October is the traditional time in the Church of the Saviour for annual membership recommitment. It is an unusual church practice, perhaps unique, joining and re-joining the same faith community year after year. Or not. When I first made this commitment, a long-time member told me it gets harder every year, just the opposite of what I expected to hear. Now I understand.
The week before recommitment there is set-aside time for prayer and discernment. This is a serious time of soul-searching, listening to the Spirit, reviewing the community’s chosen commitment and the practices (personal and corporate) for spiritual growth and depth community.
Questions fuel my prayer. How is the Spirit drawing me into deeper communion? What does sacrificial giving look like this year? Is my call to serve God’s hope in the world taking new shape? Evocative desire and challenging difficulty bump up against each other. There are times I do not have the heart to openly and fully engage these questions.
A story about Mother Teresa keeps coming to mind. She had travelled far from her life among the poor in Calcutta to New York City to meet with business executives to raise money for her ministry. Humble and persistent, she described the urgency of the need as only she could. However, they had decided before she entered the room that they would not write her a check. After a while of polite listening, they told her no. She paused, bowed her head, and said, “let us pray.” At the end of the prayer, she again described the invaluable help they could offer. Again, they said no. And, again, she paused, bowed her head, and said, “let us pray.” They stopped her right there and wrote the check.
I hope the business leaders had a change of heart. Yet I can’t help chuckling a bit, wondering if they were anticipating incessant hours of persistent prayer. Or perhaps they were thinking “time is money” and simply wanted the meeting to end. The point is that Mother Theresa did not lose heart. Her faith led her to invite prayer, trusting her most reliable resource. Apparently, she was prepared to pray without ceasing. And in the mystery of mercy, the meeting took a new direction.
I want to grow in that trusting persistence. To be part of a community committed to that. Gratefully, God is persistent. The whole biblical story is of God’s persistent, creative love. Divine Love persistently calling out the prophets, seeking to form a visible community of faithful. The story continues and divine Love is eternal. Yet there is urgency. We live on a hinge of history. Let us not lose heart.
–Ann Dean, Dayspring Church
- How is the Spirit drawing you into deeper communion?
- What does sacrificial giving look like for you in the year ahead?
- Is your call to serve God’s hope in the world changing?
