A New Place

After four years of not preaching on a Sunday to Sunday basis, I sometimes find myself wondering about that fellow I used to know.  As the Sundays have been adding up, it has become harder to see myself in the pulpit again.  What causes the recurring question is not a loss of a sense of calling, but the changes which have occurred within through these years.  When the center of spiritual life and understanding loses its center which was the church and the cathedral known as creation takes its place, change is running rampant and new ways of thinking are taking hold.  

With this new center of spiritual life, it is not hard to see myself preaching.  It is not the act of preaching which is difficult to see, but the way the message being preached would surely have a different sound, a different context, and a different language.  Had I heard ten years ago what has taken root in my spiritual life in these retirement days, I am not sure I would have listened and even now I find myself wondering if anyone else would be a listener. 

My spiritual journey has come to be more about being than doing which has not always been the case.  It seems I have always been a seeker of a better way.  In a sense my spiritual motto has been "In spiritual disciplines do I trust."  And while spiritual disciplines are still important and are practiced, the practice of being still and paying attention to anything and everything around me has changed the daily part of this spiritual journey I have been walking for so very long.  Honestly, I am surprised that such a place has unfolded before me on my journey, but I know, too, that I have been greatly blessed by where the Guiding One has brought me.