Once I was preaching and a wasp landed on my shoulder.

I didn’t see the wasp, nor hear it.

After it landed, it proceeded to walk between my shoulders using the stole I was wearing that Sunday. The choir saw the wasp land. The choir watched the wasp walking on my stole. The choir met, established a quorum, had a discussion, and took a vote. The vote of the choir was to sit there and watch the wasp to see what would happen.

During the discussion it was determined that swatting the wasp off my shoulder would disturb the rhythm of the sermon. It might frighten the preacher. It was further determined that any attempt to remove the wasp might cause the wasp to sting the preacher. I appreciate the compassion of the choir.

They sat and watched the wasp the entire sermon. I’m sure there were follow up conversations about the dangers the wasp posed to the preacher. However, the choir stood firm with their vision statement, “let’s watch and see what happens.”

At the end of the sermon, I asked the congregation to bow in prayer. I bowed my head and heard the wasp fly off. The wasp didn’t want to hang around for the invitation hymn and ten verses of “Just As I Am.”

I know that story because I survived that story. After the service the choir gathered and told me about their deliberations. I told them about hearing the wasp fly off as I bowed my head to pray. We all laughed, and I suppose the wasp lived happily ever after.

A member of that choir has joined the Trinity choir. He called me Sunday afternoon and told me another story.

Seems that Sunday the choir noticed a spider descending from the ceiling of Trinity. If you have been in our sanctuary, you know that was some descent. The spider was to the left of the preacher and was headed toward the pulpit. Again, the choir assembled, a deliberation took place, and it was decided to “watch and see what happens.”

I’m sure the television audience thought that the choir was intensely listening to the sermon. Nope, they were watching the itsy-bitsy-spider and wondering if it would tangle with the preacher in mid sermon.

I suppose the spider continued the descent to the floor and I hope the spider is happily exploring other realms of the Trinity sanctuary. The spider may be in the choir loft or perhaps by now the spider is out in the seating area of the sanctuary. I have learned from two choirs that maybe I should leave the spider alone and “watch and see what happens.”

I’ll bet people at Trinity will pay extra attention to their environment on Sunday.

We default to jumping into the middle of something, solving every problem, and meeting every challenge that comes our way. Perhaps a better strategy is to take our hands off a situation, sit back, and “watch and see what the Lord will do.”

That is called faith.