How to Find Sense When You’re “Out of Sorts”

Recently I have felt “out of sorts.” I can’t put my finger on it. I guess it’s a mixture of missing our “old” life in Milwaukee, trying to settle into  our “new” life in Florida, and seeking to establish a routine that is productive, creative, and fulfilling. It’s taking some time to make all of that happen.

Exhilaration

That’s why I’m finding the routine of the Church Year comforting. The rhythm and pattern of following the life of Jesus and then the life and growth of the church brings a certain calm and security. I’ve been through this pattern year after year throughout the course of my life. There’s something to be said for familiarity. It brings “sameness” while there is change all around.

Lauren Winner also reminded me of this in her new book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Life Faith Crisis. Yesterday’s date on the liturgical calendar was The Baptism of Our Lord. Winner writes brilliantly about the meaning of that special day:

The Epiphany story that most tempts my memory is the story of Jesus’ baptism. There is John at the river Jordan, and there are all those unwashed people who have come for his baptism, and in the queue is Jesus, who is without sin, who shouldn’t be in that line with all those sinning people: with Sam, the notorious adulterer; Jack, who’s known for swindling old ladies out of their last bit of income; Lila, who’s rumored to have committed infanticide; and also Mina, who’s just not very nice; and Michael, the prideful prig; and Gary, who made a fortune using shady business tactics. One by one, each of these sinners appears at the head of John’s line. And then Jesus appears. And John says, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” and Jesus insists.

The official reason that this is an Epiphany story is that after Jesus is baptized, a dove alights, and a voice comes from heaven declaring, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The voice is taken to be the answer to Epiphany’s question: this is who Jesus is — he is God’s  well-beloved and pleasing son. But this year, hearing in church again about Jesus’ baptism, I wonder if, before the voice from heaven and the celestial dove, it is also Jesus standing in line by the river that tells us who he is. At Christmastime, the church called Jesus Emmanuel, which means God-with-us — and now he is with us in the baptismal queue. He is the One who stands with humanity in this line that is all about our sinning, our shame.

And I am in this baptismal line too, with all those tawdry first-century sinners, with the embezzler and the adulterer and the prig. I’d prefer to stand aside from them, from the woman who committed infanticide and the man who cooked the books. But I stand here too. It feels like a relief.

It’s a relief to stand in that line. It brings comfort. It brings certainty. It brings familiarity.

But most importantly, it brings forgiveness.

And that is what I need to bring a life that is somewhat “out of sorts” back into sync again.

What is it that brings you comfort when you’re feeling “out of sorts”?

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4 thoughts on “How to Find Sense When You’re “Out of Sorts”

  1. I have felt “out of sorts” with my relationship with God for approx 3 years now and can’t quite put my finger on what may be the source or the solution.

    Am very much looking forward to what others may have to say on this.

    We are active members of a church that doesn’t follow the liturgical calendar and that has always been a bit odd for us. The roadsigns of the church year are missing! I too feel a bit of comfort and familiarity with the calendar.

  2. I have also found myself having what I would also describe as that “out of sort” feeling; knowing that something is missing and yet not knowing what. The needing for stability or familiarity, yet nothing really filled that whole.

    Then I believe I found my answer in a book I was reading about the need to have a firm foundation of who I am in Christ. And as I sit with that thought and meditate on it I become more and more ok.
    I am a God’s child – John 1:12.
    I am Christ’s friend – John 15:15.
    I am complete in Christ – Colossians 2:10.
    I have been bought with a price; I belong to God — 1 Corinthians 6:20

    It takes time and lots of prayer to let those truths really sink in, I am not saying I am ‘there’ yet, but it really has had a stabilizing, fulfilling effect on me. Christ is my true foundation now more than ever before! That is true reassurance and security!