Comments on: Nothing and Probably Most Everything

By: Nate McIntyre

Nate McIntyre — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:56:46 +0000

Shawn, I really appreciate your open-hearted willingness to wrestle with this tension and lean into the uncomfortable for the sake of relationships and potential repair. That seems to be missing in so many places these days and it is an inspiring example!

By: Kelly Fassett

Kelly Fassett — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:52:50 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing Shawn. I appreciate you naming the underlying seeds that God is planting that are taking root in practical situations that you are facing. May the “few cracks of light that have broken through your armor of pain” continue to break open wider and wider as you discover your own role in peacemaking amidst the division and fractures in your context.

By: Chris Nafis

Chris Nafis — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:21:42 +0000

Thanks for sharing this, Shawn. I resonate with this quite a bit. The pastor and mentor I served under for 5 years, who sent me to plant the church I now pastor, argued the case against a fellow pastor on my district who was eventually defrocked over LGBTQ+ issues a couple of years ago (essentially playing the role of prosecuting attorney). The whole incident has been extremely painful, and I find myself still struggling to stay in the denomination, here mostly because it’s easier than dragging my church through a painful process of me/us leaving. For years, we joined congregations for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday services, and after a long hiatus, we hosted them for Ash Wednesday this year, and we will join them in a few weeks for Good Friday. I have a lot of mixed feelings about bringing my congregation back over there and worshiping together with all of the tension that I/we feel toward what has happened. The note about imagining this pastor washing dishes with a group of migrants is really helpful in putting Jer’s reflections into action for me with this former pastor of mine. Praying for restoration and reconciliation, somehow, in the midst of ongoing conflict. Hoping the Spirit will allow true communion during Holy Week across the divide this year.

By: Kassandra Quick-Vana

Kassandra Quick-Vana — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 02:59:58 +0000

Shawn, sharing this is obviously so very personal and vulnerable and I so appreciate your willingness to do this. Your honesty about the need for both God and therapist is refreshing as I find myself hesitant to talk about my therapy experiences in some ministry circles where it feels like there is still judgment or suspicion of this.
I hope when you look back on this visit, you will be able to see even more of God’s restoration work in you and through you!