Tuesday, December 11, 2007

My dearest God,

I see your power, the ability to start cracking the human heart, to open the hesitant soul, to change a life. As I look back to my earliest childhood moments, I see your hand at work. From the time I gazed into the starry skies, while on an overnight at my grandmother's house, and felt my soul pricked, I have known your transformative power.

I watched it again yesterday as I stood with two friends. Each of us are experiencing this spirit movement. I'm still carrying my mountain experience, feeling the sweeping away of old dreams, no longer relevant for my life. My friends in different ways are going through the purifying fires.

Spiritual shifts are visible to the naked eye. That haunting, mystified look on the face, the desert wandering, the questions, the silence, are all signs that something powerful is happening. I see it in my friends. But not only in them, I am observing this divine work in three members of my congregation. Music coming straight from heaven, singing it out, preparing their own souls for the shift of a lifetime. There will come the call...to move out, to sing the gospel to hungry souls, to live unlimited lives of faith. All this I see with my own eyes.

I sit in my office reflecting upon this strange movement. I have seen it so many times before especially among women with whom I have shared in retreat. Women open to the spirit, first with fellowship, friendship, laughter, then this deepening of spirit. One day I see them wandering, I see the spiritual wanderlust in their eyes. I know where they're headed.

I can name the names of people who have walked the spiritual path toward transformation. They have been intentional, made decisions to trust your "potter's hands". They have known the fiery furnace, the heat of transformation. At the appropriate time they stepped out of the furnace, their new beauty shining forth. These remarkable signs of change bolstered faith upward, another notch toward heaven. Ooh, the blessings.

I know the days of my parish ministry are numbered. I know I will not see every change that will occur, but the sweetness of faith is all around us. People walking, discovering the sacred path in unusual and profound ways. The church, your church is the seedbed for this remarkable activity. Sweet, oh so sweet.

I see your hands,
hear your voice;
I see the signs
of faith.
There's a shiftin'
goin' on
in your church.
Sweet sounds of faith,
there's a shiftin'
goin' on.

Love, Andrea