Clergy from left, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired; Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Assistant Rector Lynn Finnegan and Pastor Deb Church. Courtesy photo

By Pastor Nicolé Raddu Ferry
Bethlehem Lutheran Church

“All Shall be well…”

Will it really? The four clergy women you see at the top of this column hear that question a lot and truth be told, we wonder that often for ourselves.

I have been reading the writings of Kate Bowler, PhD. Kate is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. Six years ago, at age 35, as a wife and mother, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, causing her to think differently about the research and beliefs she had been studying. Each day became incredibly important to Kate.

Her piece: A blessing for when you happen to be having an ordinary day, caused me to pause and filled my heart:

“Lord, here I am.

How strange it is, that some days feel like hurricanes and others like glassy seas and others like nothing much at all.

Today is a cosmic shrug.

My day planner says, rather conveniently, that I will not need you, cry for you, reach for you. Ordinarily, I might not think of you at all. Except, if you don’t mind, let me notice you.

Show up in the small necessities and everyday graces.

God, be bread. Be water. Be laundry.

Be the coffee cup in my hands and the reason to calm down in traffic.

Be the gentler tone in my insistence today that people pick up after themselves for once.

Be the reason I feel loved when I catch my own reflection or feel my own self-loathing fluttering in my stomach.

Calm my mind, lift my spirit, make this dumb, ordinary day my prayer of thanks.”

Our Christian faith empowers us to allow our “ordinary” days to have a moment of gratitude, that we have a God of hope, knowing we are not alone. Until next time…

Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a semi-monthly column written by local women clergy (pastors and deacons) including, ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Nicolé Ferry, Pastor, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Lynn Finnegan, Assistant Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org) and Deb Church, Pastor, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com).