For Your Reading: Psalms 41:1, and 129:2; 2 Corinthians 4:5-18; John 9:1-7
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." The verb "follows" clearly indicates the idea of surrender (in thought, act, and, thus, witness) to the will of Christ. Obviously, St. Paul is the inviting example to emulate in clarity of faith and action.
We, Christ's followers who seek a sincerely Christ-centered life, should abstain from divergent petty thoughts and issues that block us from the wider world in both temporal and spiritual sense. We are of this world and yet eternity looms around us to be possibly realized in us right here in our mundane life. In other words, with a clear mind centered on Christ, the Word can lead to genuine peace within the self and with others. This state can be considered eternity now and can, if maintained with concerted efforts in practice of spiritual reflection on the Word, ultimately become a journey towards eternity.
Such a journey, despite overwhelming enslaving distractions, is freeing and leads to connection with others wherever they are in the journey. It is worth saying that this spiritual state brings to our conscious mind our sisters and brothers in Christ who live in strife and war-torn spots of the world, where, though they experience mortal misery, they are nonetheless daily entrenched and enmeshed in the suffering of Christ.
Certainly, some of us, though Christians, live in our small temporal cocoons and do not bother, whether intentionally or inadvertently, to bring to our conscious mind the rest of God's creation and concerns. As such, then, we are incomplete in our individual cocoons. Here the begged question is, "When will you and I open up to care for God's kingdom and care for ourselves if not at the call of the Lenten Time?"
For Your Prayer: Be quiet and pray the following from the Book of Common Prayer
O Almighty God who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace and of supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Your Reflection: What things can you do in your journey to be more connected to both God's word, and to God's concerns in our own lives and around the world? How can we follow Jesus' light?
The Rev. Oja Gafour serves as the vicar of the Sudanese Community Church, which worships at St. John's Cathedral in Denver.
