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I have two texts for tonight: |
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| 1. From the Old Testament |
“As patiently I waited for the Eternal, He turned and listened
to my
cry; He raised me from the lonesome pit, a muddy bog, he
set my
foot on a rock and steadied my steps; He put a new song in
my mouth,
a song of praise to our God, that many might see and be awed,
and
trust in the eternal.” (Moffatt Psalm
40:1 – 3)
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| 2. From Care of the Soul |
“The great malady of the 20th century, implicated in all
our troubles and
affecting us individually and socially, is loss of soul.”
(Thomas Moore, “Cure of the Soul,” p. xi)
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What does it mean, loss of soul?
To have soul means to have
depth, to be connected.
In his 1998 “Update of ‘Some Principles’
Hayden Stewart (age 90) describes what it is to have soul:
“I am one with divine energy…one with its very
source…one with God.”
Hayden is a “soul-full” man.
He’s connected.
To be dis-connected from
God
or Divine Energy or life’s center
is to lose soul. |
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What does it matter if we lose soul?
Thomas Moore reports:
“The emotional complaints of our time, complaints we therapists
hear every day in our practice, include
emptiness
meaninglessness
vague depression
disillusionment about marriage, family, relationships
a loss of values
yearning for personal fulfillment
a hunger for spirituality
All of these symptoms reflect a loss of soul” (p. xvi) |
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Ash Wednesday, coming at the beginning of Lent, reminds us of our connections.
Why the ashes?
“The Lord God formed man of dust from
the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Gen 2)
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“I am but ashes and dust.” (Abraham, Gen 18:27) |
We are connected from before
birth to after death
to both the creation (dust) and the Creator (breath of life).
The Christian Lent is a
time for seeing our disconnections and re-connecting.
It is the season of reflection and penitence practiced at different times
by Moslems and Jews.
The goal is to re-connect
with the source. |
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My pastor, mentor, colleague and friend, John Paul Pack may be near
death at this moment. He tells of the low point in his spiritual
life, a time of loss of soul. He spent a night in prayer and
faced the morning looking over a flower garden. He said:
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“As these beautiful flowers reach down into the mystery of
the good earth
to accept their life, you can reach out the hands of your spirit and
accept all the promises of God.”
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What happened was, he re-connected. That’s where his favorite
Old Testament verse comes in:
“As patiently I waited for the eternal, He turned and listened
to my cry; He raised me from the lonesome pit, a muddy bog, he set my foot
on a
rock and steadied my steps; he put a new song in my mouth, a song
of praise to our Eternal God.” (Psalm 40:1 – 3 Moffatt Translation)
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| He would also add the words of the 23rd Psalm… |
“He restoreth my soul.”
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In the pre-Easter walk the Christian remembers the soul’s disconnections
as Jesus faithfully keeps his soul connected on his walk toward Jerusalem.
It is a season for restoring the soul.
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The old hymn sings: “It is well with my soul.” |
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On “Ash Thursday” we ask, “Is it well with my soul?”
- Art Morgan
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