Saturday, February 26, 2022https://kuc.org/wp-content/uploads/alph-23.jpg

The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster

Within: Ours is a traveler’s faith. Yes our faith is rooted by place, look at any annotated Bible and you’ll find a map with important journey’s taken by biblical characters. But if ours was simply a place-oriented faith, how could we pray-without-ceasing or know that God was with us along the way? We trust that God is within us as we read the long narrative of love in scripture. Some of our most potent faith origin stories remind us that God goes with us wherever we are. God dwells within. That is how Abraham could travel far from home trusting that God would guide the way. That is how the Israelites could walk out of slavery in Egypt, and into the wilderness, not knowing when or where they would find a place to call home. That is how the people in exile could sit down by the river of Babylon to pray and sing to the Lord our God.

“Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart” says God in the book of Deuteronomy. “Your law is within my heart” says the Psalmist. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God” says Paul. God is within. In that way God goes with us wherever we go, and we can trust that there is no where we can flee from God’s presence (Psalm 139), and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8).

Praying the Alphabet
O Whisper of Love,
Walk the way with us.
When warfare surrounds,
When weariness overwhelms,
When weakness quells our spirit,
When worry wounds us,
When the weight of this world floods,
When fear wells up,
We watch for you, O God.
Wipe away our tears.
Place wisdom within.
Amen.