02/07/2024 0 Comments
From The Vicar May 17: God Speaks Your Language
From The Vicar May 17: God Speaks Your Language
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From The Vicar May 17: God Speaks Your Language
Dear Ones of St. Columba's,
What is the language of your heart? Last week during one of the worship times at our diocese's clergy conference people were invited to pray the Lord's Prayer "in the language of your heart." The options given were both in English, with one using masculine pronouns for God and the other using feminine pronouns. I honestly didn't know which one was closer to the language of my heart - I like imaging God in the feminine, and have found it empowering and productive to practice using feminine pronouns for God in my prayer life and other aspects of spiritual life. And, well, when I pray the Lord's Prayer I love it to say it the way I learned it, using the words I memorized on Wednesday nights when I would sleep at my grandmother's house and she would put me to bed by saying "Our Father, who Art in Heaven.."
Last Friday and Saturday were retreat days for your St. Columba's leadership - Bishop's Commitee, clergy (me), and program staff. This is the first time we've taken an overnight retreat in my time with you, and it was a wonderful opportunity to be together, to learn, pray, play, and dream for St. C's as a leadership group. The topic at the center of our learning was how culture and cultures plays a role in our lives as Christians and in the life of St. Columba's as a faith community. Every one of us has a culture - a way of thinking, being, and moving through and perceiving the world that is as close to us as our own heartbeat, and just as invisible and automatic. It was fruitful and challenging work for us to do together, to wonder how all the different cultures that make up St. Columba's - familial, racial, ethnic, economic, geographic - come together to make us who we are as one local expression of the body of Christ, and how we might be able to get even more skilled at recognizing and celebrating our diversity.
This is a good project to begin just before Pentecost Sunday, the day when we recognize, remember, and look for the Holy Spirit's arrival among us. In the scripture from Acts for this Sunday, every person hears the gospel in their own language. I imagine this as not only the language they speak, but the language of their hearts - each one different. Our God is so diverse that she has something unique to say to each one of us, and says it in precisely the way we need to hear. Imagine if we were able to share these unique experiences of God with each other - to hear and appreciate how differently each one of us hears God speak! I believe our hearts would expand, and so would our knowledge of the One who created each of us and knows the language of our hearts.
With care and gratitude,
Alissa
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