Drinking Deep of the Spirit
The letter to the Ephesians today challenged us to drink deep of the Spirit. And the passage from I Kings told us that Solomon prayed for a "God-listening heart." I look out at the congregation each Sunday (and whenever I encounter them and others throughout the week) and I struggle to see whether I am living out what I am trying to do. I fail a lot. I've been meaning to teach a Bible Study around this place for months. Months! And I just haven't been able to get it together. Finally it happened. We'll do it beginning in September. It's the first time I'm not just doing a book of the Bible by itself. Instead it will be a class on Bible Study, the Indianapolis Star, and the Indianapolis Recorder. I keep thinking of the old Karl Barth comment that we should read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. So we'll do that for several weeks this fall. (But I digress -- I was talking about drinking deep of the spirit).
I think of several conversations this morning. One was with Duane, who is the chair of our Committee on Lay Leadership. I love what he is doing and the way he is leading that body. The discussions that the group has about people in the congregation and larger community is exhilarating and sometimes overwhelming (but mostly in the best way). I talked with Dan who is struggling with his father's illness. I talked with Betty and Howard who served communion at the 8:30 service -- and did so with easy laughter and generous hearts. I talked with Debbie and her dad, Don who promised to get me some blackberry jam that he had just received a case of from a friend in Oregon. Oh yes, I get to drink deep of the Spirit here.
I talked with Bob about his work on the school board in his community. I loved hearing him reflect on that important work and his process of discernment on how to be most helpful to his community -- and his congregation. I watched Jim, the head usher, train young Daniel and Mari in acolyting. They made several passes down the center aisle. I stopped and hugged Bill -- a friend from my first tenure in the congregation -- who always has a generous and gracious word for me. At the passing of the Peace, Margaret came and gave me a big hug -- that always makes me feel good to get a hug from her. Frank sang beautifully. Peter talked with me about what has been going on in his life. And Frank told me about his battle with his illness this week -- and then I watched as George ran up and asked if he could give him the flowers from the altar to brighten up their home in the midst of his illness. Chris and I sat and talked about some of the folks from here who took a trip out to San Francisco last week and what it had caused him to be thinking about.
Kathy, Conor, Jordan and I went out to lunch with Lonnie and talked and laughed as we told him about our experience with watching the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" last night. Afterwards we came home and each had a piece of the Milky Way cake that Kathy had made yesterday. And then I fell asleep at the table. I was thinking about the passage from Ephesians and how it talks about drinking deep of the spirit in the same place that it urges temperance in drinking alcohol. I guess I must have been drinking deep, because I fell asleep at the table as we talked.
Later Marc called and we talked together about his internship, about mutual friends, and about how we make change. Great talk. Good things are happening. What a blessing to drink deep of the spirit in this place.
I think of several conversations this morning. One was with Duane, who is the chair of our Committee on Lay Leadership. I love what he is doing and the way he is leading that body. The discussions that the group has about people in the congregation and larger community is exhilarating and sometimes overwhelming (but mostly in the best way). I talked with Dan who is struggling with his father's illness. I talked with Betty and Howard who served communion at the 8:30 service -- and did so with easy laughter and generous hearts. I talked with Debbie and her dad, Don who promised to get me some blackberry jam that he had just received a case of from a friend in Oregon. Oh yes, I get to drink deep of the Spirit here.
I talked with Bob about his work on the school board in his community. I loved hearing him reflect on that important work and his process of discernment on how to be most helpful to his community -- and his congregation. I watched Jim, the head usher, train young Daniel and Mari in acolyting. They made several passes down the center aisle. I stopped and hugged Bill -- a friend from my first tenure in the congregation -- who always has a generous and gracious word for me. At the passing of the Peace, Margaret came and gave me a big hug -- that always makes me feel good to get a hug from her. Frank sang beautifully. Peter talked with me about what has been going on in his life. And Frank told me about his battle with his illness this week -- and then I watched as George ran up and asked if he could give him the flowers from the altar to brighten up their home in the midst of his illness. Chris and I sat and talked about some of the folks from here who took a trip out to San Francisco last week and what it had caused him to be thinking about.
Kathy, Conor, Jordan and I went out to lunch with Lonnie and talked and laughed as we told him about our experience with watching the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" last night. Afterwards we came home and each had a piece of the Milky Way cake that Kathy had made yesterday. And then I fell asleep at the table. I was thinking about the passage from Ephesians and how it talks about drinking deep of the spirit in the same place that it urges temperance in drinking alcohol. I guess I must have been drinking deep, because I fell asleep at the table as we talked.
Later Marc called and we talked together about his internship, about mutual friends, and about how we make change. Great talk. Good things are happening. What a blessing to drink deep of the spirit in this place.
posted by Mike Mather at 8:50 PM
3 Comments:
I'm totally seeing an ad campaign. Drown your sorrows in Holy Spirit.
Dear Troy, I love that idea! Let's do it! (where's the PR director when you need her/him?).
Mike
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