|
|
Archived 02/03: A Message From the Pastor
Rev. Alice Ann Bonham
|
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, We're in an in-between time of the year. Christmas, New Years and Epiphany have passed and Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week and Easter are yet to come. What do we do with ourselves during this inbetween time? How do we focus our attention? To what things do we look forward? These questions represent the direction my thoughts took when I began to ponder what to write for this article. I started praying about what to write a week ago, knowing that the deadline was fast approaching. And then God blessed me one more time. I bought myself a new daily devotional a couple of weeks ago. This morning was the first time I sat down to read through it. I typically don't actually read the introduction to new books (although numerous professors have tried to get me to see the error of this practice). This time, however, I did actually read through the Introduction. And I found the answer to the question, "What am I going to write for the newsletter?" The book is, A Time to Reflect, 365 Classic Meditations to help you through the year compiled by Henry Morgan. Mr. Morgan wrote the Introduction and offers us tremendous words of wisdom. The few paragraphs that I'm sharing with you touched me deeply and I hope they will touch you as well. He begins with these words: "God begins everything. When we seek God it is not we ourselves who initiate this quest. Rather, it is God who initiates it in us.... As Maria Boulding wrote: "God creates in human hearts a huge desire and a sense of need, because he wants to fill them with the gift of |
himself. It is because his self-sharing love is there first,
forestalling any response or prayer from our side, that such
hope can be in us. We cannot hope until we know, however
obscurely, that there is something to hope for; if we have had
no glimpse of avision, we cannot conduct our lives with vision.
And yet we do: there is hope in us, and longing, because grace
was there first. God's longing for us is the spring of ours
for him."" And so Mr. Morgan lays out the idea that when we begin our spiritual journeys, we do so because God has planted the desire in our hearts first. That is the beginning point. He then goes on to offer a few tips to help us on our the way: "First, journeying with God towards God requires a balance of activity and passivity. You have to be prepared to knock on a few doors, to try some new things. But you also have to be prepared sometimes just to wait, to be patent. Most of the things that you will need for your journey will come and find you; you don't have to find them. You just have to recognize them when they come by. More often than not they will be other than what you expected.... Second, there are no such things as mistakes on this journey, just learning opportunities. You won't always get it right, even supposing that you think you know what 'right' is. But we are dealing with a loving and forgiving God, and the best way of learning is through making "mistakes". So take the journey seriously, but not too seriously. Third, you will be helped enormously, by having someone with whom you can share your experience of the spiritual journey. Traditionally such a person is called a spiritual director, or a spiritual friend. The name sounds a little |
heavy, but they are someone you can meet with from time to time
to reflect on where God seems to be taking you. It is easy to
misread the signs on the way, and quite possibly to deceive
yourself, so having someone who is already an experienced
spiritual traveler, just to check things out with, is
invaluable. And the whole thing feels less lonely. Which takes me to my fourth point. It is very easy, but a grave mistake, to let your journey become a solitary and individualist affair. It is important for your journey to have a corporate element to it, for it to be something which, in some way, you share with others. Traditionally, this is where the "church" has come in. But not all churches meet this need, so you may simply have to watch out for fellow travelers on your way, and hold yourself open and willing to share with, and be supported by them. Similarly, your spiritual journey, if it is to say healthy, wont' be kept separate from the rest of your life. It seems to be the case that you cannot grow in your knowledge of God and the things of God, without growing in awareness and knowledge of yourself. The two go hand in hand. And if you start to change, then that will gradually affect the whole of your life, not just one part of it." I pray that we will all use this inbetween time to strengthen or begin our journeys with God and one another. If you would like assistance in selecting a daily devotion or just some conversation about how your journey is progressing, please let me know. My role in the life of this congregation is to "equip the saints" so that each of you are enabled to preach the Gospel. That begins with our individual journeys. Have a wonderful trip!!
Pastor Alice Ann
|
| Current: | ||
| Current Pastoral Message | ||