Wednesday Word . . . Mystery
One of the things I like about the Episcopal church is that we’re okay living into and with mystery. And when I say, “mystery,” I’m not talking about a Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie whodunit mystery to be solved. When I talk about mystery in the church, I’m talking about “the deep dimension of life where meaning dwells.”[1]
The Trinity, the dual nature of Jesus, and the Resurrection are all mysteries of our faith. Other mysteries include Holy Communion, the Incarnation, creation, salvation, forgiveness, and love. I’m sure that we could come up with more mysteries if we thought about it.
Every Sunday we live into the mystery of the Eucharist. Every Sunday we have a close encounter with God through Word and Sacrament, through music and liturgy, by being part of this community, and by being present for those who are absent.
This coming Sunday we will experience the mystery of All Saints’ as well as the mystery of baptism. We will name those who have died this past year and remember those who have died in previous years. We will remember that we are part of one communion and fellowship of the saints of God – those who have gone before, those who are with us now, and those who are yet to come. We will join our voices with countless throngs of angels to offer unceasing praise.
We will also baptize Astrid Grant into this branch of Christ’s one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We will pray that she is open to God’s grace and truth. We will pray that she will be filled with the Spirit of God. We will pray that she learns to love others as Christ did and that she becomes a witness to that love. And she will be sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.
Our faith is full of mysteries not to be solved but to be lived. May we continually seek and find those deep dimensions of life where meaning dwells.
Blessings,
[1] Taken
from Mysteries of the Faith, pg. 2, by Mark McIntosh which is as good of
a definition of “mystery” as I’ve come across.
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