You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 

Psalm 91:5-8 

Life’s a battle. None of us escape the costs and consequences of being human, of living a life in which joy and sorrow, achievement and failure, wellbeing and suffering, safety and danger, all mix together in the everydayness of our stories. But around us and beneath us, above us and within us, is the God we have come to know in Christ. “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God!” We live under the shadow of the Almighty and Christ is our refuge and fortress. Whatever happens!

If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the Lord who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.    

Psalm 91:9-10

Yes, bad things still happen to good people. This text is not a promise of immunity from pain and loss, suffering and hurt. But when life collapses beneath us, or we are in a hard place, we are held and surrounded by a Love that will never let us go. Jesus commanded his followers to “Abide in me”, to “Remain in my love”. That, for us is to “make the Most High our dwelling”. We are held safe in the power of the risen Lord in whom we trust, kept before the throne of God by our great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us.”

Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. 

Psalm 91:14-16

This is the Comprehensive Coverage offered to those who love and serve God, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and who live under the shadow of the Almighty. We love because he first loved us, and so affirm our faith: “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 
 Psalm 91:1-2 

This is a Psalm for challenging times. The Most High is the title for God “that cuts every threat down to size.” Almighty is the name for God’s sovereign power. Lord is the name given to Moses, the delivering and guiding God, “I AM!” All this is made personal by the Psalmist who uses the possessive case, My God. Our safety and security are found in a personal relationship with The Most High, "my God in whom I trust."

The metaphors for safety are equally rich and convincing. The shelter of the Most High; rest in the shadow of the Almighty; the Lord God as our refuge and fortress. These two verses put us in our place, “in the shadow of the Almighty.” No wonder Luther taught us to sing, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” We live in the shadow of the Almighty and within the encircling providence of God. This is the God of whom we say, “My God in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:3-4 

The rest of this Psalm could be called the Terms and Conditions of a comprehensive Life Policy! Whatever is a threat and to be feared is covered, quite literally, because we live under the protective wings of God’s faithful mercy and steadfast love. The shield and rampart give protection to those who are under siege – and we’ve all been there, besieged, when it seems everything is against us. But in our worst moments and tightest corners, God too, is there, our refuge…and strength.

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

After writing and praying my pleading pastoral prayer last week, a friend and I connected about our shared sense of anxious uncertainty in facing the fact that we are living through historic changes in our city, country, church and the world. It may well be that what is being asked of us as Christians at this particular moment in time, this kairos moment, is renewed resilience of faith, a defiant hopefulness and a determined refusal to let the seeds of resignation take root in the soil of despair.

I turned to the book of Hebrews this week, and one of its texts spoke powerfully into my uncertainties and my hoped for resilience. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-9) 

What if God should also speak in an unexpectedly shocking and powerfully challenging way? Hebrews was written to people whose faith was seriously shaken, whose inner core was being destabilized by events around them, and often against them. The preacher-pastor who wrote this long letter of encouragement and warning, aimed at hope building, faith strengthening, with the goal of instilling community resilience in the face of threatening change and felt inadequacy.

In the midst of all that is shaking, "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken..." To put it in the equally astringent words of Jesus, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

"But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little."      Luke 7:47b (NRSV)
 
 Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love even more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.
                      Henri Nouwen     The Inner Voice of Love

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

           “Here am I; send me!”
                            —Isaiah 6.8

But where?
Help me discern clearly, God.
Neither to gallivant off in every direction
as if I’m supposed to heal every hurt;
nor to shrink back because the need is so great,
but to listen for where you are calling me,
and to go there.

To say ”Here am I,” must include all of me,
not just parts. What calls to the whole of me?
What seems most harmonious?
What neither dulls nor depletes me,
but (even if it scares me)
energizes and enlivens me?
Where do I sense your energy moving,
that I may move in harmony with it?
Not what I want,
but where your Spirit blows.

Breath prayer:
                             Loving me … send me

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

“Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us!

Romans 5:5 

The Holy Spirit is God’s giving gift; the Gift that keeps on giving. Faith, hope and love are the foundation pillars of Christian character, and the greatest of these is love. Why? Because it is the divine love poured out upon us and within us, as God’s gift. We love because he first loved us; and we love with the love that is the overflow of the Spirit of God within us. We are conduits of love, channels through whom God’s love flows out in blessing, compassion and life-giving service in Jesus’ name.

 “There is now therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” 

Romans 8:1-2

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, the vivifying, energizing, creative power of God. Paul says elsewhere, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Here Paul is celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit in setting us free from the guilt and shame of sin, and from the fear of death. The law of the Spirit of life is the truth that, by faith in the faithfulness of Christ on the cross, and in the renewing power of the risen Christ, we are liberated, heart and mind set free to love and serve and worship God.

“Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.” 

There’s a three point sermon if ever there was one! Give the Holy Spirit freedom, live the life God gives, use generously the gifts God gives. Let the Holy Spirit ignite everything in you that is fuel for service. This is also a three point team talk, Paul the motivator is encouraging believers in Jesus to go out and express themselves with all the talent, energy, experience and positivity of those who know they can win. 

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, celebrating the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles and other disciples as Jesus said it would. Pentecost falls 50 days (seven weeks) after Easter and 10 days after Jesus' Ascension into heaven, and it marks the beginning of the church's mission into the world.

Pentecost

Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today  the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother-tongue is Love, in  every nation.

Malcolm Guite (born 1957) is an English poet, singer, song writer, Anglican priest, and academic. He was born in Nigeria to British expatriate parents, and today lives in Cambridge, England. He has published fourteen volumes of poetry and Christian theology.

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

One of the fundamental things to grasp about our prayer lives is that we are always beginning again, always beginners on a path we have trodden countless times already. It ought to be one of the first things we learn, but somehow it never is—the penny only seems to drop after years of practice, years of expecting to "get somewhere".
 
Of course, God being infinite, God is always infinitely beyond our understanding, and so we can never really ‘make progress’ in the practice of prayer. We can only begin again, each time we sit. 
 
This is one of the things I most like about the Jesus Prayer, that it quite explicitly eschews the idea of progress, of levels of attainment and things like that. It is such a simple practice, open to anyone. You don't need to be ordained, or theologically educated, or have made a certain number of retreats, or have studied the right books: you just sit down and say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." That's all. It takes about 12 seconds, and the rest of one's life, to pray that little prayer.
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

I learned a new word this week when I went to tea with a Japanese longtime friend. When our waiter brought our food, she murmured, "Itadakimasu." Itadakimasu, a Japanese word said before eating, roughly translates as "I humbly receive." It's an expression of gratitude for the meal and for those who prepared it.

In all the whirlwind of these days that one word — said so quietly, so matter of factly — touched me deeply.

I’m grateful for so much lately. I’m trying to “wear gratitude like a cloak” (to quote Rumi) to let it be what I wrap myself in, to let it be what I show first to the world. Itadakimasu.
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The Avowal

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
                      Denise Levertov


Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation