Although I am a cradle Episcopalian, I lost interest in going to church when I was a teenager and did not return until I found St. Thomas' in 1991. I was house sitting in Dupont Circle at that time, and I was searching for something - meaning in life, a community, a way to help others.... The feelings were vague, but I found myself at St. Thomas' one Sunday morning, and I knew instantly that I had found my home.

I'd like to share with you this morning three of ten simple disciplines that I find most useful in learning again and again how to set my priorities, how I reset my spiritual compass when I've gotten off course.  They all grow from a conviction that to deepen our spiritual lives is simply to deepen our relationship with God and in the process our relationships with one another.  In each of the next two sermons following this one, I will share all ten disciplines that lead us into deeper relationship with God and one another...

I was lucky enough to be among eight folks who spent four years together studying spirituality through the Education for Ministry program (EFM). Although EFM's title might suggest that the course is designed to lead participants to a particular vocation, none of us came away with marching orders.  Although I didn't come away from EFM knowing what I would do next, I did come away with an understanding that whatever I do I will do in community.

On this first Sunday of our new program year together, as we gather together to hear God's Word and be fed with God's real presence among us, both in worship and our first- annual-opening-program-day barbecue, Isaiah and Jesus and James all provoke us to ask, what important things do we need to hear from those around us - from those we work with, from those we love, from our neighbor - if our religion is not to be judged worthless?  Who do we need to bring with us into this community to find healing and wholeness in a world that sees them as broken and infirm and of little use?