PASTORAL PONDERINGS
Do you remember your high school chemistry? Probably not. There were a lot of complex issues involved. There were so many things to learn: the periodic table of elements, balancing equations and of course the dreaded written report of the outcome of the experiment {it never seemed to work out correctly?} Our son Joshua got his master’s degree in chemistry. He presented me with a copy of his thesis and the only thing I recognized was his name.
There was one concept I have always remembered, and thought was kind of special. That concept was a catalyst. It is defined as “a substance that facilitates a chemical reaction, without itself being changed during the reaction.” The term is also used outside chemistry to be something that causes something to begin.
Isn’t this is exactly what the church is to be in the world? Aren’t we called to bring together issues and concerns and discern them by adding the catalyst which is the perspective of our faith? Going forward we are all called to be that catalytic element that brings together the conflicting and confounding problems and examines them through the eyes of faith.
~Rev. Dr. Fred Leasure, Parish Associate