Throughout the stories of spiritual formation ministries in A
Quiet Pentecost, there is one common thread – cultivating the art of
prayerful listening for divine guidance. As individuals learn to listen to
scripture in new ways, messages are received that link direction from God to
our human longings for a world of peace, justice, and hope.
Individuals learn to listen as they shift their prayer from
a focus on their own human need to making time for God to speak, as well. This
practice requires some time to cultivate. As we turn to the season of Advent,
our invitation is to listen to our deepest inner longings for a world of love,
peace, justice, and kindness; and to listen for how that human longing is met
with divine inspiration.
In A Quiet Pentecost,
we discover individuals receiving a summons to new personal mission. Cindy
Serio answers the call to be a loving presence for women in prison. Gene Turner
found a mission trip to Liberia to be personally life-altering and life giving
to two rural parishes in Illinois. Melanie Baffes created a year-long sharing
time for high school women, because she noticed that in mixed setting, these
young women did not speak up as much as the young men. Suzanne Clement created
a mid-week vesper service, which sustained the congregation through a difficult
time of transition. Over a few years time, the vision for a house ministry came
into being in the heart of Cathy Brewton. With much diligence and community
support, LifeHouse Ministries, Inc., has come into being as a place of refuge
and hope in Ruston, Louisiana.
We are assured that God's guidance will give each of us the
direction we need in our own life and current circumstances to claim our sense
of mission and life purpose as we dwell into the Advent hope:
PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD
WILL TO ALL
LISTEN in this time of national and international unrest for
the fresh summons of God’s gracious call upon your life.
