Let us start with a story...
Jane looked at the time. Listed office hours were over. There was nobody else in the building. With a deep sigh she pulled out her phone, turned it off and put it back in her pocket. Then she stood up and made her way to the sanctuary.
There Jane turned on the sound system and started playing some gentle instrumental music. Then she turned off all the lights, letting the space soak on the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows, and made her way to the chancel. Jane flipped open the big Bible on the communion table till she found the passage she was looking for. She read it aloud into the empty space, letting the words resound off the walls, then she flipped open the book of poetry she had brought from the office and read aloud one of her favourite pieces. As the last line of the poem echoed across the room Jane set the poetry down and sat silently in the choir loft.
4 or 5 minutes later she stood up and made her way down the chancel steps. Slowly, reflectively, even meditatively, Jane started weaving her way through the rows of seats. Carefully she passed between the rows, back and forth, like it was a very basic labyrinth. As she walked Jane allowed her mind to drift. For a while she reflected on the passage she had just read. For a while she replayed the poem. Then she started to quietly murmur words of prayer. Finally she fell silent and walked on, down one side of the sanctuary then back up the other, until she found herself standing again at the foot of the chancel steps.
There Jane settled into the front pew. She sat with her eyes closed, letting the music flow over her, silently lifting up her joys, her worries, her confusions, her hopes to the Holy One.
Suddenly she heard the church door slam and a cluster of voices in the hall, calling out her name. Then a group of people, the Social Committee, burst into the sanctuary. “Oh good! You aren’t busy!” the chair called out. “We need to have a quick meeting to discuss next month’s pancake supper!”
Jane grimaced. Then, as calmly as she could, she said: “Actually I am in the middle of something. If you go to the library I can join you in about 15 minutes.” The group left (though she could hear some grumbling as they went) and Jane tried to find that quiet calm place from which she had been dragged. But alas the moment was gone. She gathered up her book, turned off the sound system, grabbed what she needed from the office and joined the group in the library.
The next day there was a phone call from the chair of the personnel committee. They were concerned that when a group of people had come in (unannounced) and asked to talk Jane had made them wait even though she had clearly had only been resting in the sanctuary. Jane explained that she was working, she was doing the work she needed to be ready to serve, she was taking care of her Spirit. The call ended with a rather brusque “Well don’t let it happen again”.
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Back in 2022 the General Council released new vision and mission statements. Embedded in those were three pairs of words: Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship, Daring Justice. We were all invited to embrace those ideals as ways we live out our Christian faith. This year our newsletters will invite us to reflect on them. As it happens I have also chosen them as the launching points for three of our Sundays in Lent this year.
We start with the most foundational piece – Deep Spirituality. This is, in my mind, what we build on if we are to be bold disciples. It is what gives us the courage to dare and take risks for justice (as I write these words I think of the people of Minnesota where dozens of clergy were arrested this weekend as part of protests against the terror inducing activities of ICE). As people of faith we are invited and encourage to intentionally take time and sink into God’s presence. As people of faith we feed our spirits/souls to allow us to live out our faith.
Christopher Grundy has a song called By the Stream. Within that song are these lyrics (I think inspired by Psalm 1)
“Blessed are those who trust in God
and sending out its roots by the Stream”
Listening to the song, reflecting on those lyrics reminds me of the importance of attending to our spiritual needs. There we get nourishment. There we get what we need to be able to live out our faith.
The story about Jane up above is a work of fiction. It started writing itself in my head a couple of days ago. It is not a “names changed to protect the innocent” thing it never happened to anyone I know. In fact it is based on an old joke about the minister in their study praying and someone comes in and says “oh good you aren’t busy”. I just expanded it a bit. But the story (and the old joke) tells us a lot about how we sometimes see the work involved in deep spirituality.
Sometimes we see those quiet, “non-productive” times as less important, a thing that can be knocked off the calendar in favour of more important “productive” work. With all the important things to do can we really take time to sit quietly, or walk along the creek, or watch the birds, or sing random hymns? I think we have to. I think that when we don’t take that time it is so much harder to keep doing the “important” things.
As people of faith our guidance and strength comes from God. If we don’t attend to our spiritual health, if we don’t sink deep into God’s presence and love we suffer. We might become exhausted. We might lose hope. We might start to think it all depends on us. Deep Spirituality may not always prevent such things but it can help avoid them, it can help us recover when they hit.
I close with one of my favourite verses, one that I have used as a bit of a mantra at times to sink into God’s presence: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)
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