First Baptist Church of Herndon

Collective Sigh

Linda Soller | Jan 30, 2017

Friday was the Presidential Inauguration. Aside from political affiliations, inauguration days are always a somewhat contentious time in the D.C. metro area because so many livelihoods are impacted. Saturday was the Women’s March. Nearly everyone in our area knows someone who participated. FBC Herndon had their chili cook-off on Saturday night. It was well attended and fun despite the rain. Our local football team was no longer in the playoffs. Nothing else to say there. The weather was dismal. What a weekend!

Sunday morning, the Pastor starts the announcements in a serious tone with, “Well, we have observed a peaceful transition of power.”  Inhale, not quite a gasp. You can feel the tension throughout the congregation. Surely he is not going there. People glance around the room. What is he thinking, don’t we deserve a break? After a pause for impact, he continues in his same serious tone, “The crown for best chili has been passed to someone new.” There is a collective sigh, followed by smiles, and laughter, and applause for the winner.

For a few fleeting moments our minds had gone to an entirely different place. We were anxious, uncomfortable, and worried. Have you ever wondered why we tend to do that? Humans often start with the negative and many eventually come around. I think it must have something to do with self-preservation. My totally unscientific explanation is that we feel the need to prepare for the worst. My equally unscientific observation is that some people are better at moving past that initial angst than others. That Sunday morning the congregation went from passive to anxious and hardly breathing to a collective sigh. The key word is collective, not sigh. As a group we breathed out, and in that moment moved on together for our real purpose for being there, worship.

There are no certainties except God. In our hearts we know what He expects of each of us, no matter what our opinions of our current situation are. In our minds we know exactly how He expects each of us to act. Whether we want to admit it or not, we recognize when He gives us opportunities to be better people, better Christians. It is time for a collective sigh, key word collective.  

Have a great week!     : o)  Linda

Congrats to Becky, Josh, and Leah for their BIG wins at the chili cook-off!