April 10
Matthew 17:14-20
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
REFLECTION
Again, we have a situation where Jesus shows his humanity. He is frustrated with his disciples and fires off a rebuke that helped me in my own frustrations as a minister. “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” the fact that Jesus became frustrated gave me great comfort. I no longer felt guilty at feeling frustrated with individuals and structures within the church which lacked vision. I felt like shouting “Can’t you see? It’s so obvious what needs to be done. Let’s try it anyway, no matter if it fails at least we have tried. Have faith and give it a go.” I didn’t share the first two sentences but did try to encourage people to try new ventures and have faith that if it was of God it would succeed. I have always been the ideas person in a team but sometimes I came up with too many and people were overwhelmed. However, the gentle “Let’s give it a go” often produced the desired affect and thankfully many new ventures began.
Faith is a very personal thing. It was a privilege to prepare people for confirmation, but each person came at a different stage of their faith journey. They met however at a crossroads of enquiry and my role was not just to prepare them for the actual ceremony of confirmation but hopefully a lifelong desire to deepen that faith. Our pilgrimage of faith should be a lifelong journey where we seek to come closer to God. That journey is an inward movement, going deeper and deeper as we reflect on our relationship with God. It involves a deeper knowledge of self and what makes you tick. Self-awareness leads to God-awareness until we come to a moment of at-one-ness. We need to make a commitment to do so and be patient in our perseverance. It takes courage to look inward but that is where faith comes into play. Do we trust God enough? Do we desire to know him more? What gets in the way? What are the barriers?
What are the benefits of this Intentional Inward Pilgrimage?
- Communion with God.
- Growth
- Renewal
- Transformation
There are many tools to help us go deeper.
- Guided Meditation
- Contemplation – staying in God’s presence in silence.
- Prayer
- Lectio Divina (Holy Reading)
- Journaling
- Self-reflection
Our faith needs to continually deepen and grow. We can only know God by being in her presence and spending time discerning what is being asked of us.
QUESTIONS
- What frustrates you in life? At work, at church, in the community, in your family?
- How do you handle frustration?
- Do you trust God?
- How strong is your faith?
- How can you deepen your faith?
- What stops you going deeper?
- Which areas of your spirituality would you life to explore further?
