Thursday, May 1, 2003
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he
has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.
A pastor was typing the creed, and instead of typing "I believe in the Holy Spirit," he inadvertently
omitted a vowel, and typed: "I believe in the Holy Spirt." For a lot of people, religion is a matter of
"Holy Spurts." There is a burst of activity at Christmas and Easter, but little in between. These
are the folks in the outer circle.
In the Middle Circle are those who have had some sort of religious experience somewhere along
the line. They attend church fairly regularly, contribute fairly well. They are essentially good
people. But their religion has little joy and power in it. They go through the motions, but there is
something missing. They have a deep longing for something more, something deeper. They
have a hunch that they are missing something, but they don't know what it is or where to go to
get it. Again, their group is very large. Not as large as the first circle, but large.
Then there is the third group, the Inner Circle. These are the people--and every congregation is
blessed with some of them--for whom religion is a reality and not merely a ritual. They are in
touch with the deep resources of the Christian Faith. They know what it is to have a personal
relationship with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
God proclaimed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that God stands with
outstretched arms to welcome everyone in. Please join the inner circle.
(1 Peter 1.3
NRSV)
The Church is supposed to be "the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit." Someone once suggested that
around any given church there might be drawn three circles: An outer circle, a middle one, and
an inner one. In the Outer Circle are those to whom religion is little more than a routine. It is
more of a burden than a blessing. They carry it, it does not carry them. As Harry Emerson
Fosdick once said, "Some people have just enough religion to make themselves miserable." I've
seen people like that. They attend church occasionally. They drop a few dollars in the offering
plate once in a while. They call on the church for weddings, funerals, and baptisms. But they are
living on the edge of the Christian Life. Tragically, this group is very large.
Dear God, help me to reach out and grab your outstretched arms. Amen.
