Dear Friends,

As we enter week five of our isolation and distancing, I hear a mixture of emotions and responses––often from the same person! Many appreciate the greater simplicity and slowness, a rest from the busyness of life. But many are beginning to struggle with so much time with oneself (and family members) as well as missing some of the activities that bring meaning and purpose to our lives. 

In my experience, it is in this intersection of life that the Spirit is able to do great work in us. This place of disease and discontent––painfully, so at times––and a heightened awareness of the most important things, the grace, is the stuff which God uses to illuminate the way to abundant and eternal life. 

I’ve been re-reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s classic work Living Buddha, Living Christ. In the chapter “Faith and Practice,” he speaks of the tools that help us cultivate the soul. Like a farmer who has tools to prepare, nurture and harvest a crop, so practitioners of faith use prayer and meditation to cultivate our hearts and consciousness, seeking to grow the fruit of God within ourselves for the world. 

My hope is that what I’ve provided for you in these weeks as well as the other tools for prayer and meditation you’ve been finding will enable you to make good use of the stuff being unearthed for you in this time.

The Home Worship Guide for this Sunday is available here and the Reflection in Solitude is available here.

May peace be with you on the journey,

Christine