Sunday, June 8, 2008

Dear God,

I feel my spiritual insides now when I preach. Whether it is because I am in my final year and I say to myself, "what do I have to lose?" or because I believe your message more than ever or I have truly found my voice in the Gospel or I know we live in precarious times, I feel a greater nudge, a greater importance to your Word. And I am no longer afraid to preach it. I owe it to my people, that beloved community you called me to serve.

Sunday mornings are so beautiful. I know I have the opportunity to meet your friends in worship. They will gather just like me and I know they are looking for you the same as I am. We arrive and when we see each other we get filled up. Just seeing your people, your "faith" people in your holy home, well, it's like a grand gala event where everybody comes for the party and everyone brings faith with them. We put it all together and suddenly we have this great and wondrous event where you are the both the recipient of our faith and the celebrant of it. What a truly beautiful thing.

As I reflect on my way home, I see happy faces. I see the eyes of those who found God sitting with them, those who discovered strength for their arduous journey, those who picked up courage, those whose love for you was so full that they just loved you full force. I see it in my mind that holds the image with great care. For I know this has been what you came for, to touch and inspire each child of faith.

There is nothing like worship. There is no act so fully faith. I know that sentence doesn't make sense, but then it makes full sense. In worship our hearts are intentionally drawn toward you. We can't see our hearts through our skin and clothes but we know it happens. We know our minds are readied to receive a powerful Word. All our senses are heightened because we want to capture everything that comes our way. We hush ourselves for minutes, waiting to give you as much attention as we can muster. It is THE event of our week. And then it happens, God appears in us, around us, in front and back of us, beside us. We see you up front and out in the crowd. You're laughing with children in the hallway (running, of course) and in the lounge holding a cup of coffee listening to your big kids talk, hug, smile at one another.

One breath in worship means we breathe in you and we leave breathing you out into the world around us. There is nothing like worship for that is when I know my spiritual insides are fully alive.

Faith happens
every time
I breathe in.
I intentionally
take deep breaths
wanting to take in
more and more
so I can exhale
more and more
into the world.
This process
of faith
teaches me
to pay attention,
really pay attention
to what
is happening
all around me.
You
are
what
is
happening
all
around
me.

So incredibly grateful, Andrea