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Dear friends,
One of my favorite things about being a priest is having the opportunity to teach. I honestly did not realize before I was ordained how much I would enjoy the teaching part of my ministry.
I'm not sure I'd make a very good school teacher, but I enjoy teaching people about the faith and the Bible. I enjoy sharing the things I have learned. I enjoy seeing people's eyes opened when they make a connection they've never made before. I know what those kinds of discoveries feel like, and I'm glad to pass them on.
Each year I get the opportunity to prepare youth and adults for confirmation or reception into The Episcopal Church. This year we approached this work a little differently.
Typically, I would just straight up teach people about the kinds of things we find in the Prayer Book Catechism. This time, we read the book The Way of Love: A Practical Guide to Following Jesus. This helpful little book is less about information and more about the practice of being a disciple.
That's really what it's all about, right? Living out faith in Jesus. This is not to say information isn't important, because it is. But it's always secondary to the basic practices of following Jesus' way of love "not only with our lips, but in our lives" as the Prayer Book says.
That short Way of Love book is not simply for people new to the faith or to The Episcopal Church. Not at all. It's helpful for all of us to look again at what it means to practice our faith and to think about how to do that more effectively for ourselves.
How are you living your faith? What do the practices the author outlines of "Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, and Rest" look like for you? What would a personal Rule of Life look like for you if it contained these practices?
This will also be helpful for you to reflect on when Bishop Shannon visits us on April 21 for confirmations, receptions, and baptisms. We will once again renew our Baptismal Vows together that day, which is always a great opportunity to think on not just what we know about our faith, but how we're living it.
See you this Sunday as we engage in the practice of worship together at 7:45 AM or 10:15 AM. Until then, keep the faith, St. Paul's!
God's blessings,
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