May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
Jesus’
followers have been watching him pray day in and day out for as long as they
can remember. They sit and they watch as he either prays in front of them or
wanders off for a bit of private prayer. Finally, one of them pipes up and says,
“Lord, teach us to pray.” And thus, Jesus gives us the prayer that has been
around 2 millennia, one which are to be reciting daily.
Prayer
is very important to our spiritual life. It is the way we connect our hearts,
minds, and souls to God and there are so many lessons I could teach today about
prayer. But I’ve chosen to look beyond the 4th verse of today’s
passage because I think there are a couple of sentences further into the
reading that are quite applicable to what today represents for the IRSM.
Verse
9 and 10 go like this,
“So I say to you,
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the
door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who
searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
These verses
remind me of one of my favourite hymns, “Seek Ye First”. If you pull out the
blue hymnals and turn to hymn #783, I’d love it if we could sing it together.
Seek ye first the
kingdom of God
And His
righteousness;
And all these
things shall be added unto you.
Hallelu,
Hallelujah!
Ask, and it shall
be given unto you;
Seek, and you
shall find.
Knock, and it
shall be opened unto you.
Hallelu,
Hallelujah!
Man shall not live
by bread alone,
But by every word
That proceeds out
from the mouth of God.
Hallelu,
Hallelujah!
Thank
you for indulging me in singing that lovely hymn!
Now
that we have those beautiful words in our minds and in our hearts, I want you
close your eyes for a moment and think back through your lives, whether it be
your lives at home, at church, or within the IRSM. Think about the asks that
have been received, the searches that have been successful, and the knocks that
have been answered. Let’s take a moment to do that…
Since
I arrived in the IRSM in January of 2020, it feels like we have been in a constant
state of transition. Having only just created the IRSM a couple of years
earlier, you called your first set of permanent pastors. Four months later, we shut
down for the pandemic. It was supposed to only be until Easter. Then the pandemic
went beyond Easter (how do we celebrate Easter without gathering?!) and just
kept on going, with no relief in sight. Every month, we were trying to figure
out how to do new things when we barely knew each other. Then came the
craziness of 2021 which brought on a change in pastoral leadership. For one
reason or another, in the 5 years I’ve been with the IRSM, we have not had one
single year, liturgical or calendar, where everything went as planned. Isn’t
that incredible to think about?
But
each time we hit a roadblock, we found a way to make it through. We asked what
we could be doing, we searched for answers, and we knocked on doors to see what
was on the other side. We worked within our limits while also looking for new
ways to worship, new ways to be together, and new ways to do church and be the
church. We have grown and learned together about what it means to be the church
in our communities and how to use the tools we have in front of us.
And
here we are, having found ways to figure out, still continuing on as the IRSM,
even bringing a 7th parish into the mix! Each time questions arose,
we took time to ask them, get answers, and continued on. Each time we needed
information, we searched, found the answers we needed, and continued on. Each
time a door came before us, we knocked, it opened, and we continued on.
And
here you are today, still gathered as the IRSM, still looking towards the
future. And, once again, things will look different than it did last year, and
you remain in a state of transition. But, as Father Shannon Kearns says,
“Transition doesn’t
have to be bad.
Upheaval can be
positive.
Shifts can lead to
growth and new opportunities.”
As
we sang earlier, we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. And the words that God has for you today are these:
“Ask, and it will
be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened
for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and
for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Yes,
things are changing yet again in the IRSM, but keep asking, keeping searching,
and keep knocking for good things are still coming your way and God will be
walking with you each and every step. It’s time to turn the page and get ready
for your next chapter.
Amen.
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