Friday morning ruminating

I woke up at five this morning with thoughts of my sermon in my head and so here I am taking a break from writing it.

The last two Thursdays have been a study in contrasts of the my life and what I believe to be the spiritual life.

Last Thursday I was at a Catholic retreat center in the company of 5 other pastors for a "Sacred Pause" - a time to be away from normal responsibilities and to be with God. We had Amanda from Wellsprings leading us - but it was a day with a lot of silence and solitude. It was a great blessing for me and I felt like I truly experienced God's presence and God's word to me. And that word is that I am not called to "serve the church" but to "serve God." ....and How can I do that without days like this - days of withdrawal from the world and retreat. It was wonderful.

Yesterday I went to a BREAD meeting. BREAD is an acronym for "Building Responsibility Equality and Dignity." It is a congregation based community organization that works together on social justice issues in Columbus. Last night our church was one of 5 that joined BREAD.
I had heard about it when I first came to Columbus but the time did not seem right. There is a cost - $750 a year. And it also will mean that we will put together a Justice Ministry Team at our church. We now have the funds and the interest in it. Every year BREAD discerns one issu to focus on. Previously the focus was on reducing the payday lenders interest rates from $491% to 28%. It took two years to get it on the ballot - but on Tuesday our state voted on this important issue. It is amazing how powerful a group of committed people can be.

Last night the 28 churches that were present various topics for the coming year. There were sheets of paper all around the room with suggestions about housing, health care, immigration, crime, blight, transportation, etc. It was overwhelming just hearing the needs in our community and inspiring to know that we are now part of a group that works together to really do something about the systems that create poverty and oppression. And what is especially exciting about this is that it is so ecumenical - Christians, Jews and Muslims. Amazing.

I work on my sermon about faith and what we can do to nourish our faith and clearly my two Thursdays are examples of the "both and" of the spiritual life. We have to take time for God away from the world in solitude and we also have to walk right into the world and the most challenging parts in solidarity with the poor.

I feel blessed to have these opportunities.