Pastor’s Corner: Inspiration

September 16, 2020

Three years ago, I lamented on social media: “Hey, Inspiration, I don’t have any company at the moment, so if you’d like to come visit, I’d love to welcome you. Really. A lot.”

I’m pretty sure I was struggling with a sermon at the time.

Inspiration is one of those things we hope for, one of those things all too frequently longed for but yet unseen. I hope for inspiration when I’m trying to write something (like a Pastor’s Corner). I hope for inspiration when I’m trying to puzzle out why some device doesn’t work. I hope for inspiration when I’m sitting with someone who is deeply sad so I can be of good comfort. I hope for inspiration when I’m sharing a story.

New projects, new relationships, new stages of life: all of these call for inspiration. And where does it come from? Truly, I can’t tell you. Sometimes it comes from other people, and sometimes it comes in a circle.

That happened to me last week. Part of my preparation for Sunday involves writing a poem based on the text from which I’m preaching. A few friends read them. Maren Tirabassi, who happens to be among the best spiritual writers I know, found something of a spark in my poem about Miriam’s dance along the shores of the Red Sea. She wrote her own poem, and it brought tears to my eyes.

Further, it gave me another idea that became the song I played during this week’s Song from Church of the Holy Cross.

Inspiration doesn’t always work like that, but it is a delight when it does. How marvelous when one friend’s recipe inspires another’s, or when a ministry of compassion takes a new shape in another church’s hands. How amazing that we learn how to take care of one another from one another. How beautiful.

And how inspiring.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric

Photo by Eric Anderson