Dear Grace Community,
I’ve said it many times, Advent and Christmas are my favorite times in the physical life of Grace. The beauty of this space is somehow even more awe-inspiring with poinsettias, greenery, and lights. I give thanks to God for the ways I catch my breath walking in the Sanctuary or the Great Room for worship.
Being inspired by beauty is a gift in this season, a gift I gratefully receive. And like with any gift from God, I am moved to respond. The response piece is critical. When I am drawn closer to God, I am called to then share God’s love with others.
There is no exact formula for this. It’s not like I must receive X amount of God’ beauty and love before I share X amount. Like with all matters of our faith, there is a mystery about it, a Spirit-inspired element that can’t be quantified.
What I believe is that if we pay attention, the Spirit will guide us. Our faith should never be entirely inward, about receiving, nor can it be only about giving. That’s not sustainable.
This fall your Session challenged you to read scripture each day. The scripture readings follow along with the Sunday readings, and the idea is to fill in the story during the week. I confess that I haven’t done the readings every day. I started strong, and then missed a day here or there, and then picked back up, and missed a day here or there, then picked back up. I’m always glad when I start back.
When the Session discussed this challenge, it was part of a conversation and initiative to encourage lifelong Christian discipleship in our congregation. We believe that in order to be disciples of Jesus, we must know scripture. There was some question about whether this challenge and this focus was too inward; should we also encourage some sort of outward mission?
Ultimately, we decided that knowing the Bible is one important step, and our hope is that response is the natural outgrowth of scripture reading. The hope is that as Christians we can’t just read scripture and not be changed. We read it to be transformed. We must respond to it. In the new year I encourage you to pick up the Bible and read along in Mark with us. As you do, consider how the Spirit is moving in you to respond to God’s word.
In Christ,
Catherine
DEC