Ephesians 3:16-17
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
The Choluteca Bridge in Honduras was built to withstand hurricanes - and it did. It withstood Hurricane Mitch in 1998. However, the resultant flooding caused the river it spanned to chart a different course - and so the bridge became redundant.
As the third tranche of ministers and congregations embark on Path of Renewal, I’ve been struck again by the intentionality and the provisionality of what we are about together with God.
We are intentional about seeking God’s direction and about incorporating into our daily lives practices that will help us in being more aware of God at work all around us and the invitation God extends to us to become involved in that work. Sometimes that involves rediscovering ancient paths and learning from old monastic disciplines. At other times, it involves finding some new digital practices (and digital sabbath) that allow us to deepen our connection with God and the world in this age. And so we find ourselves being taken in directions we might never have envisaged.
Perhaps less dramatically but no less significantly, there is an awakening to the subtle changes that are happening as those we engage with and mentor notice too the pervasiveness of God and seek to pay attention to the numinous in our everyday.
As the awareness of God’s presence grows, what we are noticing is an openness to experiment, to embark on new terrain rather than traversing well known routes, learning to navigate as opposed to simply reading the map.
Even as we chart a new course, however, we are conscious of the provisional nature of any structures we put in place or of any ventures on which we embark. God is always doing a new thing and calls us to be responsive rather than reactive, light of foot yet rooted in love.
