What a privilege to be walking with you in worship over the next six weeks of the summer. As a spiritual director, the focus of time together is to point to the personal relationship with the Holy and to deepen that relationship. I am excited to share this focus in a series of sermons while I am with you. As Christians and the church we are all about caring for our neighbors and each other. However, unless we get regular personal tune ups of our own Being in relationship with our God, renewing and living into and out of that commitment, in truth we have nothing to give. So like the airline passenger in a disturbance of the flight, we are commanded to put on our own oxygen before we help others put theirs on.
Jesus said it many ways. “Love God with all your heart and mind and soul” and out of that relationship, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I would submit that the loving of ourselves is often overlooked as the basis out of which we are to love others, so we will be looking at that together as well.
Jesus said to put God first and all the other needed things would flow to us naturally. The Divine knows what we need. Jesus said we cannot serve both God and Mammon or the things of this world. Unless we are connected to the vine that is Christ, we can do nothing.
There are disturbances in this life, and to move through them with grace and the ability to reach out to others with strength and faith, it is the oxygen of spiritual connection that we rely on and the spiritual confidence this connection brings. I am looking forward to serving as your flight attendant as we give our attention to “Partnering With God” over the next six weeks. I would ask in preparation that times of meditation and prayer be given in part to invitation for the Holy Spirit to be our guide as these sermons are prepared and as our hearts are made ready for the next segment of our spiritual journeys.
Buckle your seat belts, Rev. Miriam Mick