Inward and Outward Faith (Mid-week Message)

St. Pachomius, founder of communal monasticism

Inward and Outward Faith

Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message

October 14, 2015

This coming Sunday at a parish meeting after a special single 9:00 a.m. Eucharist, we will be continuing the “Equipping the Saints” discussion about our parish calling and identity.  We began the discussion on Trinity Sunday when we talked about Anglican/Episcopal identity and the broad spectrum of what it means to be part of the Prayer Book tradition.   The single largest thing we learned then is that where most of our parishioners identify themselves as having a mystic spirituality, few identify Trinity as a place strong in mysticism.   

In discussions on this in the vestry and worship committee, I have come to realize that there are several simple changes in our Sunday morning worship we might grow into that would help make it reflect and nurture more fully the calling many of us feel in this regard.  I have begun to pace my own prayers and blessings more slowly.  We are taking more time in silence for reflection during the service in order to create more liturgical room for contemplation.   We have begun using a liturgical chime in daily morning prayer and are considering how we might use it gently and sparingly Sunday mornings to, again, create sacred space and focus contemplation.  We are also looking at how to use the sense of smell in a way that does not cause distress for our choristers and parishioners challenged with breathing ailments. 

It is often said that the Prayer Book has a Benedictine Spirituality.  The Psalter is an important part of our worship, as is the cycle of prayers and observances throughout the year.  Our Sunday evening Contemplative Eucharist aspires to more a Trappist or Cistercian spirituality, while our  soon-to-be-inaugurated Celtic Evensong and Communion looks to a Christian spirituality more grounded in the love of creation and incarnational faith of first nations of the British Isles. 

However you understand spirituality or mysticism, however, one thing must be clear from the start:  an inward-rooted and driven Christian faith must not be a spirituality of isolation, stark individualism, or solipsism.   Our faith must be grounded in and lead to community, guided direction, and loving service.  This is the point that St. Paul makes in a reading we had just yesterday in the Daily Prayer cycle.  When Paul discusses spiritual gifts, speaking in angelic languages, and prophecy in the Corinthian Church, he says it clearly:  inward-oriented faith is less central and less important that outward-oriented faith:

“Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.  Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. … Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.” (1 Cor. 14:2-12).

Paul’s point is this:  as important as inward-looking faith is, it only really matters as it brings us into relation with others, into loving service.   Perhaps that is the real meaning of people who celebrate the Trinity—a social dance of divine love—and find they need quiet moments alone with God. 

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Tony+