I'm your priest. I'm with you to point you toward, to train and coach you in the ways of, and to administer the sacraments of, the pathways of grace.
Last week Michelle Heyne and I lead the Parish Development Clinic. There were four participants. Each was the rector of a parish -- in Georgia, Kentucky, and Arizona; ranging in size, one had an average attendance of 71 another of 400; city, rural, suburban.
A rather minor piece of what we did was to offer two short statements. Each a bit of self-definition rooted in Anglican ascetical theology and practice. Both included a phrase: "the pathways of grace."
The pathways of grace
I've used the expression for decades. I have no idea whether I picked it up from someone else or it came to me on its own. I Goggled it a few minutes ago -- 1,4800,000 results. I guess I'm adding one more. The top results all seemed a bit new age or fundie to me. Off-putting for me. But I like the phrase.
The way I use it is to guide the baptized as they accept increased responsibly for their spiritual life as members of the Body of Christ. I also use it to stress the way in which a priest might function effectively and faithfully.
We don't save ourselves. We don't resolve the polarity of individual identity and being part of a community by our own will.
But what we can do is give ourselves to the spiritual practices that offer us grace and health. We can live in the practices and ways of our ancient wisdom.
At Morning Prayer each day the second reading was from one of Evelyn Underhill's retreats for priests.
For the real saint is neither a special creation nor a spiritual freak. He is just a human being in whom has been fulfilled the great aspiration of St. Augustine – “My life shall be a real life, being wholly full of Thee.” And as that real life, the interior union with God grows, so too does the saints’ self-identification with humanity grow. They do not stand aside wrapped in delightful prayers and feeling pure and agreeable to God. They go right down into the mess; and there, right down in the mess, they are able to radiate God because they possess Him. And that, above all else, is the priestly work that wins and heals souls. From Concerning the Inner Life, Evelyn Underhill.
How do we get to that "real life?" Or in the words of today's collect how is it that we are "changed into his likeness from glory to glory?" We know, of course, that we get there by grace and faith, by what Underhill called the work of the Divine Charity.
And there is a part we are to play. We are to give ourselves to the pathways of grace. We are to invest ourselves in what Bruce Reed called "reliable sources of extra-dependence." He meant things such as the Scriptures, the Body of Christ, the sacraments, the traditional spiritual practices and the priest.
At one point we brainstormed the pathways that came first to mind. We were just trying to identify a few examples, so we stopped with the one page. Here it is:
So, one of the statements we offered was for a baptized person, especially one ready to grow in the inner life:
Your task is to place yourself in the pathways of grace. Begin with the Rule of the Church - Sunday Eucharist, Daily Office, and personal devotions/reflection that fit your temperament and circumstances. These are things you can give yourself to. They are of the church's ancient wisdom. They are a reliable means of grace.
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