He spoke of the four cups of wine and their significance, how the Lord used four verbs of redemption in Exodus 6:6-7 when speaking about Israel:
I will bring you out…
I will rescue you…
I will redeem you…
I will take you…
Why is this night different from all other nights?
I wrote a letter to a college friend the other day, and faith came up, the strangeness of it, the constant shifting. I’ve changed more in the three years since college than I ever did when I was there, and my faith has been moving, too. I keep reminding myself that this isn’t something to be afraid of, that wrestling with doctrine and rightness of things and my own inconsistencies is exactly the way it should be.
It does scare me a little.
Why is this night different from all other nights?
God is not stagnant. Many of my friends are packing up and moving. God is not stagnant.
I am not moving house, but I am moving, constantly shaking things up, walking a new rabbit trail, searching and finding and searching again. I use new words to talk to God, but more than that, I find new ways to listen. I thank Him for the sun, and I thank Him for His unending forgiveness that I need daily.
God is not stagnant.
Why is this night different from all other nights?
There was a time last spring. I was in the throes of – I’m not sure what to call it – an emotional upheaval? A spiritual awakening? I’d just read Lauren Winner’s Still, and I wasn’t sure whether to be angry, sad, hopeful, or just realize its honesty. She wrote about the middle-place of faith, how sometimes we dwell in this space far longer than we anticipated. Throughout the whole book, her voice feels monotone, like her soul is weary with this middle-ness.
I sat in church, listening to my pastor’s words over the eucharist, and I was filled with fear.
My palms began to sweat. I stared at the communion table. It was the first time I realized what awe felt like.
The magnitude of what I was about to do, the bread and drink that would pass my lips, filled me with a visceral fear.
I have never had that same experience again, but I long for it.
The silence at the power of God.
The knowledge that He is so much more than I think He is, and thank God for that.
What makes this night different from all other nights?
To look forward to the feast of the Lord, when all is made new. To look forward to breaking bread with my Savior. To be shocked into wonder.