St. John’s friends and family,
Last week I had the privilege to watch over a dear friend’s butterfly chrysalises and caterpillars. It’s a fairly easy task. They don’t do much until they do. One day I came home and there was a beautiful butterfly struggling at the bottom of the netted cage. She had fallen from her chrysalis. Once out of the chrysalis, the butterfly is supposed to latch on to the chrysalis as she comes out. And simply hang there while exercising her newly formed wings until they dry. I suspected one of my cats had bumped the cage as she hung which caused her to fall. I had to blame someone. Isn’t that how it is when something bad happens? So, I promptly moved the cage, knowing another butterfly was about to emerge that evening, to a room away from my curious cats. I didn’t have to wait long before the second butterfly began to emerge. I was so excited! I watched the miracle unfold as she made her grand appearance. The moment came for her to latch on, but something went terribly wrong. To my dismay, she fell straight to the bottom of the cage. Her wings were crumpled and her little legs flailed. I wanted to help her. I grabbed a napkin to see if she would latch on to it and hang from it, but she could only hang for a matter of seconds before she slipped back down to the bottom of the cage. Her wings were like large limp colorful petals. Something went terribly wrong and there was no one to blame. And I realized that this is what probably happened to the first butterfly I had found at the bottom of the cage. The poor cats hadn’t done anything wrong. Not understanding, I had blamed them. Isn’t that the way it is? When something goes wrong, it feels like it should be someone’s fault? Sometimes it is someone’s fault and sometimes it isn’t. We live in a broken world and evil is present that brings harm, pain and death that goes against God’s design and will. Yet, we are to persevere and hold on to God’s promises with hope. As we continue this sermon series on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we meet him in a place where he faces great evil and perseveres.
As we worship together, may God meet us where we are in our struggles and give us the strength to persevere, to endure, build our character and bring us hope.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Stephanie
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