Sundays Are For Spiritual Strength

So the day begins and ends with worship, under ordinary circumstances. And today, even though the wife was out of town, was a basically ordinary day.

I am a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church, which traces its history to the Swedish Covenant, and then back to the Lutherans. I imagine it is what happened when Lutherans wandered north across the frozen fjords into Sweden once upon a time.

At any rate, this morning's service was a unique one. January is our church's month every year that we try to focus on mission work, so today a musical group from South Africa started the service with Afro-fusion pop music. And it was COOL! Very odd, though--we Covenanters don't dance.

At any rate, it was a high-energy, wonderful start of the service. And it reminded me about the amazing power of God--it strikes me that in the most despondent cultures of the world, among the most extreme poverty bordering on perpetual despair, the voice of joy rings out in their music and in every movement of dance that the perform. It's really a wonderful thing to see!!

To complete the cycle, Sunday nights always end with my low-energy, high-power workout: T'ai Ch'i. I studied the art briefly as part of Shao-lin Kung Fu, and I found that, not only can I get an amazing workout from it, but it really does have the ability to re-channel my energy in a way that makes me feel much better when I'm done. Literally, I've had days where my back was so stiff when I woke up that I could barely move, but after going through the central parts of the T'ai Ch'i workout that I do, my back loosens up and I'm fine for the rest of the day.

This particular workout, on Sunday nights, however, always ends with meditation. I'm not great at it--my mind wanders badly and I frequently doze off--but I at least try to spend fifteen or so minutes, once a week, quieting my mind down enough to be able to hear God. Sadly, I seem to not be tuned to the right frequency, but I'm trying. I have to believe that if I can at least attempt to start my week contemplating the grandeur of creation and my minisculity within it (yes, I make up words when necessary), then maybe the general disappointment that the week brings will be muted.

By the bye, we'll come back to that disappointment thing another day.

So Sundays are for the Spirit. I realize I really should spend more on this particular facet of my being, but there you have it. I am much better than I was, and I'm moving in the right way. Perhaps I can justify my failures with the idea that I'm also writing music in that vein. Perhaps.