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wings
How is it with your soul?
Shortly after I arrived in the Holston Annual Conference, I talked to the Extended Cabinet about our need to spend some time just asking this question of each other: "How is it with your soul?"
I firmly believe that the quality of one's time with the Lord determines our receptivity to the Holy Spirit's voice. We are still in the Easter season. Jesus, in preparation for his day of agony, took the disciples away to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. He understood that these would be days of testing. As we move toward Annual Conference in June and a time of review for this conference year, I ask the people of Holston, "How is it with your soul?" This question needs to be answered by both clergy and laity, so we will never forget that we are first called to be in a right relationship with the God of our salvation, with our sisters and brothers, and with ourselves. To ensure that we are rightly related in these areas, we must spend systematic time in prayer, Bible study, and contemplation.
As we face rising gasoline prices, the prospect of lost jobs, moving to new places, receiving new pastors, and seek healing from the hurts and wounds of our recent and distant past, we must intentionally spend more time with Jesus. I have noticed that when I get too caught up in my work and diminish my time with Christ, I get cranky, irritable, and less optimistic about God's ability to handle all that I cannot handle.
I recently purchased a CD by CeCe Winans entitled "Throne Room." I especially like the song "Thirst For You." It's based on Psalm 42:1, which reads, "As the hart (male deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Something about CeCe's voice takes me away for time with the Lord. You may use other ways to usher yourself into the presence of the Lord. Church should be more than a preoccupation with jobs, budgets, and preacher satisfaction, but it should be about being cleansed and refreshed by the hand of God.
Life, according to CeCe, can be "such a dry and barren land." My prayer for the people in the 914 outposts of Holston is that you will find your thirst can only be satisfied by a right relationship with God. I leave you with the 11th and final verse of Psalm 42: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God."
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Bishop James Swanson
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