January 2012
To my Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
May God's shalom be upon you in the New Year!
As part of our morning routine, along with coffee and oatmeal and two newspapers, Cami and I like to spend about 10 minutes in morning devotion with the Book of Psalms. Since it's a new year, we've been starting over with the beginning of the book. It's been truly amazing to me how clearly God speaks when you make time to listen and then share what you hear with another believer.
For instance, the first couple of psalms spell out this spiritual equation: trust in the Lord leads to true happiness. We discussed how, knowing God's "got you" is like being on the receiving end of a deep and lasting hug or embrace. What warmth! Or how, at the end of a difficult day, the peaceful sleep that can result when you just turn over the mess of the previous hours to God's care.
I mention all this as we prepare to embark as a congregation on a period of deep listening to God as we experience His Word by reading and sharing together how key verses in the Bible can impact our thoughts and feelings, and in turn how that sharing can lead to a new vision for the faith community we call St. John.
What the green stickers with the number 5 symbolize is our intention, as part of the Body of Christ, to spend a minimum of 5 minutes a day in prayer and Scripture reading to discern how practicing five spiritual disciplines can transform St. John into a "new" church.
What are those disciplines? By now you should know them by heart: welcoming, worshipping, nurturing, serving and giving. Most of us practice some form of these disciplines now, but our calling from God is to delve ever deeper into each practice until they become a lifestyle instead of something to check off our "to do" list.
If we are to survive the test of being a faith community in the 21st century, our challenges are clear - attracting younger families and raising our visibility in a neighborhood in transition; we must grow where we are planted. Our solutions lie in prayerfully listening to the Word of God and then acting on what we hear. God's up to something in Fairview Heights.
To hear what God has in mind, I'm asking for the dedicated faithful to form into five prayer teams - one for each discipline - who will meet weekly from now until the beginning of Lent. From these sessions will emerge a clear list of 3 to 5 things in each category that we are not now doing. Then it will time to get to work.
Friends, I'm not asking you to buy into some dreamy fantasy. Rather, I'm saying that if you believe what we profess, then the time to take God at His word is now.
The new year of 2012 can be the most invigorating, transformative time to be "alive" in the Body of Christ at St. John; that is, if you allow yourself to surrender doubts and skepticism and give your heart to the author of the promise of eternal life. So, believe good things can happen - and then watch out!
Our Holy Adventure is about to begin, so give me 5!
Pastor Jim