Our reading from The Letter to the Ephesians takes us into the heart of the spiritual life and into one of the most challenging questions of faith: What is the will of the Lord? How do we know it, trust it, live it? Is understanding about certainty? Or, is it also about doubt? Is it about the journey, or just about the destination? Our Lutheran theological tradition would suggest (quite powerfully, I believe) that when it comes to understanding the will of the Lord we get to say "We know it!" and "We see through the glass but dimly." Understanding God's will includes living in the tension of these "both/ands."

These past weeks of worship have taken us deep into the teachings of Jesus as expressed in the Gospel of John, and the images of bread and life, hunger and thirst abide in this week's gospel, too. Come to worship with us as we sing, pray, and proclaim God's promises amidst our questions and seeking. At each worship service, scriptures are read and the meal shared, and the music and form of each worship service points in different ways to God's promises and our response. For example: at Saturday Evening Service (SES), we will celebrate baptism and also sing a song that includes these words: "give us to drink the wine of compassion, give us to eat the bread that is you. Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true."  At Traditional worship, we will sing the 34th Psalm, its refrain reminding us that "those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good." And at Community of Joy (COJ), the band will offer up a Third Day anthem that includes these seeking words: "How do you know, how do you know, when I don't know myself..."

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