Sunday to Monday

Worship on Sunday praises God for the gifts of God's goodness in our lives. As Christians we most powerfully experience that goodness in three ways, through the life of Christ that dwells in human life, through the intimate presence of the Holy Spirit that enables us to continually be attentive to that life within us, and through our community with one another in that life. Moving from Sunday to Monday, this week, reflect where you attention most frequently rests. Is it on the irrations, time pressure, and obligations? Or, can you bring your attention to the moment, this moment, any moment savoring that Christ is within you, around you, above you and below you.

Journey, Again

Not all journeys are pilgrimages of progressive steps towards the unknown and revealing an inner wisdom. Some journeys are steps, progressive or not, to find what is know and recreate the lost. A serious computer crash that wipes clean documents that were made with our thoughts and hands, that deletes events and appointments that represent anticipated relationships, that cancels contacts that hold a history of our personal and professional interconnectedness, creates a journey to recapture what is known and recreate the lost. It is a journey of grief of what is gone. It is journey of grief for what was planned and it now replaced with efforts to regather. It is a journey of grief for good intentions and commitment to one's work. The promise is that God is present in every journey. What springs forth from our efforts now will carry that blessing and the mark of Christ's life within us. What we recreate will show forth what God intends for us now.

The Journey Matters II

The piligrimage journey to Iona changed all of our lives. For ten days we lived in a closer relationship with one another and with God than any of us experienced before. We reflected on the presence of God in our day, in the moments of beauty, justice, and creation, in the moments of friendship and discovery. Rather than an abrupt awakening or conversion, the change was subtle, gentle, bringing forth the seed God had already planted there. The lyrics of this song we learned at Iona captures this emerging life, "God has chosen me, God has chosen me, and planted a seed, he knows that I need. Its fruit shall be joy."

The Journey Matters

The title of today's post is borrowed from the mission of St. George's School, "Because the journery matters." The time to journey from last February and the last blog to today's post drew upon love, strength, balance, patience, and, the need to be flexible. In the journey of these days, God's presence was felt when everyone at St. John's adjusted schedules to cope with the snow. The presence of God was celebrated in the transitions of life: graduations, weddings, baptisms, retirements. Many drew closer into the presence of God through the pilgrimage to Iona. The journey of each day added another step to this season of a different pace. The words to describe the journey, this time, are not what is most important. What matters is the journey of these days in God's presence and with God's people.