Calvary Episcopal Church
Memphis, Tennessee
THE CHRONICLE
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 1, 2001
Volume 46, No.13

Let's Get Together Sometime
I often wish I were more of a Palm Pilot type. They always seem so efficient and sophisticated, so on top of things. I tried it once for several months, but it just didn't work. I like to be able to see where each new entry fits into a day's time and a whole week's schedule. I like to write notes about what a particular appointment requires or what needs to be decided at an upcoming meeting. A Palm Pilot just doesn't seem to accommodate those needs in the same way as an old-fashioned pencil and paper.

Sometimes I think that I'd like to make an appointment with Jesus - a long afternoon, say, just the two of us. I'd like us to meet in some quiet, private place, perhaps in a garden or a sloping meadow where we could walk along a pathway together the way he used to walk with his disciples. It seems that pensive, probing conversation unfolds so much more easily when two people are walking along together. Perhaps he'd create a new parable or tell me stories that would show me again just how deeply he understands our human thoughts and longings. Perhaps he'd tell me things about himself and about humanity and about the gospel of our meeting. Perhaps he'd teach me. Perhaps he'd even tell me that he loves me. Perhaps I'd be able to feel both his love and sorrow. How I yearn to go on such a walk!

We can all do that, you know - in the solitude of our prayer time, at Morning Prayer or during the Sunday Eucharist, when we're with family or friends whom we love, at night just before we fall asleep. Any of these times, we can take ourselves to Jesus and simply tell him what's on our minds and what's in our hearts and then listen for his response and enter into a holy conversation.

Did you ever realize that the word companion comes from the two Latin words that mean the one who shares our bread with us? I believe that Jesus wants us for his companions every bit as much as we want him for our companion. We are each yearning for the other. So let's make some time, and put it in our Palm Pilots or date books or simply in our hearts, and let's enter more and more deeply into his invitation to a deep and lasting relationship.
~ Peggy Gunness