If you were not with us on Sunday, you missed the beginning of a new sermon series – Boot Camp For The Soul. During these weeks of Lent, we are exploring what it might mean to pursue a change in our hearts and in our actions. This week we will be talking about a complete reset. We know that when we became a Christian, when we had our spiritual rebirth, we experienced a new start. But, what happens when we find ourselves needing a restart – when our Christian life has become stale or nonexistent? Perhaps our calling is to live again, day by day.
I would like to share with you the words of someone else – a blog entry from a web site, The Community of Jesus, an ecumenical Christian community located in Massachusetts.
Always We Begin Again
April 9, 2014
By Renaissance Girl
It’s been right under my nose for years and it’s only just sunk in. I was caught by the final verse of Psalm 61 this morning: “Then I will ever sing in praise of your name and fulfill my vows day after day.”
Day after day. Not a one-shot deal, not a magic switch you flip and never have to think about again. I realize that’s what I look for — a one-time solution — setting my course and putting myself on auto-pilot.
But it’s not that simple, or maybe a better way to look at it is that it’s not that stagnant. Life with God — vowed life — is a “day after day” kind of living. Every morning when my feet hit the floor, I vow again. I say yes (with God’s grace) to starting the process and staying with it that day. And if…no, when…I fall, I plant my feet and begin again. It’s a more hopeful way to live than in some of the ways I’ve tried to strive.
It reminded me this morning of that quote “Always we begin again.” I couldn’t remember where it came from, and was a little embarrassed to find it is in the Rule of St Benedict — the foundation of our vowed life and our own Rule. It’s been right here telling me I don’t have just one shot to get it right…..I have Day after Day!
-Pastor Jane