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Friends,
A profound difference separates being safe from being secure. Safety suggests a life free from risk, uncertainty, or disruption. Security, however, is something much deeper. It is the assurance that whatever life brings, we remain connected to a God whose love will never abandon us.
In To Rebehold the Stars, Tiffany Yecke Brooks invites us to discover a faith that is not simply inherited but examined, wrestled with, and ultimately claimed as our own. It is a beautiful invitation to spiritual maturity: to move beyond believing something merely because we were told to believe it, and toward a relationship with God that has been forged through experience, questioning, doubt, discovery, and grace.
I believe this is particularly meaningful for us at Cathedral of Hope.
Many of us arrived here having been told that God's love was conditional, that our questions were dangerous, or that our authentic selves somehow placed us beyond the reach of divine grace. We were offered the illusion of safety through conformity, when what our souls desperately needed was the security of knowing that we were already loved.
Jesus never promised us safety. Indeed, following Jesus often means stepping beyond the familiar, challenging injustice, confronting religious certainty, and risking something for the sake of love. Jesus did promise us something greater: a relationship with God that no institution, doctrine, prejudice, or human judgment could ever take away.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13 that our understanding of God will always be incomplete. We see through a mirror dimly. Our theology will evolve, our perspectives will change, and some of the things we once believed with absolute certainty may eventually fall away. But three things remain: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.
Perhaps spiritual maturity is not about having all the answers. Perhaps it is about becoming sufficiently secure in God's love that we no longer need everyone else to believe exactly as we do.
Imagine what our church, our community, and our world might become if we approached one another with that kind of blessed assurance. Instead of guarding the boundaries of belonging, we could become companions to those emerging from the darkness of religious rejection, fear, and shame. We could welcome their questions, celebrate their discoveries, and make room for their unfolding understanding of God.
That is our sacred calling at Cathedral of Hope.
This week, I invite you to consider where God might be calling you beyond the safety of what is familiar. What certainty might you need to release? Whose journey might you need to welcome? What courageous act of love is waiting for your response?
May we be a people who trust steadily, hope unswervingly, and love extravagantly. We may not always be safe, but we can always be secure in the love of God, and together, let us rebehold the stars.
With faith, hope, and love,
Fondly,
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