His Spirit is With Us

Rector’s Corner, The Lark for Sept., 2011.
Just before the service begins on a Sunday morning the Eucharistic minister, acolyte, choir and I gather in the corridor for prayer. I often ask Jesus to be with us as we lead His people in the worship of the Father. Just now, reading the passage from Matthew, “Where two or three are gathered in my name I am there among them,” it dawns on me that we don’t have to ask Jesus to be here. He is already here. We simply have to stop and acknowledge His presence. “I will be with you all days,” He said. And as we move into a new seasonal bulletin for our Fall worship and adopt the Eucharistic Prayer from the Church of Ireland Prayer Book a subtle change is occurring in our prayer greeting to each other. Where we usually say “The Lord be with you; and also with you” we will be saying “The Lord is here; His Spirit is with us.” I like that better. It encourages us to be aware of God’s presence in our midst at all times. While we can do that in our aloneness with Him, there is something very special about the gathering of two or three or more to help us be aware of the divine presence. That’s why we come together for worship.

This is not an easy time in our country and in the lives of many of us. The tenth anniversary of the attack on New York and Washington is a reminder that this has been and is a hard period. The country is divided in sometimes hateful ways. Civility has disappeared from the political scene. Economic belt-tightening is being forced on households and governments just when it looked like we were starting to come out of the recession. The wars are taking their toll on our courageous young men and women who are serving their country and their families as well.
Now more than ever we need to remember that help is at hand. The Lord is here. His Spirit is with us. John+