Perpetual connection

Friday in the First Week of Lent

Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance;
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
Psalm 40:11

I wake with my heart still full of the goodness of gatherings and meetings with friends and colleagues yesterday. We spent time in silence, conversation, prayer, laughter, storytelling, problem solving. In community we shared guidance, encouragement, hope, solace, celebration, faith.

I can sometimes get lost in a personal relationship with the Holy, which can lead me not only to focus solely on myself, but also to believe I am in this alone. Both of these places are off the mark. It is so clear that God created community, calls communities to love and action, and continually invites us into community. We are called to share our gifts of experience.

Even as I sit in solitary prayer this new day, I am inextricably connected. The early morning freight train, the birds singing their way into this new day, the cars rushing by my house. The neighbors sleeping and awake. The workers repairing a pothole. The squirrel doing gymnastics in the tree. The great congregation.