Holding on to Hope in a Heavy World
CONTACT: Rev. Dr. Chris Shorow, Senior Minister cshorow@fccedmond.org 405.341.3544
What do we do when the world feels like too much? When the headlines won’t let up, when grief and uncertainty sit heavy in our bodies, when we’re carrying more than we ever thought we could, how do we keep going?
Shannan Martin wrote Counterweights: An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in a Heavy World because she felt “perpetually weighed down by the too-muchness of this world.” Her father had taught her something useful about carrying heavy things: a heavy bucket is easier to carry with another in your other hand. Picture the first bucket pulling you to one side. Picking up another seems unlikely to help, yet it changes how you carry the load.
John showed us how that works as he launched our fall series with two five-gallon buckets and some hand weights. Into one went the worries, tensions, and burdens we carry. Into the other went things like friendship and feeding our neighbors. The burdens didn’t get any lighter, but the second bucket made the first easier to carry.
In life’s hardest moments, it can be difficult to imagine feeling okay again. Yet a few hours later, we may find ourselves laughing, even through tears. We sometimes struggle to make room for both, as though joy should wait until grief is finished. But we don’t have to be done with pain to make space for meaning and joy.
Martin offers a way to hold both: “We can only counter what we’re willing to weigh.” We begin by naming what is heavy and making room for what sustains us.
Martin cautions against silver linings and forced positivity that turn us away from what hurts. Counterweights ask us to hold life in honest tension. That means resisting dualistic thinking that sorts people into us and them, good and bad. Those absolutes feel certain, but they shrink people into categories. Life is full of both/ands. Joy and sorrow. Distressing news and Good News.
Holding both takes practice. We return to the people, places, and ways of living that sustain us when life is heavy. Church can be one of those places. As we learn, serve, and share life across generations, we help one another carry life’s weight and put our weight behind what lifts one another up.
Jesus invites us into that shared life: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” He asks us to take his yoke and learn from him. A yoke joins two together and directs their shared effort. Following Jesus, we learn to carry life’s weight together, shaped by his love.
On November 1, Lament and Longing, we’ll listen for the longings beneath our laments. On November 8, All Together Sunday, our whole church gathers to explore Barriers and Belonging and celebrate what holds us up and binds us together. See the special schedule below and make plans to join us. Then, on November 15, Poverty and Plenty, we’ll close the series by exploring how faith helps us resist a culture that measures worth by wealth and power, practicing generosity, humility, and compassion instead.
If you’ve been feeling stretched thin, worn down, or just plain tired of carrying it all alone, we’re here to be a counterweight for you.