Dear Friends,

In our reading from the letter of James, this Sunday, we hear
that God takes delight in "bringing us to birth"!  We human beings
are the "first fruits" of all God's creatures. It reminds us of Irenaeus'

concept that the glory of God is "human beings fully alive". God takes
delight in our growth into wholeness. We are called to grow...to deepen to
become "fully alive". Moses, in our first reading, provides a 'recipe'
for growing into wholeness: "observe God's commandments for this will
give evidence of your wisdom to the nations".... walking with God is Wisdom,
walking with God draws us close to the heart of God.  What kind of
walks have you taken with your God recently?

Some people think that wisdom is intellectual, rationally
sitting down and trying to figure out what God is like. But this reading
tells us that if we do what God would do, if we are compassionate as God is
compassionate, then, we will know God and we will be close to God and grow in
our wisdom and understanding of God and of how we are to live God's love in our
world. The call is to "walk the talk" ....putting into action what we say
we are committed to.

We invite you to come and walk with us in prayer and action at
The Spirit of Life ! Through our time of prayer and sharing together, we
work together to grow in our self-understanding and in our relationships with
God and with God's people. We celebrate the gift of our faith and the
responsibility that is ours as followers of Jesus Christ.  It is our
prayer that what we as a community experience in our praying together will
overflow into the rest of our lives, making us more fully human and more
'whole'....holy!  We invite you to join us in this endeavor and
journey with us as we seek to grow in our love of God and to grow in our
capacity to be living expressions of God's loving peace and justice in our
world.

May you walk with grace, knowing that our God takes delight in
you!

Blessings,

Jean & Ron