Deacon Anne Strong

Matthew 19: 27-29
Ephesians 4:1-6

My Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Do you live a called life? A “with God life?”

Living a spiritual life is rooted in God. It takes discipline…we need to seek, find and listen. We then can become “imitators of Christ.”

My heart has been restless and I have been seeking traditional ways to slow it down. Over-exercising and ice cream are my typical harbors. One early morning, I awoke in 
prayer: “Dear God I commend my spirit to you.”

This has become my mantra each time my heart feels panicky. Coincidentally or unfortunately while preparing this offering I heard upsetting news … the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned. He was involved in a “cover up” of abuse which involved 130 boys. The former Archbishop decided “hush” was for the “best of the church as a whole.”

One of my many questions is “does he not realize that we are the Church???” All of us are the body of Christ; including the victims and their friends and families. To whom was our Archbishop looking? The only ecclesiastical authority is God.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in YOU.” —St. Augustine

A grounding question I ask myself often… “Anne, to whom do you belong?”

When I seek a haven in the temporal world, I receive a pacifier and band-aids. Jesus is proof that we can participate in this brutal world less fragile and more peaceful if we are connected to God.

I feel a gravitational pull in my heart which always puts me back where I began, with God. “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened….” —Matthew 11. Psalm 139 is another refuge.

I have found scripture, solitude, and the sacred to be what carries me to the “Holy of Holies.” Henri Nouwen reminds us that to hear, discern, and receive God we must hear this news many times (stiff necked??) and finally be certain that we are God’s Beloved.
At every turn God is offering antidotes… of beauty, goodness and joy. We must be a sleuth to discover them; balms for our souls. Whisper the prayer “ Dear God, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

With gratitude and love,

—Deacon Anne