Impasse

Wednesday 4/1/2015 4:38 AM

My devotional theme this week is impasse. To me an impasse describes a situation where progress isn’t possible, either because of disagreement or because of circumstances. My assigned scripture today includes Psalm 53:2-3, “God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Sunday I attended a worship service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach. The service was much different from that with which I am familiar. The service was entirely scripted with the exception of the message delivered by the rector. Since it is Passion Week the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events of that week were read much like a reader’s theater, with different characters’ statements in the story read by different members of the congregation and staff. The entire congregation read the portions of the story where large crowds spoke so at the beginning of the service we were shouting our hosannas as Jesus rode into town on his colt and we were shouting crucify him when Jesus was before Pilate. I found that part of the service to be very meaningful as my voice shouted with the others, “Crucify him!” I got goose bumps on my arms when I heard my voice shouting those words and I realized that if I had been alive in that day I would have indeed been in the crowd calling for his death. I like to imagine that I may have been different but Psalm 53 reminds me that all have turned away from God, even me.

Many in the Christian church today like to compare themselves with others, thinking they are a cut above everyone else. This kind of attitude eventually results in an attitude of judgment toward others and those who are not Christians look upon that kind of person with disdain. John Mogabgab writes the following about impasses. “Today many seekers are encountering impasses in personal life. Overtaken by old inner wounds, recently gnarled relationships, unexpectedly unstable finances, they have come to the end of the tether, stumbled into the heart of darkness (Joseph Conrad). Moreover, impasses snake out beyond the personal sphere. Social and political life, ever tormented by the ancient question of how we can live together well, seem regularly and alarmingly to become exhausted in places of not exit (Jean-Paul Sartre). Weariness grows. Hope collapses.” He then goes on to describe how the Bible is the account of how God breaks through and makes the impassable passable. He describes how Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary experienced impossible births in spite of the biological impasse they experienced with conception. Others like Naaman and a man born blind experienced healing of diseases. Physical and geographical barriers were overcome when Peter was delivered from prison and the Israelites passed through the Red Sea. Mogabgab writes, “Everywhere the pattern is the same: The most daunting impasse precedes a passage to God; the most impenetrable maze has a Center.”

Reading that “everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” can be cause for despair. But thank God that the impassable is made passable because of his love and mercy. No matter how hopeless my circumstances seem God can overcome them to bring me through them to himself.