"Stumble" | Reflection by the Rev. Heidi Thorsen

As a priest, there are many opportunities to stumble over my words: in a sermon, during extemporaneous prayer, during the liturgy. It’s not an uncommon occurrence to make a mistake in a very public way. Sometimes words blur together to make a complete nonsense word; other times words blend together to make a word that I definitely didn’t mean to say in church.

Nevertheless, I’m grateful for these stumbles - mainly for two reasons. First, stumbling is how we learn. There is a world of difference between the first homily I gave without a manuscript, and the ones I preach “off book” these days, at Chapel on the Green and residential centers. I think of my 10 month old daughter, who stumbles regularly on her journey from sitting, to standing, to “cruising,” to… oh gosh, don’t tell me what comes next! The end result of stumbling is the same for both of us: we learn, we grow, we feel the satisfaction of using our God given talents to the best of our ability.

The second reason I am grateful for these stumbles is this: to stumble is to be human. I love when the liturgy isn’t 100% perfect. I love when I say an accidental word, and we laugh, and move on. I love the story of a friend whose hair accidentally caught on fire in church the day she was confirmed (she’s fine now; it was just a singe!). I love how our humanness breaks into the core of those things we call sacred — a reminder that our very human lives are holy too.