1-4-19 - The Way of Love

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

My congregations will be delving into the Way of Love during the season of Epiphany. Most weeks the gospel readings will differ from the Revised Common Lectionary. So on Fridays this season, Water Daily will focus on the Way of Love topic for the week – today that is introducing a rule of life.

The Way of Love is an approach to intentional Christian living developed by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Reverend Michael Curry. Anyone who heard his sermon at the royal wedding last summer knows how joyfully he expresses the love at the heart of our Good News. He developed this set of “spiritual practices for a Jesus-focused life” in response to a growing sense that many Episcopalians had yet to experience God’s love for themselves – as he has said, “You can’t give away what you don’t have.”

The Way of Love – seven spiritual practices, each honed to one word – is what monastics call a rule of life, a plan for how one will focus and grow spiritually. A rule of life, which can be corporate (as in the Rule of St. Benedict) or individually developed, allows us to be intentional about our spiritual lives, rather than drifting. Just as we benefit more from exercise that is planned, so that in a given week our whole bodies get a workout; just as we eat more healthfully when we plan our meals; just as we work more productively when we set goals and plan tasks – so it is with the life of the spirit. We grow more loving as we cultivate habits of the heart that open us to the love and power of God.

Some of the practices contained in the Way of Love – Turn, Learn, Pray, Bless - can be embraced daily. Some, like Worship and Rest, may become part of a Christian’s weekly rhythm. The remaining one, Go, might be lived daily or weekly, or involve travel or major life changes. Together, they help us maintain a balance between interior spirituality and external mission, and focus us on following Jesus.

As we prepare to engage this Way of Love, to learn and internalize these practices so that they become automatic, we are in a sense preparing for a journey. So let’s go back to those Magi we’ve been walking with all week and see what wisdom they might share with us:

Discern – Notice what God is up to. Those magi studied the heavens and knew when a new star arose (perhaps a supernova). They were intrigued and explored what it might mean. So we need to be awake to what snags our attention – perhaps a need around us, a passion within us, joy, pain, outrage, tenderness – where has God set a star for you?

Chart a course – How will you get where you are going?
What route is best for you – fast, scenic, with or without tolls? Even when we’re not sure of our destination, like those magi, that star we’ve seen gives us a direction.

Pack – What do you need for this journey? A time set aside each day? A place? A journal? A companion to travel with, someone to share insights and pitfalls as you go? Gifts to bring when you arrive? 

And what might you choose to leave behind? Distracting activities or people? Disappointments in faith? Previous attempts at spiritual discipline? Patterns that no longer serve you?

Dare - those magi came to Bethlehem from a faraway land, risking injury, robbery, danger, losing their way. As we embark on this spiritual adventure, let us pray for some of their courage, to be open to what lies ahead, trusting God’s presence with us in challenges and victories, trusting God’s gifts that sustain us on the way, trusting God’s guidance as we move closer to God’s heart. Andiamo!

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