Tomorrow marks my 15th year of ordained service to the Church.
Wikipedia tells me that fifteen is a “superabundant number,” but the article linked there confuses me. It also tells me it is a “triangular number” because you make make a triangle with 15 parts. It tells me that in Hebrew you write 15 as “96” because the normal way of writing 15 in Hebrew would get close to spelling out the name of God. It tells me that 15 is the legal drinking age in Ethiopia. And while all of that is fun, it doesn’t really tell me what 15 years of service means.
In terms of the Law, 15 years means a lot of mess ups and failures. It means that I’ve been too timid at times and too bold at others. It means things should have been better, but I got in the way. In terms of the Gospel, it means that despite all of that, God still has worked through me.
I was having a conversation with a former student last week and I brought up how C.S. Lewis postulated that Jesus could walk through the walls of the upper room after being Resurrected because He was “more real” and less ethereal than the walls. We usually think of walls as being the solid thing and spirits as the ethereal, but in the case of God — perhaps we’re willing to admit that our lives are the less dense thing. God has walked His density through my less dense body, and He has done that for 15 years. I just get to be the wall that testifies to the miracle of Him walking through it. Perhaps that is a little of what 15 years means.
Thank you all of you for your patience with me and your willingness to be a part of this Jesus Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace along with me. May Christ continue to walk through all of us, displaying the miracle of His grace coming through our lives for the sake of the world.