Sunday, February 29, 2004
Turning towards the Narrow Path
My parish prints most of the service in a bulletin, so to participate in the service we don't need much more than the bulletin and the hymnal. We use a lot of supplemental liturgies and we don't have copies of these books in thew pews, probably because they aren't meant for pew use. I have taken to using the BCP, especially the prayers starting at 814, as I sit in church.
Take a look at prayer 64 on page 833: "Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, form coldness of heart..." I've frequently noted that I can have a bit of a cold heart. It's not really a cold heart, but all of the personality tests I've taken over the years point out that emotions are not something I deal with a lot. I'm more of a logical type, so I appear to be cold hearted.
As I read this this morning I began to think about drawing closer to God and being drawn from coldness of heart. I think that this is a two way street, that is, by turning away from coldness of heart you can come closer to God. When having a warm and open heart and mind are the result of Connecting with God we have an outward visible sign of God's grace working in our lives. Simply having a warm heart and an open mind does not necessarily bring you closer to God. Take Ebeneezer Scrooge as an example, his heart warmed up, but we don't read The Christmas Carol seeing it as the work of God in Scrooge's life. I also take into consideration the fact that Christmas was celebrated quite differently when Dicken's wrote the book, and the way God was seen was also quite different then as He is now. Scrooge may have turned to God. It certainly seems that way when you read the book or watch any adaptation of the story.
Turning away from a cold heart turns you in the right direction (that is, towards God) but doesn't guarantee that you're exactly right. I wonder if this is what Jesus meant by the Narrow Path. We can turn towards God but there are mayn ways in which we can miss our target and walk right past God. If our actions come from a warm heart but our intentions are still impure, we miss the point. ¶ 3:27 PM
Take a look at prayer 64 on page 833: "Deliver us, when we draw near to thee, form coldness of heart..." I've frequently noted that I can have a bit of a cold heart. It's not really a cold heart, but all of the personality tests I've taken over the years point out that emotions are not something I deal with a lot. I'm more of a logical type, so I appear to be cold hearted.
As I read this this morning I began to think about drawing closer to God and being drawn from coldness of heart. I think that this is a two way street, that is, by turning away from coldness of heart you can come closer to God. When having a warm and open heart and mind are the result of Connecting with God we have an outward visible sign of God's grace working in our lives. Simply having a warm heart and an open mind does not necessarily bring you closer to God. Take Ebeneezer Scrooge as an example, his heart warmed up, but we don't read The Christmas Carol seeing it as the work of God in Scrooge's life. I also take into consideration the fact that Christmas was celebrated quite differently when Dicken's wrote the book, and the way God was seen was also quite different then as He is now. Scrooge may have turned to God. It certainly seems that way when you read the book or watch any adaptation of the story.
Turning away from a cold heart turns you in the right direction (that is, towards God) but doesn't guarantee that you're exactly right. I wonder if this is what Jesus meant by the Narrow Path. We can turn towards God but there are mayn ways in which we can miss our target and walk right past God. If our actions come from a warm heart but our intentions are still impure, we miss the point. ¶ 3:27 PM
