From the Rector…
All life exists between effort and ease. We desire ease, completion, that place where we don’t have to worry about anything. Unfortunately, those things are characteristic of the eternal life that Jesus eventually leads us too, but they are not the reality of this one. We can experience ease, completion, and a lack of worry but only momentarily—at least as long as there is still breath in our lungs.
Whenever I practice yoga, my virtual instructor always reminds me to find that place between effort and ease—that place in which my muscles are engaged, my joints stretching, and my breath is soft and fluid—it is a liminal and challenging place to be. If my breath becomes too ragged or constricted, I know I have gone too far into a particular pose. If I don’t feel any discomfort, I know that I am not working hard enough. I can choose the amount of effort I wish to expend or how much to release in order to recover—both things are good and necessary to my yoga practice—and in a particular way to life.
Most things are not all effort or all ease. They are a working out of these two things in tension with one another. If you want to go someplace in the car, you need to apply a certain amount of tension or effort to the gas pedal. You will also need to ease off that gas pedal and apply tension to the brake once you’ve reached your destination; not to mention all the times in between to ensure a safe journey. Eating requires effort and ease. Even if you don’t cook your food, you still have to chew it and swallow it and then be at ease to allow the digestive organs to process the food and turn it into fuel so that you can expend effort in some other avenue. Relationships require effort and ease. Every child understands that timing and a certain amount of manipulation are required to get your parents to agree to let you do something they would rather you didn’t do—like own a Red Rider BB Gun. So, it probably shouldn’t come as any surprise that our relationship with God is not exempt from this tension of effort and ease.
To grow as Christians requires a certain amount of effort and ease. We work hard to be faithful—going to church, participating in formation and outreach opportunities, reading the Bible, saying our prayers—none of that is easy. We have to actively lay a foundation for our faith and then build upon it. That takes time and effort but it also requires times of ease. It is not that we ever take a break from faith—but a healthy faith is one that builds in times of quiet and contemplation in order to foster that peace beyond all understanding we talk so much about.
Jesus knew effort and ease—even on the cross. He wrestles with what is going to happen asking God to take this cup from him. And then he accepts—he enters the peace beyond understanding—not my will but thy will; into your hands I commend my spirit. His life’s ministry was no less a working out of the tension between effort and ease in faith—walking on the water and then the winds cease; healing Peter’s mother and then going to the mountain for quiet and renewal. We can learn a lot about following the way of Christ simply by becoming intentional in our effort and ease regarding our own spiritual life.
To grow as Christians is not evocative of the question between faith and acts—it is the tension between these two things. We must participate in the spiritual life even as we must understand the balance of our own wonder and quiet. A truly healthy spiritual life cannot be all ease and no effort or all effort and no ease. It must find the liminal space and live in the tension between.
Light and Life,
Candice+