“It is good, so very good, to experience the
quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God.” - Howard Thurman
1 Peter 2:2-3
reads, “As newborn babies, long for the
spiritual milk, the real stuff, not watered down. That is what will make you
grow up to salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
Peter is actually quoting Psalm 34:8: “Taste
and see,” says the Psalmist, “that
the Lord is gracious.” Then, like a newborn baby who has tasted his mother’s
milk, you will want more. And more.
Who can fail to
comprehend this simple picture? We are to yearn for the ministry of God’s
Spirit the way a newborn yearns for nourishment.
Nothing else
will satisfy. Nothing else comes close.
“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the
LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84: 12).
Our souls hunger
for what only God can satisfy. As St. Augustine famously said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless
until they find their rest in thee.”
He alone holds
what we need.
Here’s the
thing, the Lord waits upon us to be gracious and give us what we most need. But
we have this propensity to forget that very thing – and to forget him, and to
starve ourselves. The question of why we do this is one of the great
sermons you will no doubt get to hear if you keep coming to St. Paul (wink,
wink). For now, let us diligently agree that it doesn’t have to be this way.
One of the
primary ways we receive the goodness of the Lord is through prayer. But prayer,
communion with the Divine Lover of our souls, is not limited to one kind of
habit or method – not by any means.
Just as we are
not all wired the same way, some of us find certain ways of praying more
helpful than others. Some of you may drink in the goodness of God by quietly
reading and studying the word. Others find that a meditative walk on the beach,
or gently moving in another area of God’s creation, opens up a pathway to the
peace and assurance of God.
I have heard
that some like to knit, keeping the hands busy so that the body’s somewhat engaged,
freeing the mind and spirit to receive the presence of the Lord God. Others
encourage their own spirits to tune in to the divine dimension while the body
engages in yoga poses. For that matter, why not simply sit down in quiet and
taste and drink in the goodness of the Lord with your coffee or tea?
Taste and see
that the Lord is good! As the old commercial put it: It doesn’t get any better
than this.
“It is good, so very good, to experience the
quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God”
