Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Psalm 103:1

Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Luke 1:46-47

I love the question that John Wesley is reported to have frequently asked of those he encountered, which is: How is it with your soul? To me, this is a very important question, and probably one we don’t ask each another often enough. In our world today, it can be easy to neglect our souls. We can get so focused on our family, our job, our finances, even our plans for Christmas, that we can forget about our souls. And even when we have a free moment, without all of the concerns of daily life bombarding us, we find ourselves mindlessly scrolling through social media, binge-watching something on tv, or doing something that might feel relaxing, but doesn’t offer any rest to our souls. 

Our souls are quiet and undemanding, and they can easily be neglected. After all, we can’t see our souls. Surgeons can’t fix them or remove them. But we do need to take care of them. Just like the heart or the brain or any other organ. Because when we neglect them, our lives of faith suffer. Our relationship with God suffers. And when that suffers, everything suffers. No matter how well everything else might be going, if our souls aren’t healthy, we aren’t healthy. As Jesus famously asks, what will it profit us if we gain the whole world, but lose our souls? 

I still remember the first time I came across Thomas Moore’s best-selling book, “The Care of the Soul.” It was in the early 1990’s, before I went to seminary, and the introduction spoke to me so powerfully then. It still does, more than 25 years later. Here is what he wrote:   

“The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is ‘loss of soul.’ When soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. Our temptation is to isolate these symptoms or to try to eradicate them one by one; but the root problem is that we have lost our wisdom about the soul, even our interest in it.”

To me, this is still the great malady of our time: loss of soul, the neglect of our soul. And we are still seeing its effects all around us. And I am convinced that nothing else in our world can be fixed until we learn, as a society, to take better care of our souls. 

It all starts with our souls. That part of us that has been created by God to be in relationship with God. That part of us that is restless until it rests in God. That part of us that the world cannot fix, or destroy. That part of us that connects us to eternity, and reminds us that we are destined for more than what this life can offer. But only if we pay attention to our souls. 

“Human being,” my favorite Lutheran writer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once said, “You have a soul! See that you don’t lose it, that you don’t wake up one day from the frenzy of life—professional and private life—and see that you have become hollow inside, a plaything of events, a leaf driven back and forth and blown away by the wind: that you are without a soul. Human being, pay attention to your soul!”

He said those words almost a century ago, but they are just as true now, aren’t they? And the frenzy of life has only become more frenzied. It’s harder than ever to pay attention to our souls, but no less important. 

But how do we do this? How do we begin to take care of our souls? Well, one obvious way is to gather together with other Christians, spending time worshiping and singing and praying and reflecting on God’s Word together. Spending time in fellowship with our fellow believers. 

This is a wonderful way to care for our souls, don’t you think? When we spend time with the Lord, he restores our souls. Just as are promised in Psalm 23. When we take time to learn from Jesus, he promises rest for our weary souls, most famously in Matthew 11. It’s not a secret. It’s not complicated. Just like with our physical health. We know what we need to do, most of the time. We just need to do it. So, too, with our souls. 

But what can we do with restored, rested souls? Let me highlight two things. First, with restored and rested souls, we can bless the Lord. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name” (Psalm 103).  Healthy souls are a blessing, a blessing to God, and a blessing to others. Because healthy souls know that they are loved by God, and are eager to share that love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul … And love your neighbor as yourself.” Healthy souls do this. They bless the Lord by loving God and by loving neighbor. 

But healthy souls do something else, as we hear Mary sing in her famous Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Healthy souls magnify the Lord. They make God appear bigger, you might say, just as a magnifying glass does. Healthy souls make God appear more important, more hallowed, and more exalted in our world. Not that God needs our souls to do any of these things. But our world sure does! Our world needs God to appear bigger, now more than ever. And we can offer that by letting our souls magnify the Lord. Just as Mary did all those many years ago. Healthy souls bless and magnify our Lord.

So, how is it with your soul? It’s an important question. And this Season of Advent seems like a good time to ask it. As we begin a new church year together, let us take time to care for our souls. By letting our Shepherd lead us beside still waters. And by learning from Jesus, who is gentle and humble in heart, and offers rest for our weary souls. And with our souls rested and restored, let us bless the Lord, by loving him with all our hearts and souls, and by loving our neighbors, near and far. To the glory of God. Amen.