Welcome to
St John
Church of Christ

Spirituality is an intentional act. The first step is to avoid hurry. Rushing through life leaves no room for introspection, processing the events that surround us, looking for the hand of God around us. To begin a spiritual walk, one must devote some time to it.

The development of a deeper spiritual walk also requires an acknowledgement of, and gratitude for, the provision of God. As Janet and I drove home last night and observed the lightning display in the storm clouds, we didn’t reflect on how the heavier negatively charged particles were descending in the cloud, reacting to the positive particles producing lightning… it is true, but that isn’t where our minds went. We thought of God, his power. We thought of his lovingkindness that reaches the clouds. We observed the way the moon was suspended above the cloud. As the cloud passed over the moon, we could still detect the shine, remembering in the darkest of nights… God is there, still extending lovingkindness.

The next step of spirituality is external. To satisfy a spiritual longing privately, without an external connection to life, is both selfish and destroys community. Our spiritual lives are expressed in connection with one another. If loving and worshiping God does not drive you to connect with all of those made in the image of God, you have made God in your own image. We are taught in Scripture that both friend and foe are worthy of, and should be recipients of, our blessing. To bless only those who we care for is selfish and stingy. Rather than being an exercise in imitation of our God, it is replacing the will of God with our own selfish motivation. We exalt our values over his values, while expressing our nature rather than his.

Finally, the final step is to process the day with God. Rehearsing the day’s events, how you focused on denying self and imitating Jesus is the only way we can develop better spiritual habits.

I am pleased with how far we have walked together. Let’s not give up.