Henri Nouwen’s Can you Drink the Cup? is among the half dozen or so classic books of Christian Spirituality that I've read and pondered regularly for years. Call it my devotional canon. Such reading isn't informational but formational and transformational; these books, along with Scripture, nourish my theological imagination, sustain spiritual passion, recall dissipated affections to a new focus, touch me in those deep recesses of love and hopefulness about myself.

Sometimes folks ask how I get the time to do all the reading I do. Here's part of the answer. How we love God and follow faithfully after our Lord will be different for each of us, as different as we are from each other. Not everyone finds reading brings them closer to God—though I think more could. But I am persuaded that good pastoral care includes among its goals enabling and encouraging our community to think, reflect, read and learn together of the wisdom to live for Christ faithfully and well. Many don't read deeply and slowly because no one has ever helped them make the connection between such reading and the way they view the world, their faith and the essential connections between our understanding of the world, our knowledge of God, our prayers, and the quality of our Christian faithfulness. 

Time for reading, time for work, time for the people at the heart of our lives, time for sleep, time for serving others, time for music, exercise, eating, TV—but in the end much of what we do with time comes down to choices, preferences, priorities and life circumstances. Some of the great Christian spiritual teachers had a fixed habit of 15 minutes a day for slow reading of classic spiritual texts. These Christian spiritual teachers approached their reading of classic texts with a 'give us this day our daily bread' urgency. They knew they needed nourishment, strength, energy, and they felt and befriended their hunger as a necessary inner reminder that they are not self-sustaining, or self-propelled or capable of growth without food. 

Food for the heart, the imagination, the conscience, the mind - food for thought, food for energy, food for strength, and thus, food to live. And for a quarter of an hour a day, week on week, month on month, year on year, they made time to slow down and wait in the company of Christ, learning from the cloud of witnesses what it is to be loved by God and to love God. And in that Love to understand more what it meant for them to be called to be part of God's mission to redeem and renew, to reconcile and restore a fallen but God-loved creation! 
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

These past few days I've been thinking. I do quite a lot of that. Live inside my own head, reflect on this and that, consider, ponder, worry, praise. Rehearse memories, imagine conversations, read, pray, give thanks, complain. Feel guilty or contented, uplifted or sad, impressed by beauty or depressed by brokenness; these and other emotional and intellectual puzzles are the colors and sounds of that world known only to me, and God. And in the most important sense, thankfully, known better to God than to me.

So how much of all of that inner noise and silence, searching and finding, that continuous flowing of thought and feeling that is the life I inhabit, how much of all this muchness of me is prayer? Do I pray or does God pray in me? Is prayer my seeking God or God seeking me? Is prayer indeed "the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed"? As an introvert I hope so, because there is a lot of living goes on inside our own heads, and inside our own hearts, and much of it a shared secret between us and God. Interestingly I find that more reassuring than worrying: 

"O Lord, you have searched me and know me....you perceive my thoughts from afar...you are familiar with all my ways...before a word is on my lips you know it completely, O Lord."  Psalm 139:1-2

 Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. 

I do not see the road ahead of me. 

I cannot know for certain where it will end. 

Nor do I really know myself, 

and the fact that I think that I am following your will 

does not mean that I am actually doing so. 

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. 

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. 

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. 

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road 

though I may know nothing about it. 

Therefore will I trust you always 

though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. 

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, 

and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton.

The integrity, honesty with self and radical trustfulness of this prayer have always moved me. Merton has been a companion all my Christian life - often quirky, sometimes annoying, wisely critical, funny without malice, passionate about justice and peace, compassionately humane, a lover of solitude and silence and one who found written communication irresistible. The prayer above comes from a heart that knows its limits and trusts a love that has no limits.

 Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

We are living through a time when hope comes hard, when there seems to be a deficit of joy, and when peace would be a fine thing if the world could find it! But remember - it was the Spirit of God who brooded over the chaos, and by God’s word brought creation to be. That same Spirit of Life, is the One by whose power Christ was raised from the dead, and yes, that same Spirit pours love and hope into our hearts until they overflow. We are a people called to embody the hope of the Gospel, to enact and proclaim the love of God, to be ‘ministers of reconciliation and Christ’s blessed peacemakers. And all this in the power of the Holy Spirit. Why not try Romans 15:13 as the prayer to regularly start your day?    “May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” AMEN

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 

Psalm 91:5-8 

Life’s a battle. None of us escape the costs and consequences of being human, of living a life in which joy and sorrow, achievement and failure, wellbeing and suffering, safety and danger, all mix together in the everydayness of our stories. But around us and beneath us, above us and within us, is the God we have come to know in Christ. “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God!” We live under the shadow of the Almighty and Christ is our refuge and fortress. Whatever happens!

If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the Lord who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.    

Psalm 91:9-10

Yes, bad things still happen to good people. This text is not a promise of immunity from pain and loss, suffering and hurt. But when life collapses beneath us, or we are in a hard place, we are held and surrounded by a Love that will never let us go. Jesus commanded his followers to “Abide in me”, to “Remain in my love”. That, for us is to “make the Most High our dwelling”. We are held safe in the power of the risen Lord in whom we trust, kept before the throne of God by our great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us.”

Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. 

Psalm 91:14-16

This is the Comprehensive Coverage offered to those who love and serve God, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and who live under the shadow of the Almighty. We love because he first loved us, and so affirm our faith: “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 
 Psalm 91:1-2 

This is a Psalm for challenging times. The Most High is the title for God “that cuts every threat down to size.” Almighty is the name for God’s sovereign power. Lord is the name given to Moses, the delivering and guiding God, “I AM!” All this is made personal by the Psalmist who uses the possessive case, My God. Our safety and security are found in a personal relationship with The Most High, "my God in whom I trust."

The metaphors for safety are equally rich and convincing. The shelter of the Most High; rest in the shadow of the Almighty; the Lord God as our refuge and fortress. These two verses put us in our place, “in the shadow of the Almighty.” No wonder Luther taught us to sing, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” We live in the shadow of the Almighty and within the encircling providence of God. This is the God of whom we say, “My God in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:3-4 

The rest of this Psalm could be called the Terms and Conditions of a comprehensive Life Policy! Whatever is a threat and to be feared is covered, quite literally, because we live under the protective wings of God’s faithful mercy and steadfast love. The shield and rampart give protection to those who are under siege – and we’ve all been there, besieged, when it seems everything is against us. But in our worst moments and tightest corners, God too, is there, our refuge…and strength.

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

After writing and praying my pleading pastoral prayer last week, a friend and I connected about our shared sense of anxious uncertainty in facing the fact that we are living through historic changes in our city, country, church and the world. It may well be that what is being asked of us as Christians at this particular moment in time, this kairos moment, is renewed resilience of faith, a defiant hopefulness and a determined refusal to let the seeds of resignation take root in the soil of despair.

I turned to the book of Hebrews this week, and one of its texts spoke powerfully into my uncertainties and my hoped for resilience. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-9) 

What if God should also speak in an unexpectedly shocking and powerfully challenging way? Hebrews was written to people whose faith was seriously shaken, whose inner core was being destabilized by events around them, and often against them. The preacher-pastor who wrote this long letter of encouragement and warning, aimed at hope building, faith strengthening, with the goal of instilling community resilience in the face of threatening change and felt inadequacy.

In the midst of all that is shaking, "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken..." To put it in the equally astringent words of Jesus, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

"But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little."      Luke 7:47b (NRSV)
 
 Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love even more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.
                      Henri Nouwen     The Inner Voice of Love

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

           “Here am I; send me!”
                            —Isaiah 6.8

But where?
Help me discern clearly, God.
Neither to gallivant off in every direction
as if I’m supposed to heal every hurt;
nor to shrink back because the need is so great,
but to listen for where you are calling me,
and to go there.

To say ”Here am I,” must include all of me,
not just parts. What calls to the whole of me?
What seems most harmonious?
What neither dulls nor depletes me,
but (even if it scares me)
energizes and enlivens me?
Where do I sense your energy moving,
that I may move in harmony with it?
Not what I want,
but where your Spirit blows.

Breath prayer:
                             Loving me … send me

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

“Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us!

Romans 5:5 

The Holy Spirit is God’s giving gift; the Gift that keeps on giving. Faith, hope and love are the foundation pillars of Christian character, and the greatest of these is love. Why? Because it is the divine love poured out upon us and within us, as God’s gift. We love because he first loved us; and we love with the love that is the overflow of the Spirit of God within us. We are conduits of love, channels through whom God’s love flows out in blessing, compassion and life-giving service in Jesus’ name.

 “There is now therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” 

Romans 8:1-2

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, the vivifying, energizing, creative power of God. Paul says elsewhere, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Here Paul is celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit in setting us free from the guilt and shame of sin, and from the fear of death. The law of the Spirit of life is the truth that, by faith in the faithfulness of Christ on the cross, and in the renewing power of the risen Christ, we are liberated, heart and mind set free to love and serve and worship God.

“Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.” 

There’s a three point sermon if ever there was one! Give the Holy Spirit freedom, live the life God gives, use generously the gifts God gives. Let the Holy Spirit ignite everything in you that is fuel for service. This is also a three point team talk, Paul the motivator is encouraging believers in Jesus to go out and express themselves with all the talent, energy, experience and positivity of those who know they can win. 

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation