No Answers (or Questions) at a Distance
Hi Church!
Irish novelist George Moore once wrote, “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” The familiar and worn paths are often the last places we look. The novel and new hold tantalizing promise, but it is often in older and oft-neglected ways of being human that we find what we most deeply need.
Beginning this Sunday, we’ll be starting a new Coffee and Catechism class on spiritual practices. The four practices: sabbath-keeping, contemplative prayer, the Daily Office, and Scripture memorization, aren’t new or novel. Chances are you may have dabbled with a least one of them before. You may have even found it lacking. We’re focusing on these, however, because it is in these practices, commended by Scripture and by our forebears in the faith, that we can find what we need.
In and through these four ways we meet and cooperate with the God who gives rest, who restores our souls, and who teaches and guides us. We’ll be starting with sabbath-keeping this Sunday, and our time will be devoted both to its theological foundation, but also on how to practically enter into it. I hope you can join us as we find our way in these old and life-giving ways. My hope is we'll find something fresh in them, and enter further into the life of God for the good of the world.
In Christ,
Peter+
Ps. This Sunday we will mark the Feast of All Saints, and celebrate the communion with share in Christ with Christians around the world and through time. We'll also be celebrating two baptisms! Be sure to be there ready to cheer on and welcome Sophie and Anya into the household of God! Please pray for the grace of God to be very real to them in these days and in their baptism.
Pps. Our own David Taylor recently spoke at a Baylor chapel on how the Psalms of Scripture gives us language to engage with God, right where we are with anger, sadness, even hatred. Check it out here (David's part begins around minute 15).