It has been an eventful January: major winter storms, devastating wildfires, a cease-fire in Gaza, MLK Day, and the Inauguration. Plus, TikTok left and came back! Perhaps, like me, you have felt a swirl of heavy emotion and a dizzying array of thoughts. How do we step into this new year as people of faith?  What does it mean to follow Jesus and love God with our whole hearts at this moment in history?

Dave and I started a project last Saturday. We are cleaning the basement. It’s a multi-Saturday project. But we began by taking one section, about a quarter of the basement. And all we did was discard. We placed anything we no longer needed in our lives outside the basement. The plastic yellow car we bought for our son 25 years ago is gone. The rocker from my great-grandmother stayed. But at the end of the day, the basement looked better, and we both felt lighter.

Sometimes it helps to break down a big project into smaller pieces. And it helps to have a buddy who will tackle the project with you. Perhaps the same can be said for our spiritual renewal as well. Start small. We can’t get a full spiritual makeover in one setting. And find a buddy who will encourage you when you are tempted to throw in the towel.

One of my spiritual conversation partners is Sister Joan Chittister. She helps me keep renovating the soul and cleaning out the stuff in my spiritual life that is useless. She calls me back to fullness as a person who dares to contemplate God and live as God’s beloved. In her book The Illuminated Life she writes:

“In every great religious tradition, the concept is clear: To be contemplative we must become converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe, in tune with the cosmic voice of God. We must become aware of the sacred in every single element of life. We must bring beauty to birth in a poor and plastic world. We must restore the human community. We must grow in concert with the God who is within. We must be healers in a harsh society.”

I love the summons to tune our lives to the cosmic voice of God. What might that mean for each of us in this new year? I am encouraged by the invitation to be healers in a harsh society. I am imagining the joy of doing that together as a church.

Grace and Peace,
Carla