For by grace you have been saved

Reading for Reflection   Eph. 3:14-21Eph. 2:8   

“For by grace you have been saved

through faith and this is not your own doing,

It is the gift of God.”

  

Some of you know that on Jan. 2 while skiing with my family I took a fall.  I fractured my pelvis and sprained my right thumb.  With fractures on the left and a sprain on the right, my mobility was limited a good deal.  By night time I am quite tired and not up to do much except lie and be still. I have taken to watching a PBS series entitled, “Call the Midwife.”  It is set in the 1950’s on the poor side of London. The nurse midwives consist of young women and an order of Anglican sisters. They all live together in a convent and serve their neighboring community. As each new baby is born, the new mother and midwife await that first breath and the cries that follow. It reminds me that, from our beginnings, we follow the rhythm of inward and outward breathing.

  So, it is with the spiritual life. We draw inward to soak in God’s Spirit and we go outward to serve a needy world.   Inwardly we pray and outwardly we connect with others. Lent is a season to draw inward, to focus on the spiritual disciplines, so that we may be strengthened to serve God and neighbor.  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement taught about this vital connection of personal and social holiness.

Such words may seem foreign to us in the present day. Though the wording is old, the concept is still important for us to learn and put into use so that we might have a vital faith. We still need to draw close to God and others in Christian community as well as live out our faith by caring for others.  How we do this changes over the years. What we call these practices also changes. There is room for various means of achieving the same ends.

Some of my present practices include the so-called “inward” practices of prayer, meditation, reading of scripture and other devotional materials, journaling, silence, retreats and monthly spiritual direction. I participate in private and public worship and the sacraments. My primary acts of service include the private ones of family life and stewardship of resources as well as the public ones of visiting the sick and the bereaved, of teaching, and of welcoming newcomers. I am also privileged to represent our congregation at certain community affairs. 

  Currently through circumstance, (the fall I took), and through plan, (the month of renewal leave), I am in a season of drawing inward. I have more time to pray and to reflect.  I have been richly blessed with the generosity and kindness of others. This is not to say it has all been smooth sailing. I have been ill tempered at times and then I get to practice the spiritual discipline of apology. 

 In this season of Lent, this time of re-examining our relationship with  God, may our faith be renewed and restored.

  ~Pastor Nancy