Ordinary Time 
Pause
Our lives are filled with images. They’re everywhere — on our phones, on television, on the side of the road. Pictures of celebrities. Pictures of athletes. Pictures of just about everything.
But what about faith? Where do we find pictures of faith?
Finding faith is no easy task. Neither is becoming a person of faith. But with God’s help it’s possible. With this in mind, we look to Scripture, and we commit ourselves to gathering with other Christ followers. Even now we wait expectantly for a word from God, with the hope that we might become a picture of faith for others to see.
Listen
Shepherd of Israel, listen! You, the one who leads Joseph as if he were a sheep. You, who are enthroned upon the winged heavenly creatures.
Show yourself before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh! Wake up your power! Come to save us!
Psalm 80:1-2
Think
Sometimes it feels like everything is falling apart. Families are being torn at the seams. The political process appears broken. And we are daily witnesses to war, poverty, and environmental destruction. Injustice is all around us. Everywhere we look we find the effects of sin. Pain and suffering abound.
Where is God? Is God still our Shepherd?
God, are you asleep? “O Shepherd of Israel,” do you hear our cries for help, for deliverance, for healing?
It’s hard to have faith when destruction and death run rampant; nonetheless, we must persist in our belief that something new and exciting is about to happen. Perhaps what we see now is nothing more than a momentary struggle, and what appears to be insurmountable will in time become trivial.
Regardless, the Psalmist is adamant — we need God to act. So we wait expectantly. But as people of faith, we also courageously enter into the pain and suffering, all the while trusting that God will transform all of our failings into something more beautiful.
Chris Robertson
Pray
God, I am in desperate need of healing. Though at times I am plagued by doubt, I look to you, and I ask for courage, that I may go where you would have me go and do what you would have me do. Amen.
Go
In Scripture we meet hundreds of faithful people whose stories continue to inspire, enliven, and challenge us today. Each of their stories is a unique picture of faith, as well as a constant reminder that faith is always a call to action.
“Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession. It is an on-again-off-again rather than once-and-for-all. Faith is not being sure where you’re going but going anyway. A journey without maps.”
Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking
