Hello, dear reader! Thank you for being here. How are you holding up? As my (virtual) yoga teacher said this week, half of the things are exactly the same, but the other half are not the same at all. I’m prayerfully considering which “half” of the things in my life are congruent with God’s purposes, and which are things I should let go of. Maybe you’re in a similar place of contemplation. This feels like a moment to repent, reorder, and reset our hearts toward God.

One thing that remains in the “yes pile” is my Women’s Bible Study (now meeting by zoom), in which we’re reading C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. I won’t talk much about it here, except to say it brought many of us up short in Letter 12, when the voice of a doomed person comments on his arrival in hell: “I now see that I spent most of my life doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.” Think about that for a minute. How often can we catch ourselves doing something mindless or destructive that is neither what we ought to be doing, nor even what we like to be doing? That’s pretty grim. And yet can’t we all be lulled into this kind of “half life” by too much comfort, fear, anxiety, apathy, despair? 

I was in a yoga class once when I was distracted and only halfway attempting some of the poses. This was not a case of simply needing rest, or of preventing injury. It was a halfhearted participation in the very class I showed up to take. The teacher kindly said to me: “What are you saving it for?” Indeed! This time in isolation gives us a chance to participate in our own moments, to listen to God and to realign our lives, our gifts, our duties with his purpose for our lives. We must continue with the things we ought to do, for sure. We mostly know about those. But what about the things we like to do? That’s a different—but equally holy—category. The things God gave us to love are not always easy to accomplish (sometimes they’re not even easy to discern). And they may be small, like making sculptures out of rubber bands or proving geometry theorems or baking or reading or dancing. But we should be doing them, doing what we like and not just sitting around waiting for this whole thing to be over. Because it will be over, sooner or later. 

My friend Jim died last week. I keep thinking of him at last meeting his God, the one he served so tirelessly and generously, and with the kindest and loveliest smile. How deeply moving it is to imagine the words Jim heard, or felt, or knew, when he was welcomed home: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” May we all live into our purposes here, boldly and with commitment, so that we may one day hear the same beautiful words. 

And as for keeping to a routine that gives important structure to life, let’s continue in Romans. This week we are in Chapter 10. (NIV)

“Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (v. 4). The Life Application Bible’s note: “Christ is the ‘culmination of the law’ in two ways. He fulfills the purpose and goal of the law (Mt. 5:17) in that he perfectly exemplified God’s desires on earth. But he is also the termination of the law because in comparison to Christ, the law is powerless to save. It’s not that the law is ended for earthly purposes, but it is immaterial to salvation purposes, now that the Messiah has come.” That makes sense to me. 

I also love this: “the word is near you; it is in your mouth and heart” (v. 8). This is the argument for the profound simplicity of faith. We don’t need anything but the Word to believe and proclaim, which I take to be both Scripture and the Word made flesh.

Verse 13 is in contrast with last week’s positing of an almost whimsical God, whose system of salvation can look somewhat arbitrary to us. The quotation from Joel reads: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is a neat trick on Paul’s part, to conflate the Old Testament God with Jesus, and to offer salvation to all who simply speak the Lord’s name (presumably with genuine faith in their hearts).

And yet again Paul calls us to be evangels, for “how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (v. 14). My Bible’s note says rather baldly: “Think of one person who needs to hear the Good News, and think of something you can do to help him or her hear it. Then take that step as soon as possible.” Of course my mind starts ranging far and wide and I start worrying about all manner of people. You probably feel the same way. So we have to take a step back and trust that the Holy Spirit will direct us when the time is right.

Finally, in keeping with today’s yoga theme, here’s something my lovely teacher read many months ago during the stillness at the end of class. God’s goodness is always available to us. Let’s show up to ourselves and to each other with love.

Life is not a straight line. It’s a downpour of gifts, please – hold out your hand