You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblemon your forehead,and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:5-9)
Dear Friends,
Our lectionary readings this Epiphany season cause us to see what “the world” values alongside what God values. We’ve learned that God considers the wisdom of this world foolishness. We’ve heard Jesus’s redirection of Peter and Andrew’s question “Where are you staying?” to “What are you looking for?” We’ve heard the Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount declare blessing on those who suffer conditions we try most to avoid in our lives. It’s difficult to dismiss in this season a call to reassess where we spend our energies and ask ourselves if it’s time for some changes.
I mention from time to time the temptation for us to put on our “God coat” each Sunday when we walk into the church, and to hang it neatly in the narthex before leaving after coffee hour – leaving behind as well our connection with our faith until the next Sunday. Instead, our challenge is to welcome “the peace of God, which passes all understanding,” to “keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Lent – only three weeks away! – provides the perfect opportunity for the reflection and prayer that keep us bound deeply and consistently with our faith. I offered a gentle challenge in last Sunday’s homily for you to adopt a ritual of prayer, a spiritual discipline, during Lent. The Seekers have accepted this challenge. Will you? Will you try a practice designed to bring your faith more intentionally into your everyday life in the world? Try reading the brief service of Compline each night before going to bed (BCP 127) – with your family or alone – or begin each day before getting out of bed with a prayer for the day. It may be that the practice remains with you long after Easter Sunday, and that the God coat disappears from the narthex for good.
Wishing you every blessing,
Mtr. TJ