Ephesians 3:7 &14, 15 “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power…For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

“For this reason I kneel…” What reason? Paul’s answer is the reason we all kneel before the Father – “the gift of God’s grace given us through the working of God’s power.” It’s a hard time to be a Christian in a world so broken. Yet by prayer and God’s grace we can have the same wide, generous, open-armed compassion for the world that brought Paul to his knees in prayer for the whole family of God, that is, every soul made in God’s image. By intercession we make ourselves conduits, sluices, through which God’s grace flows.

Ephesians 3:I6 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being…”

When the problems of the world, and the worries of our own lives, and the anxiety felt by whole communities of our country – when these and much more drain us of energy, joy and hope, think of what Paul prayed for, and hear him praying it for you. Then make it your own prayer, now, here: “Lord strengthen me with power through your Spirit in my inner being…”
(Part 1)

Grace and peace,  

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 
        2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
       Matthew 5:4

I too have wept.
I too have lost.
I too have heard the sentence of injustice
   pronounced over my head.
I too have known hunger,
   and lack,
   and prison.
I too have fled the cruel,
   have seen friends flee,
   have heard the rumors,
   have been mocked.
I too have been handed over to torturers,
   have seen my own
   martyred lke sheep,
have felt the ship sinking under my feet.
I too have been kept from my beloved,
   have seen my lover in the arms of my enemy—and enjoying it.
I too have seen the grave.
I too have lost
   everything.
All this is true. I swear it by my own name.
And I am here to say two things:
It will all be made right,
   and you were never alone.

Lord, you have known, through the sufferings of Christ and your people, every kind of mourning. Please grant comfort to all those who need it, for you are the God of all consolation. Thank you—thank you, thank you. Amen.        (Paul J. Pastor, The Listening Day)

Grace and peace,  

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation 

Seek the Lord while he may be found,

Call upon him while he is near;

Let the wicked forsake their way,

And the unrighteous their thoughts;

Let them return to the Lord, that he may have

mercy on them,

And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55:6-7

These verses are a familiar call to worship or a call to repentance, not a bad accent for Lent, which begins next week with Ash Wednesday. The passage focuses on four verbs, “seek, call, forsake, return,” good Lenten verbs. Lent is the time in the church calendar when we consider again the ways we have compromised or failed to “live a life worthy of our calling.” And when we are drawn again into the goodness and mercy of God.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Psalm 23:6

 As Walter Brueggemann says, “Lent is a time to quit running, to let ourselves be caught and embraced in love, like a sheep with a safe pasture, like a traveler offered rich and unexpected food.”

Join us on Wednesday evening for a light supper of soup and bread and for fellowship and the imposition of ashes.

As we begin our churchwide prayer vigil this weekend, it seems right to acknowledge a prayer we can all pray (or sing) as we enter into a time of listening and responding to the Spirit. "Be Thou My Vision" is a hymn based on an Irish poem dating back to the eighth century, "Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdi cride." Translated by Mary E. Byrne and versified by Eleanor Hull, the words are typically paired with the traditional Irish melody "Slane," named for the hill on which St. Patrick is said to have lit the Easter Eve fire to challenge the pagan King Loigaire. What an inspiring context for such a beloved hymn of the church!

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart,
        Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
        Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
        Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true word,
        I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
        Thou my great Father, thy child shall I be,
        Thou in me dwelling, and I one with Thee.

Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
        Thou mine Inheritance, now and always;
        Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
        High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
        May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
        Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
        Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.   Amen

As with many hymns, the words are a prayer. May we all pray this for ourselves and for our community at Pasadena Covenant.

A Cup of Cold Water

We forget how thirsty we all are
for hope and gratitude.
Don't pass up an opportunity today
to offer a cup to one of the little ones
(who of course are angels in disguise);
to encourage, to appreciate, to give thanks
to the one checking your groceries,
or delivering your mail,
or doing their best to be a decent person.
Notice how offering a cup of grace
quenches your own longing, too.
God is thirsty for our love for each other
and every little cup is a delight
that satisfies us all. 

Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple—truly, I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.
Jesus  (Matthew 10:42)

Pondering this with gratitude, 

Grace and peace,  

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation 

As I was thinking about what to write this week, my eyes fell on this image of a wood carving designed to picture the Trinity. A story has been told that Augustine of Hippo was walking on the beach contemplating the mystery of the Trinity. Then he saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole.

Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.”
“That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made” said Augustine.
The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.”

I accept that my tiny brain, ever so much tinier than St. Augustine’s, cannot possibly absorb or explain the Trinity – I will not try to put the entire ocean in that small hole.  The many analogies used to help human understanding of the Trinity are dangerously limited in scope:
vapor, water, ice
shell, yolk, albumin
height, width, depth
apple peel, flesh, core
past, present, future.

It is sufficient for me to know, as expressed by the 19th century Anglican pastor J.C. Ryle:  

It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, “Let us make man”. It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, “Let us save man”.

All one, equal, harmonious, unchangeable, bound together with faith, with hope, with charity, to save us from ourselves. 

I run, rise, rest in Thee, all Three.
 
Grace and peace,  

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation 

Ten times a day something happens to me like this—some strengthening throb of amazement—some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.

                                    Mary Oliver

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Compassion as seeing clearly

A macro lens function allows you to look closely, see the detail, and pause long enough to appreciate the subject. That's true whether an Apple phone is used, or a heart fitted with imagination, lit by compassion and the capacity to see clearly the person in front of us.

Perhaps, compassion is the macro lens through which we are to see each person, viewed with imaginative compassion, appreciating the unique miracle that is the human person in front of us.

"Jesus looked, and had compassion..." The Gospel writers record that look often enough - it was clearly Jesus' usual way of seeing.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
                              John 15:4-5

Jesus invites  us to spend time with him, to lean on him, and to be nourished by him—not just to serve him. Father Greg Boyle discussed abiding in Jesus as an invitation to "marinate in the intimacy of God." He writes, "Jesus chose to marinate in the God who is always greater than our tiny conception, the God 'who loves without measure and without regret.' To anchor yourself in this, to keep always before your eyes this God is to choose to be intoxicated, marinated in the fullness of God." To live out of our belovedness, we need to soak in the abundant love that God offers us. 

I don't think Jesus was criticizing us when he said we can't do anything without him (John 15:5); he was simply stating the reality. We need to be connected to our source as the branches need to be connected to the vine. We need God's wisdom, nourishment and life flowing through us.
 
Grace and peace, as we marinate, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation 

Good things as well as bad, you know 
are caught by a kind of infection.

If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire:
if you want to be wet you must get into the water.
If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life,
you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. ˆ

They are not a sort of prize which God could, 
if He chose, just hand out to anyone.
They are a great fountain of energy and beauty 
spurting up at the very centre of reality.
If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: 
if you are not, you will remain dry.

Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?
Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?

C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

 Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation