How Is It With Your Soul?

This morning, The Vine’s Vestry had our monthly meeting, our first since Helene roared through our county. “Vestry” is the term we use instead of a “board,” —  representative leaders from our congregation who are “vested” with the responsibility to provide for, support, and help discern the vision of an Anglican church in partnership with the Rector (ie. Spiritual di-Rector of the church).

Today, we discussed much of the activity of the church and felt the Lord’s presence in it. We will continue in our post-Helene response to provide hospitality and soul-care as well as working our “smaller” connections throughout the county to provide for overlooked people and needs. This is some of what the Lord has us doing now — this week.

But we were perhaps most directly “representative” of The Vine in our spiritual reflection. We always begin our meetings this way, and today we paused over the question: How is it with your soul?

The honesty was powerful. Our varied experiences remind us that we have all been changed over these events — “I would have known how to answer that question a week ago” one Vestry member observed.

Let us attend to this question, even as we attend to the needs of Haywood County. The activities we are engaging in are good, godly work — our opportunity to make God’s love specific and tangible for so many. But in this moment, allow me to invite you into an intentional pause from activity — the same space your Vestry leadership was in earlier this day. Wherever you are now (and whenever you feel led):

Stay Safe, Fear Not, Love All,