Abiding and Dwelling In Christ

 

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.