Dear friends,
Sometimes the greatest truths are so simple, yet ironically the easiest to forget in the tumble of life. This includes the truth that we are not alone, because who we truly are is part of something far greater than our individuality. We are part of God’s life force that animates us. We can call on God at any moment to reconnect to this truth. But it’s so easy to get focused on practical details and figuring things out. I’ll never forget the time in seminary when I was talking to a fellow seminarian about some worry and at one point she asked, “Have you prayed about this?” I immediately started laughing sheepishly at myself. Oh, yeah, duh. I’d been busy working on the issue, but had forgotten to pray.
We have a phrase in our Baptismal Covenant, which can call us back to the truth: “I will, with God’s help.” It’s like
plugging in our power cord. It’s a simple phrase but not a shallow one. It reaches into the ineffable depth of the life-giving Truth of us. The most important thing we can do is to consciously open to the divine life, love, and grace we are flowing in. It changes everything. We’re branches on the vine. We’re grains of wheat that flourish when we fall to the ground, shed the outer husk of believing we’re separate, and become vessels of new life.
Retired Episcopal bishop Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter, also a former dean of the National Cathedral said, “Healthy and living institutions, including this great cathedral, are living organisms whose vision and expression of its core mission is ever changing, evolving, expanding, responding to the complex needs and realities of the world that God so loves. You know, this is also true of Christians. If we are what we were 10 years ago, seeing the world the same way, then we have not been paying attention to God’s call and claim on our lives. Christianity and Christian faith is dynamic and the Holy Spirit is ever moving, creating, revealing, and calling us to the core mission of making the love of Christ known to the world.”
This call is something that is relevant not only to St. Paul’s, but to our own hearts and outer lives, our families, our world, or whatever challenges may be weighing on our hearts. So, just a simple, happy reminder. I know I need to hear it a lot: We are alive in the grace of God, which brings strength, peace, comfort, new perspective, joy, and much more. It matters that we remember this not just abstractly, in the background, but specifically with the full attention of our heart. Whatever it is we are called to do or needing to find, “We will, with God’s help.”
Rev. Patricia Rose