Resilience

Sue and I were riding in a golf cart at the Dunes of Maui Lani golf course. As we approached the tee box at the 6th hole we saw this bird, a Hawaiian goose, a Nene. At first we thought it was just standing on one leg as some birds occasionally do, but then it hopped across the grass to start eating again and we realized it had only one leg. How sad, we thought. It must be injured. We called the Pro Shop and told them about the bird. The young man there laughed and said the bird had been living on the course for a number of years. (A Nene can have a lifespan up to 24 years.) The young man told us that after the bird had been discovered with a significant injury, the bird rescue people came and took it to their shelter. Once there they operated to remove a damaged leg. After some rehabilitation the bird was taken back to the same tee box on the golf course and has lived and thrived in the area around the tee box ever since.

To me, its current life defines resilience.

Resilience - the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

We at St. Stephen have resilience. This is not to say we are hopping around on one leg trying to survive. Rather, it is to say we continue to do God’s work as best we can as we come out of the long pandemic. Some might say the pandemic has impacted our ministry and in some ways it clearly has. Yet, we have not stood still. We have taken the time to review and evaluate our mission, we have needed to and continue to work to find a new permanent pastor, and we have found it valuable to consider and act on new opportunities to utilize, as effectively as possible, our many physical resources and assets. Like the bird, we continue to move forward with strong determination. Come join us! See the Holy Spirit at work in this place at this time.

Bob Linderman