The Means of Grace: Fasting

 The Means of Grace that Wesley frequently mentions in concert with prayer is fasting. Now, I can hear what's going on inside you. "Fasting," you say, "now you've quit preaching and gone to meddling." In our self-indulgent society, fasting is an almost unheard-of discipline.

I wish that I could tell you that there was some trick to this that could explain it away and make us feel better about it. It would be comfortable if we could say, "Now, in the Greek, this term doesn't actually mean what it sounds like, and so and so and like that." But, that is not the case. The word means exactly what you think it means: intentionally doing without food for a specific period of time.

From the beginning, Methodist have affirmed the practice of fasting. Our General Rules, which cannot and have not been amended, read:

It is expected of all who desire to continue in these societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation...By attending upon all the ordinances of God; such are: The public worship of God.
The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded.
The Supper of the Lord.
Family and private prayer. Searching the Scriptures.
Fasting or abstinence.

When potential ministers in the United Methodist Church are being examined in the clergy session, they are still asked the historic questions formulated by John Wesley, including question number sixteen: Will you recommend fasting and abstinence by precept and example?

Wesley did understand that people found themselves in varying circumstances, and so he recognized degrees of fasts.

As to the degrees or measures of fasting, we have instances of some who have fasted several days together. So Moses, Elijah, and our blessed Lord, being endued with supernatural strength for that purpose, are recorded to have fasted without intermission "forty days and forty nights." But the time of fasting more frequently mentioned in Scripture is one day, from morning till evening. But besides these they had also their half-fasts on the fourth and sixth days of the week (Wednesday and Friday) throughout the year; on which they took no sustenance till three in the afternoon, the time when they returned from the public service.

Nearly related to this is what our Church seems peculiarly to mean by the term "abstinence"; which may be used when we cannot fast entirely, by reason of sickness or bodily weakness. This is the eating little; the abstaining in part; the taking a smaller quantity of food than usual. I do not remember any scriptural instance of this. But neither can I condemn it, for the Scripture does not. It may have its use, and receiving a blessing from God.

The lowest kind of fasting, if it can be called by that name, is the abstaining from pleasant food. Of this we have several instances in Scripture, besides that of Daniel and his brethren: who from a peculiar consideration, namely, that they might "not defile themselves with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank" (a "daily provision" of which "the king had appointed for them"), "requested" and obtained of "the prince of the eunuchs" "pulse to eat, and water to drink". (Daniel l:5ff)[1]

The reasons for fasting are several. Fasting is an offering to God at its very basic level. When you think about it, outside of the air we breathe, nothing is more fundamental than the food we eat in sustaining human life. When we think of offerings, most of us reach for our wallets, either to pull them out or to cover them up. But there are other gifts we can give to God, and some of them are much more precious than dollars and cents. Look at it this way: in fasting, we are surrendering to God the very thing which keeps us alive. We are saying to God that God is more important than sustenance, more precious than life itself. When we fast, for a little while, we give up a portion of living as a sacrifice to God.

It is expected that when we fast, we would give the time normally dedicated to food over to God in some way. That is to say that when we fast, we don't use that time to clean out the garage or to refine a sales report. Part of the practice of fasting is to take the time that would have been used shopping for, preparing, consuming, and cleaning up after a meal, and spend it instead in prayer or meditation or some other devotional activity. Fasting is not a way of squeezing more into a day. Fasting is a way of giving more of our day.

Fasting also involves a sense of planning and intentionality. You can't say at noonday, "Oh, I think I'll fast today." Fasting takes a little care. You wouldn’t push all the food you could stand down your throat and then begin a fast. That both misses the principle behind the entire thing, and it would make you extraordinarily uncomfortable for the duration of your fast. Winding down with a little less food would be more profitable.

Some of you remember back in the mid-sixties, when the anti­war movement got into full swing. Hear me, now, I'm not about to talk politics, I just seek to illustrate! Back when the war protest movement got under way, one of the symbols of the protest was to grow one's hair long. For these people, it wasn't a fashion, it was a statement. The reason given was that you can't grow long hair overnight. You have to resolve to let your hair grow and then stick with it. Shoulder-length or longer hair says, "I'm serious about this."

Fasting was a common faith practice in the Old Testament. And special fasts were frequently called in order to petition God for particular purposes. In the New Testament, among the many examples of fasting, we remember how Jesus said of a particularly strong demon, "This type only comes out through prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:29).

The Jews of Jesus' time fasted twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. The early church practice became Wednesday and Friday. Part of this was so as not to be confused with the synagogue. Partly, too, the Church fasted on Wednesday because it was midweek. It fasted on Friday because it was the day on which the Lord made His great sacrifice. Finally, I suppose we should look at the language Jesus used. He did not say, "If you fast." He didn't teach, "Should you choose to fast." 

 Sermon on the Mount contains no instruction about, "and if you get around to thinking about entertaining the notion of considering a fast." Jesus said, "And when you fast..." He apparently assumed that people of faith would fast. 

So, Wesley termed fasting a Means of Grace.

Being a member of the church

 

Sometimes a calamity -- or a joy -- befalls someone in the community and one of the things that we want to know about them is, “are they members of our church?”  Sometimes a person is a long-time worship attender and we are surprised to hear, “You know that they never actually joined here.” 

 During These several weeks we are considering the membership vows of a United Methodist.  We are looking at “prayers, presence, gifts, and service.”  These are the promises we make when we become a part of the UMC and of a local congregation.

 But I would point out that these are the vows of a FULL MEMBER.  Sometimes we call this PROFESSING MEMBER.  These are people who have joined a church fellowship and who are entitled to participate fully not only in worship and programming, but also in the leadership and administration of the church.  It is a rule of The United Methodist Church that a person must be a full member in order to hood most offices.

 But we have other categories of membership that we don’t talk about so much.  A person may be an AFFILIATE MEMBER of a local church.  These are people who are United Methodists who maintain membership in one church while attending another some distance away.  Many people whose jobs or family situations cause them to re-locate for a time choose this relationship.  It allows the individual to be able to participate fully in the life of the local church they attend, even as their plans may be to return to the church where they hold full membership later on.  Affiliate Members enjoy full privilege of fellowship and leadership in a local church.

 A person may become an ASSOCIATE MEMBER of a local United Methodist Church.  These are people who are members of other denominations but who become attached to a United Methodist Congregation.  Most frequently these are people whose church membership is in a denomination that does not have a congregation in their current area.  In our neighborhood, for instance, there are no congregations of the Lutheran Church or the United Church of Christ.  So, these people desire a full participation – and responsibility – in a local church and so they become Associate Members in the UMC.

 We also have a roll of CONSTITUANT MEMBERS.  These are not necessarily people who have formalized their relationship with a United Methodist Congregation.  These are people for whom a local UMC has pastoral care.  These people are usually spouses, parents, children, or other family members of Full Members.  They may live in the same home with the Full Member, or may be residents of the community while claiming no local church affiliation for themselves.

 So, “being a member” is a little more complicated than our common understanding might indicate.  All of these categories allow individuals to participate as fully in the life of a local United Methodist Church as they desire.  They also represent the far-reaching involvement of a variety of people in our mission and ministry.

 There’s a place for everyone.

The Means of Grace: Searching the Scriptures

 In speaking of the Means of Grace – those gifts of God by which the Lord draws us closer to God’s Spirit – one that comes to mind quickly is reading the Bible.  It is through Bible study that we most clearly come to an understanding of the revelation of God.  I would make a few observations on that thought, however.

 Cracking the Bible open at random and scanning a few verses is not the most productive approach to this discipline.  Sometimes that approach can do more harm than good.  The church and its members have made huge errors by cherry-picking a handful of isolated Bible verses and then hanging their entire theology or practice on that small sampling. I have said it before, but when people ask me what the biblical position on a topic might be, I tell them to start with Genesis 1:1 -- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” -- and conclude with Revelation 22:20-21 -- Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.”  The biblical position (if there is one) is between those verses.  A lesser sampling leaves some important stuff out.

 It is important that we study our Bible with a sense of intentionality and purpose.  It is also good to get some guidance from those who know the Bible better than we do.  When Josh Pastner was men’s basketball coach at The University of Memphis, he used to say, “Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.”  His point was that a player can shoot a thousand free throws and do so with the wrong technique, the player’s skills don’t get any better.  But, if that player practices under the guidance and direction of a competent coach who analyzes and corrects the player’s form, that player stands a chance of becoming a pretty good free-throw shooter.

 You notice that the description of this Means of Grace above is “Searching the Scriptures.”  It is not merely, “read your Bible.”  This is again John Wesley’s term.  To search carries with it both a sense of intentionality and a suggestion of organization.  Jesus spoke in Luke 15 of a woman who had lost one of ten silver coins.  He observes, ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?’  His description carries with it a sense of the methodical.  She didn’t look on topo of the refrigerator and then behind the bedroom dresser before looking in the dog’s bed.  She moved carefully and systematically until she found her coin.  To speak of “searching” the scriptures carries with it a sense of preparation and studiousness that random thumbing through the volume cannot accomplish.  Wesley also uses the word scriptures.  “Scripture” is any groups collection of holy or revealed or definitive writings.  Most world religions have a set of scriptures.  Whether they go by the name The Sutras or the Vedas or the Quran or The Tanach or The Holy Bible, these various volumes contain the important ideas – and for some, the words of God – that these people value.  I think “Searching the (Christian) Scriptures has more gravity than a casual reference to “reading our Bibles.”

 Our Articles of Religion of The Methodist Church reads, “Article V — Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation:  The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation;” 

 John Wesley described himself, saying, “as I want to know one thing, —the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. For this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri! -- (a man of one book).

 By being people of this book, we come to know God.

 

 

The Means of Grace: Prayer

 In a previous post I made mention of “the Means of Grace.”  This is a specific term in Christianity, and several denominations have their own take on the specific.  John Wesley taught that the Means of Grace are “ways God works invisibly in disciples, hastening, strengthening; and confirming faith so that God's grace pervades in and through disciples.”  Put a little more plainly, the Means of Grace are activities through which God reveals the Divine nature to people and through which God draws human beings closer to God’s Spirit.

 Predictably, one of these Means of Grace is prayer.  It is through prayer that we communicate – some might say “commune” – with God.  To pray is at the forefront of the practices of Christian faith.  You only have to look at our morning worship services and see the several prayers that we offer on a given Sunday to begin to recognize the importance of this practice.

 Prayer is easy enough to comprehend even if some of us find it difficult to practice.  Prayer is at root communication with God.  One of the vital observations that I would make about that definition is that “communication” is always a two-way street.  If we are in the presence of someone who does all the talking and none of the listening, that that does not fall under the banner of communication.  It is important in our experience of God that we bring the candid condition of our hearts to God.  But it is equally important that we spend as much of our prayer time discerning God’s voice.  Anthony Towne once observed, “God is not an acoustical ceiling.”

 In general, prayer falls into two categories: prayers that someone prepares in advance and prayers that are extemporaneous.  The prayer that is written in advance of its use in worship or devotion allows a group of people to pray together.  These prayers are often part of the church’s liturgy or ritual.  The Lord’s Prayer, the Great Thanksgiving in the Communion service, and prayers of confession are a few examples of community prayers in worship.  In addition, many devotional resources will include a prayer related to the topic of the meditation.  There are some people and groups that reject unison prayers or “written-out” prayers.  But the use of these pieces of material allow large groups to join together in prayer for a particular purpose.  The alternative is to have one person pray while others listen or seek to pray along with the leader silently.  The other option is to have each person pray aloud simultaneously, with the result being absolute chaos.

 Extemporaneous prayer, or spontaneous prayer, allows an individual to speak from the heart in the moment.  It is the way many of us pray, especially when we think of “daily” prayer or “private devotionals.”  These prayers have the advantage of capturing the concerns of the moment.  I would urge that we guard against falling into the practice of saying the exact same words without variation day after day.  Such a way of doing things has a way of dulling our awareness of what it is we are doing in the first place.

 One of the labels that the church attaches to prayers that are part of a liturgy so that multiple people can use them together is to call such prayers “prayers with form.”  Logically those prayers that a believer composes on the spot are “prayers without form.”  John Wesley saw the advantage of both.  He wrote “my heart was so full that I could not confine myself to the forms of prayer, which we were accustomed to use there. Neither do I purpose to be confined to them any more; but to pray indifferently, with a form or without, as I may find suitable to particular occasions.”  (Journal, March 27, 1738)

Prayers can have a variety of forms in order to address particular functions.  We pray a table grace before meals, prayers of confession, intercession, thanksgiving, praise, and a host of other purposes.  Sometimes we pray a prayer that contains a great many of these elements.  Other times, we offer particular prayers for individual purposes.

 It is worth noting that of all the things the disciples of Jesus saw him do (walk on water, feed a multitude, heal the blind, deaf, mute, lame, exorcise demons), the one thing they asked him to teach them was “to pray.”  This, more than any other observation, is an extraordinary comment on the urgency of prayer.

I’ve got a secret

 In the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), this year concentrates its attention on the gospel readings from the Book of Mark.  There are several themes and devices that we find in Mark more than in any other gospel.  For example, the word “immediately” occurs in this gospel 41 times.  There is a sense of urgency as Jesus moves from place to place.

 Another idea unique to this gospel is how Jesus will perform a mighty act or issue some marvelous revelation and then caution those who are present not to tell anyone about it.  That seems counter to what we think about in terms of witnessing or testimony.  You would think that as Jesus moves about and does these marvelous things that he would want the report – the good news – to be spread to as many people as possible.  But Jesus taught counter to this.  In biblical studies scholars call this idea “the Messianic Secret.”  The concept has evolved since it was first put forth in 1901.  But at its core the concept carries with it the notion that Jesus does not want news about him to spread because he is a miracle-worker.  He rejects the idea that everyone will think of him as a sideshow or as a short-cut to healing and feeding.    Jesus ever desires that people come to him not in search of personal gain, but in a quest for spiritual truth and the knowledge of God.

 Sadly, some who have not spent a lot of time with this gospel try to explain Jesus’ attitude as a kind of “reverse psychology.”  Their position is that if Jesus tells them not to do something, their human nature dictates that they go and do it.  There are certainly instances of this behavior occurring – Mark 7:36 and 8:30 being examples.  But there is never a report of this psychological mumbo-jumbo being at the heart of Christ’s motivation.  Jesus’ miracle-workings grow out of his being the Christ of God.  But miracle-worker is not who Jesus is.  Jesus’ task is never to serve the desires of people.  It is to point the way to God.

 Two thousand years later some folks still haven’t learned this lesson.  They view Jesus as a leveler of scores and a provider of wants.  They speak of Jesus as a nationalistic Christ who favors one nation over another, or who elevates a particular ideology over the rest.  “Personal Lord and Savior” gets corrupted into “supporter of what I think.”

 Mark’s Gospel concerns itself with answering the question, “Who is Jesus?”  Is he the Christ?  Yes.  Is he the Son of God?  Yes.  Is he the deliverer of humankind?  You bet.  Is Jesus one whose mission is to be exclusive and to favor only a few of those whom God created?

 Not so much.

When we all get to Heaven

It has been our lot in the last few weeks to have some of the long-time members of our congregations die. It is always a sad time for a church when one of its pillars is no longer in place. Sorrow, mourning, a sense of loss – all of these feelings are normal and necessary coping mechanisms as we deal with the void that such deaths cause.

I have always maintained that, as a church, we don’t deal with death very well. Oh, we can hold a dignified funeral with grand music and stirring liturgy. As a caring fellowship we comfort one another. We certainly do a good job of providing the bereaved with enough food to feed whomever might be in the house with them over the time of the funeral event. We do a pretty good job of that.

But that is all after the fact. The place where I feel that we are deficient is before death. I don’t think we do a very good job of preparing people. We don’t teach them how to die. Part of that is because we are death-denying people. Think about the funeral home experience. The casket is open and people file by. We hear comments like, “Se surely looks natural,” or “He looks like he’s just sleeping.” There is an illusion that surrounds the end-of-life experience that is not always helpful.

We are death-denying in the practice of medicine. We connect people to machines and other apparatus so that we prolong the function of life, even if we don’t have a technology that prolongs the quality of life. We try one more drug, one more procedure, or one more machine. All of this is in the hope that a life may extend another day or hour.

The church and its representatives contribute to this. I have been in more than one sick room where the patient was near their end. They would be quite elderly and had all the medical procedures available to medical science. The doctors had prepared the family for what they termed “the inevitable.” In the middle of this, someone’s in-law’s preacher shows up and says, “Let’s have prayer.” Then they pray for a healing miracle so that the patient will rise up and walk and live a full, vital life… and they leave. Now, I’m in the miracle business. I believe in miracles. In my judgment, I have seen more than a few. But I am also a realist. I have conducted enough funeral and memorial services to know that death is a part of the human experience. So, for these visiting clerics to pray for healing and get folks’ hopes up is irresponsible. I may have done all that I can to help a family come to a faithful preparation for the death of a loved one, when this drive-by prayer undoes days and weeks’ worth of labor in a few breaths. That is just wrong.

It has long been my practice – and I have begun to observe it here – that when a member of our church family dies, we take a moment in worship, call their name, offer a prayer of thanksgiving, and sing together a verse of “When We All Get to Heaven.” That is a song of hope. That is a song that allows us at the same time to speak of grief, hope, assurance and faith. It’s a pretty good way to deal with death.

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus,
Sing his mercy and his grace;
In the mansion bright and blessed
He’ll prepare for us a place! 

When we all get to Heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus
We’ll sing and shout the victory.

I believe that if we sing that enough, we begin the task of preparation in a pretty good way.

On holy conferencing

 If plans had held up, The United Methodist Church planned to convene the 2021 General Conference this Sunday, August 29.  Due to Covid-19 restrictions, that will not happen.  The church has re-scheduled that gathering for August 29 – September 6, 2022.  The General Conference normally meets every four years in order to set budget, elect leaders, evaluate ministries and set programming for the coming four-year period (quadrennium).  When the General Conference finally gathers this time around it will consider some momentous ideas in the life of the church.  There will be plenty of time to consider this as time moves along.

 I want to think about the event more theoretically than practically for a moment.  The history of Methodism has considered “conference” to be a verb rather than a noun.  It is true that Methodists assemble at various levels of administration in gatherings called “conferences.”  But in its intention, “to conference” was the purpose of coming together.

 The session of which I spoke earlier – the General Conference – is a congregating of lay and clergy delegates from all over the world for the purposes that I mentioned above.  The General Conference is the only body in Methodism that can alter our Book of Discipline.  It is the sole entity that can speak officially on behalf of the entire denomination.

 The General Church divides itself into Jurisdictional conferences for the sake of administration and ministry.  We are members of the Southeast Jurisdiction.  That designation includes the churches that make up the Alabama / West Florida, Florida, Holston (East Tennessee & Southwest Virginia), Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi, North Alabama, North Carolina, North Georgia, Red Bird Missionary (Southeast Kentucky), South Carolina, South Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Western North Carolina Conferences.  Jurisdictional Conferences meet every four years and mirror the functions of the General Conference in terms of its business.  In addition, it is the Jurisdictional Conferences that elect, consecrate and assign bishops within their bounds.

The several conferences within the Jurisdictions meet yearly at their Annual Conference meetings.  Again, these assemblies deal with issues of program, leadership, finances and ministry.  It is at this level that the bishop of a Conference appoints ministers to churches.  Like the other assemblies, an equal number of laypersons and clergy constitute the membership of the Conference.

 Although they are a rarity in modern times, there is provision in the Book of Discipline for a Conference meeting at the district level.  Again, that body would deal with matters of mission and ministry at a more local level.  The only District Conferences I have ever attended dealt with matters of real estate.  The District was looking to buy or sell the buildings that house the district Offices, and under certain circumstances that requires a gathering of delegates from throughout the District.  Our Tennessee River District includes the West Tennessee churches of Henry, Carroll, Benton, Madison, Henderson, Decatur, Hardeman, McNairy and Hardin County (west of the Tennessee River).

 Finally, there is also a designation for conferencing at the local church level.  Pastors serve appointments that we call “Charges.”  This may be one church, two locations, or a larger number of congregations.  But whatever the number, churches that we yoke together in the care of one clergyperson comprise a pastoral charge.  The churches within a charge will hold regular administrative meetings.  But, once a year, that church (or those churches) meets for a “Charge Conference.”  It is here that churches elect officers, adopt ministry goals, evaluate programs and set salary for their pastor.  We have an upcoming Charge Conference December 4.

That’s a lot of meetings.

And, as I describe them, they seem to reflect a lot of paper-pushing and not much ministry.  I hope that is not accurate.

In the history of our church, John Wesley would call together his Methodist preachers yearly “to confer.”  Wesley’s terminology was “to conference.”  The heart of the conferencing matter was to converse together in order to hammer out the church’s theology.  The discussions centered around the questions, “What to teach?” “How to teach?” and “What to do?” (How to regulate our doctrine, discipline and practice?)  The talk of nickels and noses came along much later. 

Wesley considered these “holy conversations” – and all spiritual talk – one of the ways in which God reveals God’s nature to human beings.  Wesley called these revelatory activities the Means of Grace (and there will be more about that later).

All of this is to say that, when we get back on track, these several conferences will gather and consider some weighty matters.  This will not be a season of “going through the motions.”  It is a time of decision-making that could shape our denomination for a generation.  I hope that our church finds the will of God as its representatives come back together.

On the work of faith

I had an odd week recently. I got a screw embedded in a car tire (it was a week-end, of course) so I had to deal with that over the course of a couple of days. Soon after, the indicator lights on my car dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, and I had to tend to more car matters. Then, again on a weekend, a pretty severe traffic accident happened right in front of me as I was sitting still at a traffic light. One of the vehicles involved had flipped onto its roof and was spinning down the road right toward me. It stopped literally inches away from my car. No one was seriously hurt, and I escaped any involvement. But, as you can imagine, the occurrence left me a little…tense.

Sandwiched between these stressors were the usual distractions and aggravations that accompany day-to-day life. You have heard the term “death by a thousand cuts.” It refers to the fact that one simple wound is not life-threatening. But if you repeat the injury enough times, the cumulative effect is lethal. I’ll have to admit, that is just about how I felt at the end of that week-long stretch.

In the course of my ministry, I have conducted a lot of weddings. Prior to those ceremonies I always spend some time with the couple and talk about the importance of the step they are about to take. One of the cautions that I always offer is that it is not always the big things that threaten a relationship. Money, jobs, family – these can cause stress but their very size can prepare the duo for coping with what is to come. I remind them that it is the little things -- the knuckle-cracking or the insistence that the toilet paper roll should be refilled so that the paper comes over the top – that truly threaten marriages. No one thing drives a spouse away. Inattention to dozens and hundreds of seemingly insignificant concerns has been the cause of a lot of married couples deciding to go their separate ways.

I suppose that all of this comes under the umbrella of “Distractions.” These are not the things that start out on our To-Do List. But, as we seek to concentrate on that which is important in our lives, the unplanned pops us in such a way that we must deal with it. Or something floats around on the periphery of our work and we allow it to lure us away from our primary concern.

This happens more than a lot of us would like to admit. We allow our attention to drift in the workplace, in our households, in our relationships. And we let it occur in the course of our practice of faith. All of us would agree that it is important to spend a portion of our days in prayer, in Bible reading, and in other forms of religious expression. Sometimes, though, if our calendar gets full, these spiritual disciplines are the first things that we sacrifice. Or, if we do sit down to study our Bibles, an occurrence in the scripture story reminds us of an experience in our own lives and before we know it, we have spent considerable time thinking about something that is not faith-related at all. In our prayers we may commend the needs of a particular person to prayer, but the face of that person pops into our minds, and then we remember their spouse, and their parents, and the old house they used to live in and before you know it, we lose our true prayer attention.

A meaningful personal religion does not happen by accident. The deepening of one’s faith is not a casual side-effect of having once professed belief in Jesus Christ. A close personal relationship with God comes in the regular exercise of those disciplines It requires focus. It requires intentionality. It demands that we desire that relationship more than we desire to pay attention to the transient things that would steal our attention.

Deuteronomy 6:5 reads: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” This is not a casual undertaking. It requires effort. The instruction carries with it a sense of labor, of hard work. At the very least, it calls us to find the will-power to prevent our distractions from ruling us.

__________

Our scripture readings for Sunday, September 5 are: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23;  Psalm 125 ; James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17 ; and  Mark 7:24-37.