Long ago I taped a card to a cabinet in our
basement. It reads: "Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and
act anyway." I do not know its source.
One of the ELCA's
strategic directions is that we "step forward as a public church that
witnesses boldly to God's love for all that God has created." It takes
courage to witness boldly. Part of our bold witness in a perfectionist,
hide-your-faults, deny-your-failures culture is to confess: "We are in
bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." In some contexts, it takes
courage to act with humility. In other situations it takes courage to
admonish another. At times it takes courage to admit we do not know
with certainty what God is calling us to do.
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