Soli Deo Gloria

I recently walked into a church fellowship hall and was greeted with "Be kind. Be humble. Be grateful." I'm really not sure when this reclaimed wooden sign movement took up consumer residence because I'm always late to the "in" game.  I have wandered the Hobby Lobby lanes, the aisles at Home Goods, and stopped and searched T.J. Maxx for just the right little meaningful plaque that will put me in league with the Jones', but honestly, I come home empty-handed. When I walked into that church hall and was greeted most abruptly with imperatives wagging their invisible fingers at my soul, I felt ashamed.  Ashamed for my future failings.  Ashamed that, if I stayed very long, they would see my shortcomings, and my inability to live up to the standards of this church: "kindness, humbleness, and gratitude." Sigh. The truth is.  I am all those things.....on Facebook.....with my acquaintances....at the grocery store....and everyone else is too.  ...

The earliest years of my spiritual formation were spent at a Quaker Church.   The Southwest Meeting of the Friends was not a silent contemplative service, as is practiced in the traditional Quaker communities, but, as was tradition to George Fox, there were no sacraments.   My father, who went to the arms of Jesus in 1998, and was a Christian evangelist, boasted of being “dry-cleaned.”   Yet, though he was never baptized because he was a Quaker, he had me and my brothers baptized at young ages in a covenantal form at a Presbyterian church. Now as an Anglican (Episcopalian), I am voraciously hungry for the sacrament of Lord’s supper. In Anglicanism, this practice is called “ The Eucharist ” or “ The Great Thanksgiving. ”   This comes from the Greek word “Eurcharisteo,” meaning “Thanksgiving."   So, when Jesus breaks the bread and gives thanks, he is giving “Eucharisteo” before the meal.   Think about that meaning …..when we put our han...