But speaking the
truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into
Christ
(Ephesians 4:15)
Is it true?Is it kind and loving?
Does what I am
saying help or hinder?Do my words wound
another?I am expecting everyone to be
like me and do things my way?Do I stomp
on toes as a way to prove my point and then justify this saying, “That’s just
the way it is” or “They deserved it.”?Do see conversations like a balance sheet where someone wins and someone
else loses?
Do I get
frustrated with others and struggle with how to love them?
Does my confidence
bias blind me?Does my complacency bias
leave me stuck on the sidelines?Does my
complementary bias cause me to gravitate toward people like me?
Do I deflect and
defend and dismiss others?
Do I falter and
fall short of Paul’s description of a life built on the firm foundation of
Christ, then quickly discount why this particular passage is no longer relevant
for my life?Do I struggle with how to
speak the truth in love?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Prayer: God let
these words and all the questions that have been stirred up in my soul this
week continue to seek to grow toward the light of Your love and grace every
day.Amen.
To equip the
saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12)
I remember when I
was a kid, I loved getting a new toy.I
would come home, rip open the packaging, toss that aside, and within seconds I
would be running my new Matchbox car all over the couch and end tables and
carpeting.Perhaps we never outgrow the
euphoria of buying something new.Only
the cost of what causes excitement increases with every birthday candle added
to our cake.
When Paul speaks
about equipping God’s people for mission and ministry, I think about the
question, “What new toys am I adding to the toy box of my soul?”To be clear, this is often not tactile or
tangible.Often, I add new insights from
a podcast that speaks to my soul.Or I
add a new thought from a book I am reading.Or I add a new practice to my prayer time.We used to speak of adding “tools to our toolbox”.But that sounds way to serious and somber for
me.I want to add playful and prayerful
parts to my life because I believe sharing God’s love is not a burden but an
indescribable blessing.I want to add
toys to how love flows through me creatively and carefully and hope-filled-ly
(not sure that is a word, but it should be).
Paul reminds us
that the church is called to be a community where we listen and learn from one
another.The pastor is not the only who
can help you find new toys or tools or resources so you can let your light
shine.We all participate in this work
faithfully.
I think of our
Oasis Center for Reflection and Renewal as a laboratory where we can practice
and participate together.From Greg
leading drumming on Thursdays to our Artful Prayer group guiding us to let our
inner artist loose to Sacred Conversations on Race to my Summer Bible Camp in
August, these are opportunities to experience and grow and let God get a word
in edgewise in how you might build your life in Christ.
Where are you
growing?How can our church create
spaces and places for each of us to both offer our understandings and encounter
one another in life-giving ways?May
these questions be a prayer seeking God’s presence every day in the months to
come.Amen.
But each of us was
given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (Ephesians
4:7)
Do you remember
this song, “This little light of mine”?I recall singing that at the top of my lungs at summer camp and Vacation
Bible School every year.I love songs
that have actions that go alongside and accompany.I remember putting my index finger in the air
to represent my “light” and waving my finger around like I just didn’t
care.
I wonder, where
are you shining and sharing your light right now?With your family?With your friends?With your neighbors?With those in the wider community through
volunteering?You shine your light
through giving your time, offering your talents, and sharing your treasure.
After you reflect
on your own light, where does your light join with others?In those summer camp experiences I learned
that one flashlight was good, but several flashlights could help us see even
better, especially when we all coordinated and collaborated on which direction
we should shine our collective light!
You are given
grace freely and called to let God’s grace loose in your life in ways that
bless others.Each day is a new day to
faithfully offer God’s presence in this world.To be sure, we don’t always get right, but with God’s love all will be
alright. Prayerful ponder the gifts
within you in these day and ways you can offer your full self to others.
Prayer: Let Your
light spark within me, O God, a warmth that I am enlightened and empowered to
share with others.Amen.
My soul finds a
friend in Paul’s love of list.Other
examples are the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5 or the famous wedding
passage, 1 Corinthians 13.The list in
Ephesians 4 has some of the same characteristics of others that Paul penned to
different churches.Paul lists six here,
which for Paul is petty contained.
Humility
Gentleness
Patience
Bearing one
another in love
Spirit given
peace,
Staying open to
the Spirit
I wonder if today
you could spend time letting these words roam and rummage around your
life.You could start with a definition
and example from your life for each.For
example, on Sunday, I offered a definition of humility (which is not my own)
as, “not thinking less of yourself, just thinking of yourself less often.”Then, I can examine my life to see when I
might have done this.Gentleness refers
to both the tone and tenor of my voice, actions, and presence.When this week have I been the proverbial
bull in a china shop demanding my way or the highway that I have it all figured
out and when have I NOT done that?How
am I being patient with myself and others, especially those who are not in the
same place I am?I sense that when I
seek to embody humility, gentleness, and patience that love is a natural and
normal next step.However, I wonder if
Paul’s list is a bit backwards, in that all of the first five traits could
start with or stem from staying open to the Spirit?Or maybe it is cyclical, that the more open I
am to the Spirit, the more the Spirit has the first, middle, and last word in
my life to be humble, gentle, patient, and fiercely loving?
May these words do
more than engage you intellectually, may they evoke and provoke a movement in/through
your life this day.
I find Ephesians
4:1-16 to be one of the most powerful and profound passages in
Scripture.I invite you first to find
your Bible and slowly read these words.Let each word land in your heart, paying attention to what is evoked and
provoked within you. There is so much packed into these sixteen verses.First, there is Paul’s love of lists that as
people of faith we are called to live with humility, gentleness, patience,
bearing one another in love, and prayerfully tending/staying open to the
Spirit.
Whew.There is enough there for the
entire week.
Paul goes on to
talk about the gifts each of us have been given.You are created in God’s image, empowered by
God to share and shine your light.You
do this not as a single spark or as one flashlight in the world, but your light
collaborates and cooperates and conspires with other’s lights in this world to
be a beacon of God’s love.
Wow.I feel the gears in my mind grinding in
response.
Paul keeps on
going, saying that the mission and ministry of the church is to ‘equip’ you to
let your light shine.The mission and
ministry of the church is to find ways for all of us to work together with
God’s guidance and holy promptings.The
mission and ministry of the church is to provide a safe space for exploration
and experimentation.The church is a
laboratory where you can put on your white lab coat looking at your life and
how our lives are being woven together.
Now I feel like I
have just run several miles.My mind is
swirling, heart racing, soul spinning.
And Paul isn’t
finished yet!He wraps all of this up
with the phrase, “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown
about by every wind of doctrine…but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up
in every way into (Christ)”.(Ephesians
14:14-15)
I feel like I am
drinking from a firehose.After this
last year, I have felt tossed to and fro by everything that is going on around
me and within me.After this last year,
there are so many voices clamoring for my allegiance.After this last year, I wonder if I can speak
the truth in love? These words are powerful and profound.I wonder what is stirring and swirling within
your soul in these words?What insights
or questions do you have? As you sit
with these words today, may God awaken your imagination to ways that you and I
might embody these truths in such a time as this.
Prayer: God help
open my mind, heart, and whole live to be in a dynamic dialogue with Paul,
seeking to bring these words so close to my life to be embodied in what I do,
say, and how I move about today.Amen.
Whew,
we made it through another week.You
sailed the ship of your life through moments of smooth waters and chaotically
churning waves crashing down.You
interacted with people who made you laugh, some whose words hurt, some who
frustrated or even awoke anger, and some whose presence demonstrated the
“unconditional” truth of God’s love.Every week is full, to overflowing, with God’s presence and
promise.So often, I miss God’s abiding
in me because I am caught up in my agenda, to-do list, and plans.I’m abiding/trusting in myself rather than
God’s wisdom and presence.
Today,
I invite you to breath.Take in a deep
gulp of breath that reaches and refreshes every part of your being.Exhale out all that is unresolved sitting
within you.Breathe God’s presence.Breathe out the unprocessed pain that sits
within you no matter how much energy to try to take the sting out of that wound/hurt.Breathe in God.Breathe out the honest, heartfelt ways you
have felt distant from the Divine.
So
much goes on with the highways of our hearts, the encounters and experiences of
life, we need space every day to remember who and whose we are.Don’t rush on to the next task.Rather reside here with God knowing that
grace and love are abundantly and immeasurably right where you are in this
moment.
Prayer:
Holy One continue to go before me, beside me, behind me, and within me, for I
need Thee every hour and minute this week.In the name of the One who promised his presence always, Jesus the
Christ.Amen.
I
fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
There
is a fierce faithfulness to this final stanza.I love the way this hymn unfolds.The words above remind us that we find our strength in vulnerability. Look back over this last week, especially the
last two days.The Morning Meditations
for Tuesday and Wednesday had a vulnerability to them, even a weakness.It is difficult for us to name that we need
help.We live in a culture that is
addicted to confidence and certainty and puffing out its chest with pride.
Yet
this hymn says that the way to strength is not through flexing your muscle but
admitting that we all stumble and bumble around. Even as we call God, “Almighty,” we recognize
that central to our theology is God’s willingness to face the cross in Christ –
notice this in the third line of the stanza above.That is a sacrificial way for the Sacred to
be.Move over, we proclaim, this is the
image of the Divine we are created in, One willing to let love be at the center
and core.Our triumph is less about
success and more about a way of encountered God in the storms of life.
When
we abide in God, we face these moments of difficulty because God faced them in
Christ.When God abides in us, we find
the courage to move through the pain knowing that God is not finished with us
yet.
Because
we are all a work in progress, we still have foes; ills still have weight; and
tears can be a bitter as ever.Abiding
in God is not some guarantee of smooth sailing.It is a reminder that God is there helping us in the storms of
life.What foes, ills, tears, and storms
are stirring right now for you?How
might you be open, vulnerable, to God’s presence not with mind/might over
matter; but with sensing God’s love abiding and inviting you to make your
residence in God?
Prayer:
God meet me this morning with the words of this hymn that I sometimes question
and wonder about.Reassure me that often
it is only in looking back that I find Your amazing and abiding presence that I
thought was absent in the moment.
Swift
to its close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Okay,
I understand that this is not the most uplift verse.You might be thinking, “Gee, thanks, Pastor
Eeyore for highlighting this verse.”You
might even click over to YouTube to see if there is a funny cat video that
would lift your spirits.I get it.Yet, I am taken by the fact that in a time
when change is constant, when pain throbs, we can turn to One who is constantly
seeking a loving and prayerful connection with us.This is part of the invitation to abide
in God and God to abide in us.Other voices continually call us to abide in
them.Advertisement does this contending
that if we buy their product, happiness will follow.Political parties do this, if we vote for
their candidate all will be well.The
church does this too by offering program after program.There are many voices that clamor for your
allegiance (and often your donations) promising you a sense of peace and
belonging.No wonder we struggle to hear
God’s still speaking voice!
Yet,
this isn’t to say your only option is to sell everything to go live off the
grid somewhere.It is more about being
awake and aware to where your soul is residing.You can do this by gently, thoughtfully, lovingly asking yourself,
“why”?Why are you buying that certain
item? Why are you posting that article
or feeling anger when someone said something to you?Is what you are doing or saying helping you
abide in God and God abide in you?I
realize that continually asking these questions will cause us to slow down,
because they are not quickly answered.
Life
is constantly changing.We are living in
a time of pivoting and the ground beneath us is shifting.We long to cling to a presence that has
provided help for the helpless for centuries.We long to find our home in the Holy.
Prayer:
God meet me where I am, shelter me from the storms of today, and surround me
with a sacred sense that Your abiding and amazing grace will guide me.Amen.
This
week we are abiding, finding our home and dwelling with the Divine in the hymn,
Abide with Me.The second verse
echoes the first verse by calling us to notice and name how much we need God’s
presence.I find each line of the second
stanza so profoundly powerful.
I
need your presence every passing hour ~ yet,
how do I practice staying awake and alert to God?So often we can compartmentalize prayer as a
moment, rather than a flow that we are caught up in to center our hearts.To pray without ceasing, the Apostle Paul
wrote, as an invitation – but Paul did not give us a five-step manual on how to
do that.One way to pray without ceasing
is to simply repeat this line of the hymn.Steve Cuss has a prayer practice before walking into a meeting ~ or
signing on to a Zoom session ~ to remind himself that God is already at work in
that room before he enters.Perhaps that
is another way we embody and embrace this line.
I
need your grace to foil the tempter’s power ~
there are so many traps that trip us up in this world.People’s hard hearts and hate hover in the
air.We promote cynicism and criticism
as a higher form of intelligence.We
tend to minimize kindness and love as Pollyanna.We want mercy for ourselves and justice for
everyone else.We fail to see the
humanity in each other because we don’t really love ourselves ~ or sometimes we
love ourselves too much.The temptations
to stray from God call out to us – which is why we need God’s presence every
hour.
Give
me your love my guide and stay to be ~ which
makes so much sense given what we discussed above.
Through
cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me ~ is another
beautiful line that you can repeat on the hour, every hour this day.
Prayer:
Abiding and abundantly present God, be with me and open my life to notice Your
presence in cloud and sunshine and every moment today.Amen.
Abide
with me, fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee.
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Yesterday,
in worship, we centered our hearts on the ways we can dwell in Christ.We prayerfully pondered ways to find our heart’s
home in Christ’s presence.Perhaps more
than ever, we realize that the residence of our soul can roam around, get
tossed to and fro, and we long for ways to find a ‘quiet center in the crowded
lives we lead’.This week, I draw your
intention and attention toward the hymn, “Abide with me”.Those three words are a prayer to God.We long for God to come near to us, to sit
beside us, and be with us.
Yet,
I realize that God is always abiding with us.In our fast, frenzied pace of life, when
things become blurry, we miss the Holy hovering in our midst.Sometimes it is because our calendar is too full,
or fear casts a shadow that blocks out God’s love, or because we have not
practiced being in God’s presence ~ which is a spiritual muscle that needs to
be tended and strengthened.
The
first verse of Abide with Me testifies to the fact that when the night
comes, and the stars are not as bright as the sun, our ability to notice God’s
grace is more difficult.The last year
has held many nighttime moments.The
virus, racial reckoning, loneliness, feeling lackluster, the
hyper-partisanship, pain physically or emotionally or spiritually.All of this cause me to cry out for a
strength that is not my own.
Other
helpers have failed, other comforts have fled.There have been moments of feeling helpless and lost and wandering.This first verse is the prayer of people who
have had their hearts broken and known the pain of soul aching.Let this first verse visit you as you open
your life to God’s presence that is as close as your next breath.
Prayer:
God meet me in the moments of struggle and strife, when I feel stuck and
stymied and need Your strength more than ever.Amen.
I pray this week has been a blessing as we have
encountered, explored, and experienced the hymns of morning.Today, I want to shift to a different hymn, Awake,
Awake and Greet the New Morn.While
this is usually sung at Christmas, I find there to be a powerful and profound
beauty in this hymn in all seasons.First slowly read, savor the lyrics:
1). Awake! Awake and greet the new morn,
for angels herald its dawning.
sing out your joy, for Jesus is born,
behold! the Child of our longing.
Come as a baby weak and poor,
to bring all hearts together,
to open wide the heavenly door,
and lives now inside us forever.
2). To us, to all in sorrow and fear,
Emmanuel comes a-singing,
whose humble song is quiet and near,
yet fills the earth with its ringing.
Music to heal the broken soul
and hymns of loving kindness,
the thunder of the anthems roll
to shatter all hate and injustice.
3). In deepest night Christ's coming shall
be,
when all the world is despairing,
as morning light so quiet and free,
so warm and gentle and caring.
One without voice breaks forth in song,
a lame one leaps in wonder,
the weak are raised above the strong,
and weapons are broken asunder.
4). Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night,
though cold the winter and cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light,
be strong and loving and fearless;
Love be our song and love our prayer,
and love, our endless story,
may God fill every day we share,
and bring us at last into glory.
May the words above stir your soul.
May your life have found a melody in all the hymns of
this week.
May you awake to this day aware of the One whose
presence is our song and whose love is our prayer always inviting us into the
endless, eternal story.Amen.
Today I share a beautiful Spiritual, My Lord What a
Morning.Please slowly read these words as
a way to pray this morning:
Refrain: My Lord, what a morning,
My Lord, what a morning,
Oh, my Lord, what a morning
When the stars begin to fall,
When the stars begin to fall.
1 You will hear the trumpet sound
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God’s right hand
When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]
2 You will hear the sinner cry
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God’s right hand
When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]
3 You will hear the Christian shout
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God’s right hand
When the stars begin to fall. [Refrain]
I hear this Spiritual as a prayer of wonder and
awe.My Lord what a morning,
that there is so much mystery and beautiful and grace.I also hear this Spiritual with some
exhaustion, where the emphasis can be almost sung exasperated, “My lord, what
a morning.”As in, what else can go
south this week?Which is the question
no one ever wants an answer to.Perhaps
for you so far this week there have been moments of wonder and wandering; moments
of elations and exasperation; moments of praise and pain.There is space in this beautiful Spiritual
this morning for all of you to find room to roam.
Read again with your heart wide open to God’s grace
meeting you where you are and where God’s will might move you to go today.
Please pray with me:
God who pauses and sits with me; who knows me fully;
who loves me unconditionally and unceasingly, I offer all that is within me to
You right now.I pray You will meet me
with a joy to feel fully alive; You will grant me strength for the struggles
and storms; and that You will be there in the ordinariness of making lunch and
going to the grocery store that is also on my “to-do” list.God of this week, God of this day, God of
every minute, continue to keep me open to You this morning.Amen.
Listen to this version of Morning Has Broken as a doorway to prayer today: (Note this is instrumental, so feel free to sing out!)
Halfway through the week ~ Woohoo.Look back at the last two days, what have you
already experienced this week?What has
been the best moment so far? (Besides this devotional).What has been difficult or troubling?Where has ordinary beauty met you
unaware?
Our morning hymn today is Morning Has Broken.I want to draw us to the third stanza:
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day.
In the last stanza, I have always wondered if the
author was trying to say that God is re-creating – as in making new or
continuing creation.Or is the author
saying God is recreating – as in relaxing, resting, playing, having fun, doing
something so enjoyable?Or is it both?
What are your thoughts?Is today a new creation?Is there something relaxing, fun, playful you
could do?How might moments today be
both?I know when I play, laugh, enjoy
life; I am filled afresh with life.
Continue to pray with me:
God of this moment, re-create me with a love, grace,
peace, possibility and promise I need every day and every hour.Help me recreate a way of letting loose joy
in this world.Strengthen me to be open
to Your will as what moves and motivates all I say and do.I know I will stumble and be stubborn and
stuck with my own agenda rather than Yours.But I trust in Your power to break through the spaces between my
certainty with Your creative presence.Thank you for moments already this week that have filled my soul.Thank you for strength to face the
challenges.Thank you for this day that
has broken open already with Your awaiting arms to enfold and hold us all.Halelu, Halelu, Hallelujah!Amen.
Tuesdays are not always the easiest day of the week in my book. The enthusiasm or the “new car smell” of this week has worn off. Tuesday feels betwixt and between. I have not yet reached the halfway point. There are sometimes unresolved issues from Monday that crowd into Tuesday. Tuesday can sometimes feel like Sisyphean rolling a boulder up a hill repeatedly for eternity.
So, I turn to the hymn this day, “When Morning Gilds the Skies.” On the surface, the title sounds so pleasant and pleasing. Ah, what a beautiful day. But lean in and listen to the first verse:
When morning gilds the skies,
My heart awaking cries,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer
To Jesus I repair;
May Jesus Christ be praised!
What sticks and stands out to me are the words: “Cries,” at the end of the second line and “Repair” at the end of the fifth line. I wonder what cries out within you? I wonder want needs to be repaired in your life after yesterday? What words leap and land in your heart and soul this morning from the verse above?
Let us continue to be in the spirit of prayer today:
God of this day I pray for You to be in all that is unresolved and unsettled. Help me released to You. God who is with us in the messy middle of moments when we are unsure of where to go and what to do. God who is with us in the courage to take the next step, even when it is sideways or backways or no-way, be with us this day in all-ways. Meet us in the joys of this day. In a cup of coffee, tea, or water that refreshes our dry mouths like Your love refreshes our souls. In conversations that awaken new ideas, especially ones that challenge our confirmation biases, stretching us toward Your wisdom which is always beyond us. In quiet times when our soul can catch up with us. Meet us this Tuesdays in all that awaits us helping us remember You are with us. Amen.
This week, I want to invite us to lean in and listen
to the prayerful words of hymns that are meant to be sung in the morning.And we start with one of my favorites, “I
Woke Up this Morning with My Mind.”
Here is the first verse and there is a wonderful video
version above.
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed
on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus
Hallelu
hallelu
Hallelujah.
What is on your mind this morning?
Do you feel centered in a calm grace of God or does
life feel chaotic?
Does your mind race and run with an endless list of
“to-dos” or perhaps your day is too wide open with too much free time?
After noticing, naming what is in your mind, what is
in your heart?Name and notice your
prayer concerns/celebrations.What is in
your soul?How are you and God doing
right now?
After surveying what is within you, please join me in
a Prayer for Monday Morning:
God of every moment and each day, we enter another
week. As the hours unfold beckoning us
to enter fully in ~ to explore, experience, and encounter the unknownness that
awaits us.Some praying these words on
this Monday are full of enthusiasm.There are celebrations of seeing family after being isolated this last year,
birthdays, anniversaries, weeks at summer camp for children making new friends,
and vacations to relax and renew.Others
woke up this morning with their hearts breaking and souls aching.There are concerns that complicate our
lives.Those awaiting surgery, family
members on hospice, financial hardships, grief, and pain that refuses to be
processed.
We pause on this Monday to survey the week
before us.
The events we know on our calendar.
The experiences we have no idea will happen on
Wednesday or Friday.
All that is right now and might be in the hours to
come.
Mondays can sometimes feel manic or make us feel like
the cartoon character Garfield just wanting to pull the covers over our heads
to hide.
Help us not just listen to the prayerful words of
waking up with our minds on Jesus, but to stay on Jesus all this week.To stay grounded and guided by the One we
follow and the One who shows us the way to You, O God.Take
our lives and let them be blessed by Your presence.Take this moment and this day and let it be centered
in Your unconditional and unceasing love that leads us on and helps us
stand.Hallelu.Hallelu.Hallelujah!Amen.
Final prompt for the week and this one may take you a bit longer. I want to know your prayer for the second part of 2021. Push pause here. You began 2021 with prayers. Perhaps for the vaccine and for an end to isolation. You began this year with hopes and good intentions. At the halfway point, given what you know now, what is your prayer for the days to come?
I realize that it is hard to know what is around the corner. That we continue to feel like we are constantly pivoting. I often say to people, “Three days is firm (I have a good sense of what I am doing this weekend). Three weeks is fuzzy (I have some glimpses or guesses about the end of July). Three months is fiction (I have no idea what October will look like). Yet, I have this moment, this day. Here is my prayer for the last half of this year:
To be open to God’s holy prompting every day, to make laughter a prayer, to serve with my whole heart, and to focus first on the people I love.
Now, it is your turn. This is NOT a force share moment. If you prefer not to post today, I understand. I would welcome an email from you with your prayer so that I might pray for you. Also, I invite you to tune in on Sunday to see how this invitation is woven into worship.
Prayer: God who is with us and for us; whose grace is endless and eternal in the now of this moment, embrace us with love and grant us wisdom/courage/Your presence for the living of this hour and every hour. Amen. And Amen.
Today’s prompt for our comment conversation and community is to name a recent (which you can define in any way you would like) favorite television show or movie.
One great movie I recently saw is Pixar’s Soul. It is about a jazz musician whose soul has an out-of-body experience. I should say that it is a cartoon. But like most Pixar movies there is more than enough wisdom for adults and helps us let loose our inner-child. I don’t want to say too much so as to ruin the creative plot points. One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie’s main character Joe who says, “Life is full of possibilities, you just need to know where to look.” If you watch the movie you will discover how Joe, like many of us, struggles to find where to look to find life/purpose/hope. The movie is streaming on Disney Plus, but hopefully you can find a way to watch it ~ well worth your time!
Now it is your turn. Post in the comments a show or a movie that stirred something within you. This is another wonderful opportunity for us to add to our “to watch” list. As before, bonus points, if you share a bit of why the show or movie had meaningful for you. I can’t wait both to see and then schedule to watch some of what you are finding helpful in these summer days.
Prayer: God, You move in many ways and Your voice can be found in creativity in our living rooms. Bless what we watch and how these moments have a power to shape us. Amen.
Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments
yesterday!!Today’s prompt for our
connecting and conversation is your favorite book you have read this last year or
inspirational podcast or website.Or you
can also share all three.
Inspirational podcast is a toss-up between Rob Bell and Jon
Acuff.Both make me laugh and remind me
of the joy in life.There are lots of
good books.Currently, I am enjoying
Louise Penny’s mysteries as a way to get lost in a good story.Finally, TED talks are always a good website
to visit for inspiration and motivation.
Now it is your turn.Post in the comments a place where you find wisdom and light that guides
you to feel fully alive.Bonus points if
you share a bit of why you find the book or podcast meaningful.I can’t wait to both see and learn more about
what is singing to your heart in these days.
Prayer: God, thank you, for a vast variety of voices that
help remind us of grace, goodness, and Your love.Amen.
We made it to July!It
is a new month, and we are halfway through 2021.The first full week of a month is an
opportunity to pause, to breathe, to reflect, and to share.This week I want to emphasize the “social”
part of social media, by inviting conversation and connection.A few reminders about commenting:
1.Be kind and loving.This is a chance to share and practice caring
for each other.
2.Receive each other’s responses with openness and
curiosity.
3.Honor the beautiful diversity that we do not all
need to agree, but we can all listen and learn from each other.
My prompt for conversation today is your favorite pick-me-up
song.On those days when your heart
is heavy or soul is sagging, is there a song you can play that will help lift
your spirits?One that you cannot help
but sing and even dance along to.One
that perhaps you play each Monday as a prayer practice to start your week.I know that you are thinking, “Wes, I have at
least ten, if not twenty, right now all clamoring, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’.”I appreciate you have a whole soundtrack, and
this conversation could and might go on for days, which is great.
I, too, have many songs that lift my soul, but one of my
favorites is, “This is Me” from the Greatest Showman soundtrack.First, I think this is good theology in
proclaiming that each person is created in God’s image.Second, the melody is catchy.Third, the words are like an anthem to let my
light shine and brings a smile to my face.
Above is a version of the song to listen to. Now it is your turn.Post in the comments a favorite pick me up song you play.This is a wonderful opportunity for each of
us to go and listen to each other.Bonus
points if you share a bit about why this song lifts your spirit.I can’t wait to both see and listen to your
pick-me-up-song!
Prayer: God who sings and conducts creation into being, help
us find You in each other’s comments.
Amen.
