The Society of Saint John the Evangelist (SSJE) is a community of men in the Episcopal Church who live as monks following the ancient traditions of prayer and community life. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, their monastery is a place where the brothers offer guests spaces for silence, prayer, and worship. I have spent time at the monastery, and it is a special, holy place. The monks also offer a daily online reflection called, “Brother Give Us A Word” that I regularly use as part of my prayers. One of the reflections offered this week written by Brother Geoffrey Tristram was titled Light.

God chose you and me. What an extraordinary thing. What a risk. We are the light of the world. Like the Olympic runner, we carry that precious light of Christ within us.

In the first chapter of Ephesians, St. Paul says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love (1:4). God chose you and me from the beginning to be the focus of God’s love. We might not always know or claim this and there are times in our lives when it is difficult to recognize or feel it, but that is who we are. We have been chosen, chosen to live as people who are desperately wanted by God, and that God wants to be in relationship with. God chose you and me and all those we come into contact and interact with. I don’t know of anything that you and I have to offer that is more important than helping everyone who is touched or impacted by the ministry of St. Peter’s to know and feel that they have been chosen by God. What an extraordinary thing!

(If you are interested in subscribing to “Brother Give Us A Word,” go to https://www.ssje.org/word/).

God bless you,
David+