January 25th Message from the Rector
A Message from your Rector:
"Praise the Lord, I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart,*
in the company of the upright, and among the congregation." (Psalm 111:1)
Dear Parish family:
I write to you with a grateful and renewed heart.
The last 42 days have been an incredible journey for our family and me personally.
Beyond my road to recovery from bilateral hip surgery, I am aware that many of you have had similar ups and downs that make this first month of a New Year feel more like the 13th month of the year we wanted to forget.
I am grateful for these weeks of recovery given to me by the Wardens, Vestry, and the Parish of Saint Matthew's. Your continued love, prayers, and support have been so encouraging to me.
Suiter, Joe Ervin, and the Lord could see what I couldn't: the convergence and compressed series of life altering events required more time for me to heal and recover than my own brain could comprehend. Thanks be to God! I am walking and getting stronger each day.
I have recently enjoyed frequent visits with our two new grandchildren and their parents. My first week at Litchfield was spent journaling - processing - searching for what my heart was telling me when my brain was overloaded. Now I am in a different place.
Which brings me to verse 1 of this week's Psalm 111.
The psalmist declares he "will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart".
My journaling showed me that I am in pursuit of a life-long journey toward whole-heartedness with God as my guide.
"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely...(1 Thess. 5:23a).
When people who love you are in cooperation with the Spirit of God and reach out to you and advise you to let go and let God, it doesn't always hit home as sound advice does it?
The apostle Paul in the verse above seems to say: Your journey to healing and whole-heartedness begins and ends with God. Stay close to him and He will stay close to you.
He is our rescue, our ultimate immune system against all forces of evil which includes this virus. Before the fall in Genesis 3, there was no virus, no indications of evil like shame, hate, which quickly consumed the hearts of mankind.
All of our stories are mixed in this. Mine is just one among many. Evil keeps prowling, wounds keep resurfacing - until they are dealt with.
God sent His only Son to restore what we have lost, to heal our humanity, our union with him we once had. But the epicenter to our healing is rescuing our heart.
What needs wholeness and restoration in your life?
Our mind, our body, our heart and our soul is healed through restored union with God.
This is the place I pray we all want to be.
And we can get there, if we are willing to pause and seek more whole-heartedness daily. Opening ourselves, surrendering the self life for the life of sanctification - growing more and more into the image of Christ - taking on his humility, obedience, and love for others above ourselves.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20)
Oh my dear parish family, this is a vision of the restored union with God that comes through the healing and restoration Jesus now brings in the power of the Holy Spirit!
May we hold on with endurance to this vision - in pursuit of whole-heartedness, complete union with God!
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead"...(Philippians 3:13).
Love to all!
God's Blessings and Peace,
Rags+