"Finding True Spirituality"

One of the priorities of our church in this New Year is to begin to work with data from the Natural Church Development survey that our congregation completed in late October. The area of emphasis the survey suggests for Resurrection to work on this year is Passionate Spirituality. This can be pretty daunting for a lot of us. Being spiritual conjures up visions of long hours on your knees and a life spent avoiding things that used to give you great pleasure. It can be a pretty dreary picture.

True Spirituality is quite different from this. True Spirituality makes your life better rather than more difficult. It is discovering your true self as God created you to be rather than trying to force yourself into a preconceived idea of holiness. This kind of Spirituality kindles a flame in your heart that has its source in God's own self. It is a flame that, by faith, gives us assurance of the presence of God in our lives.

John the Baptist told us that Jesus baptized us with the Holy Spirit and with fire! It is at our baptism, that God acknowledges us as the children of God and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able not only to sense the presence of God, but also, to know and do God's will as well. It is the gift that allows us to live life as God intended.

At this point, most people are ready to draw back from what they feel will very quickly become mystical mumbo jumbo. Yet True Spirituality is very practical. Saint Paul tells us that "there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." NRS 1, Corinthians 12:4-7
The more mystical gifts like prophecy, prayer and discernment of spirits are part of this variety of gifts but so are things like administration, teaching, and craftsmanship. God has gifted individuals to fill every role that a community of the people of God might have need of in order to carry out God's will. These gifts are evident in the personalities and passions of each individual. People who have been given the gift of administration are not usually prone to the flights of vision and dreams of possible futures that someone with the gift of prophecy might experience. Nor would someone with a gift of intercession necessarily be comfortable with the details and planning needed for someone with a gift of leadership.

The sensitivity of a craftsman as they feel the wood taking shape under their hands is just as spiritual as any vision. The similarity in these various forms of spirituality is the delight we take in doing God's will in our own way, the way God created for us to participate in the Body of Christ. There is no person, no gift that is more spiritual or important to God than another. Paul tells us that "we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love." NRS Ephesians 4:15

True spirituality is finding your place in the Body of Christ and trusting that God will give the joy and passion of someone who has found their true calling. Sometimes we need to search a little though to find out where we fit. Sometimes our gifts are the same as we practice in our daily lives but often they are not. Spiritual gifts are often surprising and give us a new perspective of ourselves and the life God has given us.

As a Church we can only come alive when the individuals in our community of faith find their giftedness and begin to practice those gifts in order to build up the portion of the Body of Christ we know as Resurrection Lutheran Church.

True Spirituality is finding yourself in God. It is becoming aware of God's presence in and purpose for your life. It is an awakening to true life, and finding that life experiencing the joy that can only come from knowing that God is with you and pleased with the deepening of the relationship. When you find your place in God there is a sense of excitement that everyone around you can feel. It becomes something you wish to share with people around you.

As each individual at Resurrection finds their true place in the body of Christ and begins to live out that calling our church becomes more and more vital. With each new gift discovered in our community we become stronger and more able to carry out the mission with which God has entrusted us. As we begin this New Year let us focus on our place in the purpose of God. Let us focus on True Spirituality and take our rightful place in the heart of God.

Pastor Jim Bliss