Who Inspires You?

     Our modern understanding of inspire is someone who gives us ideas, or who makes us want to do something. It’s a watered-down understanding of the word… while inspiration does enliven us, the root of the word means to breathe life into. 
     For those of us of a Christian background, the breath of life is sourced directly from the third person of the Trinity – the Holy Spirit! So when we inspire, we are living IN the Spirit!
     So my question remains… who inspires you? Who invites you into that delicate dance with the divine? Whose mere presence makes you want to be the best version of yourself? Whose smile lightens your heart? Whose voice elicits a joyful response in your soul? Who shares idea that makes you feel alive to the core of your being?
     These people, then, are your inspiration. They are the ones who God has put in your path (for however long!) to remind you of your place with and IN the Spirit of God. 
     To dwell and abide in the Spirit is a gorgeous reality: the comforter. The advocate. The creator. The enlivening bringer of breath. The wind of God that hovers over and in all of creation. 
     To dwell and abide in the Spirit is, however, not a passive state. To dwell in the Spirit is to be moved – by the Spirit – into acts of grace and love. Of kindness and compassion. Of truth and peace. Of justice and equality. The Spirit that pulsated over the waters from the beginning of time, that descends like doves and dances like flame, that breathes new life into old bones: this is not a static Spirit! It is the Spirit of fearless movement, of faithful action, of bold response to a world seeking love. 
     So: who inspires you? And what have they inspired you to do?
     And: how might your Spirit-led actions bring life to the world?
     As we dwell in the joy of the Spirit, we know that when we pray “Come!” we are committing to the movement of inspiration – wherever that may come from. 
     Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
 

"People just want to believe in magic"

      I was chatting with a friend this week about vaccines – about the amazing expression of science and ingenuity that went into their creation, about the immense privilege we have of free access to them, and about how excited we are for our upcoming appointments for the COVID jab. 
     …and we chatted about how there seem to be a large number of folks who don’t comprehend how vaccines work.
     Now, in fairness, it was clear in high school that I would not be a scientist. Despite this, I understand some of the basics: it takes time for antibodies to develop… and mild side effects are normal… and “vaccinated” does not mean “magically immune”…
     It’s the last one that caught our conversation. Because, it seems we *want* to believe in that magic fix. We want to wave a magic wand and have significant changes happen quickly (be it losing weight or achieving health or winning the lottery without buying a ticket or…).
     And, while all those things sound lovely, they aren’t realistic.  
…But we still want them. We still want to believe in magic. 
     And the religious institution can, if we’re not careful, make promises about such unrealistic magic. When, instead, we should be teaching and embracing mystery.
     Mystery is not about having the quick fix or the immediate answer; it’s about dwelling into the unknown. It’s trusting in God to be with us in the journey, even when we don’t understand it. It’s recognising that God’s providence in the world is much bigger than any magic moment. It’s enjoying the lovely moments and celebrating them as part of something much bigger. Mystery is seeing dimly in a mirror now, with confidence that one day we will see face to face. Mystery is part of the authentic relationship we have with the divine. Mystery is seeking to better understand the wonders both earthly and heavenly that are being shown to us every day, while recognizing that sacred mysteries are not puzzles to be figured out with reason.
     So while we can all wish for a little magic now and then, our faith challenges us to dwell in the mystery. And to know that we are with God – who’s got our souls covered.

I Didn't See That Coming!

Wednesday's Lockdown

     This past week has meant a lot of change for Nova Scotians, in a relatively short amount of time. It’s made planning a bit more of a challenge: we have shifted gears with restrictions and limitations being adjusted as the COVID outbreaks have increased dramatically.
     And yet, with just about every conversation I’ve had, people have commented: “Well, we kinda saw it coming… didn’t we?”
Indeed, we did. 
     Because life is unlike the whodunnit mystery novels I enjoy reading, with sudden shocking plot twists. Life tends to have signs and patterns, we can track trends and likelihoods and possibilities. So while a week ago we were hoping to avoid a lockdown, as we watched case numbers and listened to experts, many of us started to recognise and guess that this current situation was on the horizon.
     Paying attention to patterns and trends is important: for easy things like tracking weather or monitoring social media content, to more difficult areas like creating a budget or predicting immigration trends. 
     This, perhaps, is why Jesus was so often inviting us to pay attention to the world around us, to notice the nuance, to recognise the changes as they happened. We watch the changing of the seasons in the world, as magnolias bloom and dandelions burst forth (wow do they burst forth!) and birds return. 

     So too we are invited to pay attention to the rhythms and patterns in our spiritual lives; so that when our hearts speak and our prayers change and we recognise we are in a different spiritual footing than we were previously, we feel firm in that footing, comfortable, and expected – and we don’t have a moment of exclaiming “I didn’t see THAT coming!”

Mt 24.36: But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.