A couple of years ago, when the prospect of $4.00 per gallon gasoline was looming, our family bought a hybrid car - you know, with an engine that was part electric and part gas-powered. When you go downhill or at a moderate and steady speed, electricity powers the car. At higher speeds and when accelerating, the gas power takes over. And when the price of fuel did soar above $4.00, it sure helped to be getting better than forty miles per gallon. Of course, since that time, the price has come back down, but it is still nice to be getting the better mileage!

One of the fascinating things about that hybrid system is the way the battery charges itself in the process of driving. It strikes me that this is a very good image for life as spiritual journey. Whenever you hear someone who has gone on a mission trip or volunteered to work with Special Olympics, don't they usually say something along the lines of, "I got so much more out of it than I gave?" When we are living and working in sync with the Spirit, the process actually charges our life's batteries. In fact, as we work for peace and justice in our lives, the feeling that we're giving more than we're receiving can be a warning of impending burnout.

Theologian Walter Wink used a very similar image when describing the process of intercessory prayer (Engaging the Powers). He said that we should let all the concerns and care for which we pray move right on through us to God - that we should not hold on to any of them. Then we wait for God to send back to us the particular concern that corresponds exactly with our gifts and our calling. As we work with that concern, we find ourselves engaged within our deepest passion. The work itself becomes transformational for us.

The heart of faith is that we live in partnership with God - we in God and God in us reflecting the biblical idea that there is no place where God is not! To live this way involves faith that God really is, and that God is working with us to transform the world according to God's own dream - Shalom.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.
  
Jack Price

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