06-17-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 17, 2025
As I have been dealing with some pain post-surgery (not too bad), I have tried some different meditation practices. I don’t believe meditation can take away all pain, but I have experienced times when meditation has helped make it feel as if the pain wasn’t quite as consuming. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. I tried to quiet myself with the words: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This was good for my spirit, but then I transitioned from just offering the words as a sort of mantra to an imaginative prayer. With each word, I imagined when I have been blessed by being on the receiving end of each one of those Fruits of the Spirit. Faces came to mind; very real emotional experiences came to mind; there was a rush of stories. So often, I have read those words from the Apostle Paul and thought of them only as an expectation upon my life. And I do believe that was the main trust of Paul’s writing, yet for there to be one who chooses to live a life that provides the fruit, then there are those who are blessed to feast upon the fruit. And for a period of time the other day, it made for a wonderful prayer of gratitude that provided a little reprieve from the pain.

For the Fruit of the Spirit upon which I feast, I give you thanks, O Life-Giving God. And thank you for all those whose lives nurtured the seed to a tree that bore good fruit. Amen.