehem. We have come away with a deep admiration of and burden for what our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ are carrying on behalf of Palestinians and Israelis, all the people in the Holy Land. These are the brave ones, but they too will tell you they are seeking to be faithful followers of the One who is our peace.

Not knowing all that is going on in each of your lives, your families, ministries, or what’s not going on, what you may be questioning about where you are or what you are doing, I offer these thoughts. Or if at times you might feel, as I have on occasion when listening to lies, that I’m a fraud and how can people be supporting me? It is not about being brave or courageous. It is about faithfully responding to God’s call, God’s invitation. And sometimes we need to pause and remember–remember that call, remember that first inclination that wouldn’t let go, remember all the ways God has opened the way, and remember all the time that God is with you.

I looked up “remember” in the story of the people of Israel. How many times God through Moses called on the people to remember! Remember how you were slaves in Egypt.

Remember what I did to Pharoah. Remember how I fed you and led you through the wilderness. It is a good practice for us from time to time to stop and remember. How did God put a place, a people, on your heart? How did God confirm that for you? Don’t forget from where you started. (And I would love to hear your story if you would be willing to share it.)

Today I am celebrating the 42nd anniversary of my ordination to be a minister of word and sacrament. In the Presbyterian Church, back then anyway, you had to have a call to a particular church or ministry. So I was ordained to my call to go and work with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Kenya. At my ordination service my very good friend, Rev. Dr. Mimi Dixon, preached Joshua 1. It may be ironic because one of the ringing verses for me out her message was verse 9 “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” I’ve never felt particularly strong or courageous but I have clung to God’s promise to be with me wherever I’ve gone.

As much as it is good for us to remember God’s call, His invitation to us, the story of God’s people in the Old Testament also is full of times where God remembers–His covenant, His people, their prayers, His promises.

So in those times you may not be feeling particularly brave or courageous or worthy or productive, know the God who called you remembers you. For those times you may be questioning if you’re in the right place, doing the right things, living the way God wants for you, ask God to confirm if you are in the place He wants you to be still. It’s not so much about being brave or courageous. It’s about being faithful–both you and Him.

Blessings in the Name of the One who never lets us go,

Anne Wheeler-Waddell

Educational Consultant

I Thessalonians 5:24