The heart of it all (23 February)

Dear Friends,

Of recent weeks, our gospel readings have offered strands that merge into an important theme. We should love our enemies. How hard it is to embrace that notion! The human heart wants to rail against it. Anger so easily bubbles to the surface. We heard the statement from the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading last week: “The heart is devious above all else: it is perverse – who can understand it?”  So how do we deal with our limitations? Of course, we need to look to the gentle heart of Jesus.

In my sermon this week I will look to a model of Creative Living by the Catholic Priest Francis Dorff. I hope that it will provide you with a novel way of thinking about how we might bring about a deepening of our spiritual experience.

We are on the count-down to Lent and I hope that many will gather for post-dinner sweet pancakes at St James on Shrove Tuesday at 7.30 pm. 

There is a sign-up sheet for the Lenten Study at the back of the churches. I urge all to consider reading the wonderful book I have chosen. Sam Wells The Heart of it All. You don’t have to join in group discussion. No one will ask questions of you, but you might like to set aside some time to read, think and talk with God in your own space. That is what a study is about. It is your spiritual growth. It is not about showing others how much you know.

I’ve searched heart and mind, and I think Sam Wells book is right for our parish now. Copies cost $15 as the Parish Council will subsidise the purchase price of these books. So, if you haven’t previously embraced the idea of setting aside time to be with God during Lent, you might like to dip your toe in the water. For when we grow in God, we open the opportunity for  him to work his will in us.

Love and blessings,

Linda