I’ve long been interested in the Great Awakenings of American religious history, those moments when God’s presence is strongly felt by many. They often come at times of great social change. With the decline in church participation and the increases in economic disparities, it seems like we need another Great Awakening.

Yet when I read about the Great Awakenings, they often seem to be driven by fear, by fire and brimstone. This fear doesn’t resonate for me, and I suspect it doesn’t resonate for many people in our modern lives.

The current phase of my journey started off, not in response to words about fearing hell and damnation, but to words about feeling the God’s deep love for me, not a love like my love of chocolate, but a love deeper than even a husband for a wife or a mother for a child, an overwhelming love.

This fits nicely with my thoughts about Grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Trying to do good works out of fear of being sent to hell, does not sound like ‘Grace’.

Yet yesterday, we entered a time of penitence, a time of reflecting on our own unworthiness. “We have not loved You with our whole heart.” This fits nicely with thinking about Grace. Our good works, should come as a loving response to the love that has been given us, it should be loving God with our whole heart and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

If we are truly honest, we don’t do that, and this is what a great awakening to God’s grace needs to be. We read the news and see people suffering because God’s love has not been shown to our neighbors, to the strangers amongst us.

I read the morning devotions.

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and they meditate on his law day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;
everything they do shall prosper.

In Walk With me on Our Journey, we are challenged to be “Being Thoughtful and Thankful”. The Society of Saint John the Evangelist’s Rule of Life & Rhythm of Nature challenges us to reflect on the natural world, God’s creation. As we try to establish a rule of life we are asked to think about a garden plot. Which trellises support which plants? What are the trellises in our lives? It is an interesting exercise. I remember spending so much time earlier in life at this time of the year, joyfully reading seed catalogs, laying out, in detail, my garden plot.

What our the trellis’ of God’s love in our lives, and what are we growing in response?