General Synod Daily Devotional: Picking Up Where We Left Off

Scripture: Zechariah 1:3b – “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.” (NRSVUE)

Well, I’m back at General Synod! This time it’s General Synod 35 in Kansas City, Missouri. It is a new city, a new hotel, a new convention hall, all of which I am still getting used to. But in other ways, it is still the same. There is still the same energy. The same cloths draped on the stage representing the theme (this year is Into the Deep). Most immediate is the people. So many friends from all over the country that I haven’t seen for two years. There is that instant joy of being together again in roughly the same situation. It’s like we are picking up where we left off. In so many ways, it feels like coming home.

But it has been two years, and I don’t know about you, but the world is a very different place than it was two years ago, and my life is also in a different place. This got me thinking. What other things have we put down for a time and a season, only to pick them up again. Can we ever really be the same people we were before? Have things changed too much? Can we really go home again? This is a question that has kept people up at night, inspired great novels and poetry, and forced open hearts and souls in prayer for hundreds of years.

For so many of us, the thing we have put down or the person we have left for a season is God. Even if we remain faithful and prayerful, there are times in our lives when God seems far away. We have lost that innocent spark of enthusiasm. We have suffered and question and the answers we receive never feel quite right, if we receive answers at all. We may have wandered away from church altogether.

But then, all of a sudden, we are home again. We are back at General Synod. We are back in church. We are back right with God.

We are not the same people. The city is different. The convention hall is different. But the people are there: the smiles, the hugs, the excitement, the faith. No matter where we wander, no matter what we have put down in our lives, God is there when we pick it up, happy to see us, accepting us for who we are, and guiding us to new places and new challenges that we can all face side by side.

Prayer: God, I have left for a season. Now I am back with you. Thank you for loving me. Let’s get to work. Amen.