Brian also warmed my heart when he named his Senior High Youth experiences with ACC as a source for his passion. Thank God for your support youth ministry! He remembered to us a mission trip to Montreal where he worked with Sudanese refugees. That’s where he learned “tolerance for ambiguity.” What an interesting phrase.

After hearing his presentation, you understand why “tolerance of ambiguity” is so essential for his work. The political, economic, and cultural issues are so volatile, varied and (sometimes) violent that it’s difficult to measure success at any given moment. “Tolerance for ambiguity” sounds like a political science term for faith.

In the letter to the Hebrews, the preacher defined faith as the “assurance of things hoped for, and the substance of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is what calls people like Brian to the kind of work that looks like moving a mountain, walking on water, or raising the dead. Success seems impossible and improbable, but not to attempt it would be worse than all the frustrations and failures. It would be like saying “no” to God.

Along with meaningful prayers offered by Dr. Olmsted, Brian referenced Reinhold Niebuhr, UCC minister and theologian. I close with a Niebuhr quote that shows the relationship among theological virtues of hope, faith and love. May these words inspire you when your “yes” to God seems like an impossible possibility:

“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.”