 |
|
Dear Friends,
It was, if my Church history memory is correct, the early Methodists who would greet one another with the question “How is it with your soul?”. And it wasn’t a rhetorical question, nor just another way of offering the Jersey salutation: “How you doin’?” It was a serious question that waited for a serious answer. The shaping of one’s soul, today called “spiritual formation”, has always been a serious business for Christians.
So how is it with your soul, in this summer of 2008? Implicit in the question is the expectation that the old Methodists had, that you and I are working at this spiritual formation stuff. The betterment of our souls requires discipline, dedication and diversity, and summer is the season to strengthen our souls for other, busier, seasons.
There is the discipline to set your time aside each day. It can be, as I tell the Confirmation kids each year, morning, evening or midday, whatever works for you, but it should be a time to not only give God your opinion and suggestions on how to run the universe, but to sit quietly and be with God, allowing yourself to see and hear God in your life and to let God be God in your life.
There is the dedication to honestly recall the promises we have made at marriage, baptism, and Church membership and to recommit ourselves to living those promises out with joy and gratitude. Make the calendar your friend, mark off the time and write in the names of the people you need to be with this summer.
But most importantly take advantage of the diversity of opportunities. One of the questions that I have been asking folks lately is “What do you have planned for the summer?” I ask it as a reminder that life should be lived differently in these months. Whether you go, in Jon Bon Jovi’s words: a million miles away or just a mile up the road, whether your time away is so busy that you need a rest from your vacation or a lazy week of reading paperback novels, this is a time for living differently, of speaking to the people you love differently, of taking advantage of the rhythms of the season in order grow your soul.
Here are three items for your special consideration this summer:
- Please don’t forget about our annual Reading Rally! It’s not too late to sign up as a reader or a sponsor, see the bulletin board in the Narthex for more details and help the Literacy Volunteers of America open the world of words to others!
- Vacation Bible School will be July 14-18, please sign up as soon as you can – children (age 3-grade 6) and helpers alike - so that we have the proper supplies on hand for our special week together.
- Don’t forget the Golf Outing on August 17! This is a major fund raiser, but it is also a wonderfully enjoyable day, so spread the word among all of your golfing friends, talk to merchants with whom you do business, we need golfers and sponsors. As always the proceeds are directed to the Building Fund, this year the need is great as we will be undertaking the significant (and expensive) work that is needed on our Steeple. Deb and I have pledged $1 per stroke (figure us for 90, plus or minus) toward the Building Fund and we invite sponsors to join with us for any amount!
Have a wonderful summer and allow God to give you the discipline, dedication and diversity so that your soul might continue to grow into the full relational “you” and “us” that God intends.
Shalom,
Jack
|
|
