Risk and Call

by General Presbyter Melana Scruggs

This summer Terri Jo Crego at Bee Ridge has been doing a sermon series using board games as a metaphor for our spiritual journey. She was away this past Sunday and asked me early in the summer if I would be willing to do one of the games and offered Risk. I was thrilled to give it a try. Then I had to do the work to see what that game might have to say to us in conjunction with the Scriptures Terri Jo had suggested. The goal of the game of Risk is to use your resources, your game pieces, to take over the whole board and knock everyone else out of the game. What do we do with that as a metaphor for faith?

The first Scripture was Joshua 1:1-9 in which Moses has died and now Joshua is called by God to lead the people into the Promised Land. Three times in that passage God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. I feel sure Joshua knew he would need that. He had seen how the people reacted to God and Moses. That was a risky call, but Joshua agreed.

The second Scripture was Matthew 14:22-33 in which Jesus walks on the water to the disciples and Peter asks to walk on the water too. He does it until he looks away from Jesus and realizes the wind and the waves are dangerous and he shouldn’t be able to do what he is doing. Then he sinks and Jesus rescues him and wonders where their faith is.

When we answer God’s call to discipleship we are taking a risk. God’s call is usually counter to what the culture encourages. This is where I began to think that the game of Risk is a counter metaphor for our calling. The whole point of Risk is to be the only one left in the game, to take over the whole board and control everything. Our faith calls us to include all people, to share of all our resources, and to be open to service with others even when we disagree. It can be risky, but it can also be invigorating. I would love to hear what your congregation is doing where risk and call come together in faith. Please email me with stories that I could share in the newsletter about the work you are doing.

In the next couple of weeks you will receive a request from the presbytery for a pledge for the 2026 budget. We are a connectional church and can do more together than we do separately. We stepped out in faith to include a new union congregation and decided to support them with funds that came from attempts at new church development that did not work and from the sale of the presbytery office. Many folks have shared that taking that step felt invigorating and life-giving. The presbytery exists to support the work and mission of its member churches and to encourage ways to open ourselves to invite and include others into our faith. We invite you to bring your pledges to the October 18 presbytery meeting in Estero and place them on the communion table during worship as a way to acknowledge our connection and faith.

Sometimes living out our calling is not easy. Sometimes we have to take heart, be strong and courageous, and trust that God is at work. Like Peter, when we take our eyes off of Christ and try to rely on our own strength, we often fail. Our priorities are in better line when our eyes are on Jesus. Our understanding of others is stronger when our eyes are on Jesus. Our courage is stronger when we have our hearts focused on Jesus. We can risk living out our calling because it comes from God, who loves us beyond measure. How will we deploy our resources, our game pieces, to maximize our success and to include others, not exclude them, on the board of our faith? Our calling is exciting and requires our courage and strength and our willingness to step out toward Jesus, even when it seems dangerous.