GETTING NEW GLASSES
January 2007
for the Collect, publication for St. Thomas Episcopal Church,
Medina, WA
When I was in the fifth grade, I noticed that I was having trouble seeing the blackboard. My parents took me the eye doctor, and I was told I needed glasses. I’ll never forget the day the optometrist put them on me. Wow! I had no idea I’d been missing so much of life.
Our baptismal covenant charges us to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.” Learning to see Christ in our neighbors is a lot like getting new glasses.
During the season of Epiphany, we look at the many ways Christ is revealed in Scripture and in the world around us. The wise men followed a star to the young Jesus. The witnesses to Jesus’ baptism saw the Holy Spirit descend “in bodily form.” The guests at the wedding in Cana discovered that Jesus turns every occasion into a party. The religious scholars learned new ways to read Scripture as pointing to Jesus. And the apostles first learned about God’s abundance through a record catch of fish.
It’s a shame that the majority of Christian adults in the world have little or no religious education (or, as we refer to it more broadly, formation). Sunday school is important, but it does not teach us everything there is to know about our faith. This is because adults need to relearn the stories they learned as children, seeing them afresh through mature eyes. Lifelong Christian formation can sharpen your eye so you can learn to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.”
Formation teaches us to seek; serving is something different. Formation at its best causes inner transfiguration, and service is a natural response to this change. Giving money to the church is an easy but important way to serve, but there are other ways, too. Are you involved in a ministry at St. Thomas? Make a spiritual practice out of it. Browse our website and find a group you’d like to get involved with. This is a great way to learn about and hone your spiritual gifts.
Making an intentional effort to seek and to serve is like getting new glasses. Once you start to see the world as Christ does, you’ll begin to see Christ everywhere: at church, at work, on the street, and in your own children, siblings, spouse, parents. You’ll wonder how you ever missed Christ. And this new, enhanced sight will manifest itself in your life as love and joy and a real excitement about the new things God is doing in the world.
Once you’ve practiced a bit, take a moment and look in the mirror. Wow! Is that Christ I see?