Advent 1 ~ Hope

 

We are holding the words of the Carol, “Awake! Awake and greet the new morn” this week.  I invite you to focus with me on the fourth verse today.  Read this verse aloud three times please.

 

First, in a normal voice.  What words or images do you notice?

Second, in a soft stage whisper, so only your own soul can hear.  What words or images did this way of reading awaken and arise within you?

Third, sing out the words as a prayer for these Advent days.

 

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. 

 

What I love about this fourth verse is the words point to the paradox of Christmas.  The fear, anger, frustration, and unsettledness chills the air around us…there is a cheerless-ness that describes and defines so many of our lives.  And we are preparing to live our lives transformed by the birth of a vulnerable, weak, baby born in the working-class section of Bethlehem to two parents who didn’t rate or rank on any of the top 100 lists of the day.  What is weak is strong.  What is lowly is God-ly.  What is least is what we seek.  While we can nod our heads to this, honestly, we struggle to live this.  Hope, peace, love, and joy light the way to the stable, but those candles can feel quickly extinguished the second we exit the church doors.  We may sing out Carols beautifully proclaiming and preaching God’s way, only to go our own way by Sunday afternoon.  We do this partly because each of us has an internal scoreboard keeping track of why the world is broken and bruised and even perhaps beyond redemption.  The evidence is right there on our cell phone dinging with constant notifications least we are tempted to think any differently ~ let alone consider living differently! 

 

And yet…yet…yet..

These words:

 

Love be our song…and love our prayer…and love our endless story.

 

Hold those words pondering what would it mean during December to live those words?  May that question awaken your thoughts, warm your heart, and stir your soul as we let God’s gift of hope ~ a gift given every day to you and me ~ rearrange the furniture of our lives this day and every day between now and Christmas Eve.  Amen. 

Advent 1 ~ Hope

 

We are holding the words of the Carol, “Awake! Awake and greet the new morn” this week.  I invite you to focus with me on the third verse.  Read this verse aloud three times please.

 

First, in a normal voice.  What words or images do you notice?

Second, in a soft stage whisper, so only your own soul can hear.  What words or images did this way of reading awaken and arise within you?

Third, sing out the words as a prayer for these Advent days.

 

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…

 

There has been a subtle shift in our world that has had a major impact on our lives ~ sales of alarm clocks are down. 

 

Wait, you think, what??  That is the subtle, substantial shift?  You think, “Wes should watch the news more”

 

Stay with me. 

 

When I was a kid, remember one Christmas asking for a digital alarm clock that had a built-in cassette player!  I just dated myself.  Because some of you are thinking, what is a cassette player?  And others are thinking, “Hmph, sounds like a pretty fancy item, I remember when all I got for Christmas was a pair socks and I was happy about it.”  Getting back to my point, most people now use their cell phones as an alarm clock.  Most people before they get out of bed are scrolling headlines and social media.  This means that before we are fully awake to greet the new morn, we already know the truth of that first line we just sang, “when all the world is despairing.” 

 

Many psychologists wonder about how healthy this common practice of scrolling and checking your phone really is?  Many of the podcasts I listen to talk about putting your cell phone into “time out” or a fence around it.  Your cell phone is not allowed to leave the kitchen/living room area.  But, wait, you think, what if someone texts me?  They might have to wait.  What if it is an emergency?  If someone you love is having surgery or a family member is on a trip, by all means ignore this invitation during that time.  If it is an ordinary Tuesday, which many are, putting limits on your cell phone a good prayer practice.  When we awaken to the morning light that is quiet and free, we hear a different song than what is sung to us on Facebook (ironic that I am posting this there I know). 

 

How might you and I listen to the “One without voice” today, realizing that sometimes that is you without voice, sometimes your neighbor, your friend, or someone who has been on your mind and you’ve meant to call.  Let this Carol today sing to your soul and conduct the melody of your life with hope of living with God’s presence.  Amen. 

Advent 1 ~ Hope

 

Yesterday in worship we sang the Carol, “Awake! Awake and greet the new morn.”  I invite you this morning to read these words slowly/prayerfully, letting each syllable settle into your soul.  I encourage you to see which sentence causes your heart to leap and which sentiment causes you to question what is possible or practical.  Watch where you put the emphasis; you may want to softly whisper the words and then bravely, boldly declare them emphatically for your neighbors to hear.

 

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 insides us forever…

 

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 rolls to shatter all hate and injustice…

 

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…

 

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. 

 

One of the sentences that sits in my soul is in the first verse ~ third line ~ come as a baby weak and poor, to bring all hearts together.  God comes as a baby weak to show us the way to life.  I wonder if the counter-cultural truth of Christmas ever really sinks into our souls?  God comes not in military might or with a glitz and glamour or political power ~ God comes weak and poor.  Wait, you think, isn’t God all powerful?  The puzzling paradox, even contradiction, is that God enters our world not with coercion or control, but softly on a silent night hardly noticed amid the chaotic cacophony of the census ~ the stress and strain of people feeling oppressed ~ the uncertainty and uncontrollability of the world.  That sounds a lot like today.  God doesn’t pound on the door of your heart with demands or decrees (like Caesar), but patiently ~ persistently ~ waits at the door of our soul for you to open to a Presence that has been there all along.  Advent ~ awaking to the Holy hovering ~ not just here and now ~ but so we can live this way every day in the coming year.  That is what we greet with anthems sweet ~ if we are ready and willing to let God reside in our hearts. 

 

What in this Carol sings to your soul today?  How might you awaken to God during Advent in these dwindling days and continue to do so as 2023 dawns?  May those questions cause you to prayerfully ponder, and may the candle of hope guide you every day this week.  Amen.

Prayer for Friday

 

Amid leftovers and Black Friday deals;

Amid emotions that sit on the shelves of our souls;

Amid the dwindling days of 2022, I invite you to hold the fullness of this day.

 

Often holidays come with expectations ~ spoken and unspoken ~ for ourselves and others.

 

Hold that this morning.

 

Often this time of year can feel so frantic, frenzied ~ which is jarring especially as some many activities now burst from the COVID cocoon, and we are not sure we are ready.

 

Hold that this morning.

 

I invite you to be intentional in the coming days.  On Sunday, we will enter the season of Advent ~ a time to prepare prayerfully for the One we greet with anthems sweet ~ as we join in the choir of angels and shepherds to Christ (God in the flesh) laid in a manger ~ a feed trough.

 

Wait…go back and re-read that sentence please…letting the contradictions and mystery divinely disrupt you today.

 

What would it look like for you this year to clear away chaos or clutter in your mind/heart/ soul for the birth of Jesus?

 

This might mean being present in the moment ~ even when the moment is less-than-perfect.

This might mean blaring Christmas Carols ~ you have permission.

This might mean doing what makes your heart sing and feel fully alive ~ what is that?    

 

Hold that last sentence.  Christ comes in the flesh, in human form, because human life matters to God.  Your life matters to God.  What brings you alive?  For me, it is listening to music, laughing with family, baking cookies with my daughter, worship, playing with Legos and connecting with others.  Given that, how do I design the art of living in the last month of 2022?  How can I be a conduit of liberating love that gushes forth the way water did from a rock like we heard on Sunday? 

 

Whether your tradition today is to go out shopping or not spend a dime.  Whether you have a special leftover turkey sandwich you make or want to order a pizza.  Whether you feel full or long for more, I pray for the Presence of God to enfold and hold you, guide and ground you, and be with you as we prepare for the truth of Emmanuel ~ God with us and for us ~ in the coming days.  Amen. 

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

 

The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves. —Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

Breathe in God’s thanksgiving, breathe out moments where gratitude is difficult.

Breathe in God’s wholeness, breathe out that which is incomplete or left undone.

Breathe in God’s peacefulness, breathe out the to-do lists and voices that tell you it’s not enough.

Breathe and be on this Thanksgiving Day.

 

Hold in your hands a moment this past year when joy was tactile, and you could taste the sweetness of love on the tip of your tongue.  For me that was Easter morning, my son’s graduation, dropping him off at college, my daughter starting her Senior year, seeing my family after COVID kept us apart, writing these mediations, preaching on Sundays, holding hands in prayer, studying scripture, petting our dogs, weathering Hurricane Ian, and the support of my wife ~ it is easier to preach about unconditional love when you encounter this as a reality every day.

 

Hold in your heart moments this past year when things were not so great ~ knowing that pain that isn’t processed is passed along.  I grieve those who are now in God’s eternal embrace.  I grieve a world that is bickering and back-biting.  I grieve Thanksgiving tables today where all are not welcome, and others sit silently in emotional pain.  I grieve those who feel alone and wonder if anyone cares.  I hold those who are facing medical appointment.   I grieve those who are struggling in mind, body, and spirit.  I grieve that too often the church is seen more as the problem than any source of comfort, compassion, or care.

 

I hold all this ~ the good and bad and ugly ~ in prayer to the One who is able to accomplish far more than I could ever ask or imagine.  I hold all this in prayer to the One who doesn’t ask for me to be perfect or successful, but how our Creator continues to shed acorns of love (throw back reference to Monday’s morning meditation).  I hold all this in prayer to the One who wraps me in an embrace of grace that never lets any of us go.  May the One whose love crafts and creates all that is and calls you, “Beloved” be encountered and experienced this day.  With praise and thanksgiving to God ever living open our hearts, souls, and whole lives.  Amen.

Morning Meditation ~ Thanksgiving Part 3

 

On the eve of Thanksgiving, I pause to reflect.

About all that is happening, a moment of introspect.

The last eleven months has given much to dissect.

I know the moments of joy and days almost perfect.

Graduation, birthdays, where laughter was the sound effect.

And I know moments of pain, hurt, dejected, and neglected.

Both the good and ugly sit side-by-side in my heart unchecked.

What do I really make of tomorrow, my mind questions and objects?

How do we live when it feels like constant change and lessening respect?

Perhaps I can’t solve all the pain and hurt and less than perfect-ness,

But I can show up with a grace, curiosity, and thoughtful intellect.

I can commit to being a conduit of God’s liberating love as prayerful affect. 

While I don’t propose that this would all the ills of the world correct,

I do, deep in my heart, trust this way of life can help us all connect.

So, on this day before turkey and laughter and love let us all interject,

A way of being God’s people and honoring all as beloved we are called to protect.

 

I pray that each person reading this would sense God’s presence, peace, and love as we prepare our hearts, homes, tables, and lives to give thanks tomorrow.  With God’s love to you all.  Amen.

Morning Meditation ~ Thanksgiving Part 2

 

Did you know that on Thursday we will eat 704 million pounds of turkey?  There are 332 million people in the United States, so that means you need to eat 2.12 pounds of turkey this week to do YOUR part.

 

Did you know that Friday this week is usually one of the busiest days for plumbers?  That is according to Roto-Rooter as they are called upon to unclog our drains.

 

Sarah Hale is known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving,” because she spent four decades campaigning to make Thursday a national holiday and in 1863, she persuaded President Lincoln to make it so – talk about an abundance of attempts.  She also wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” in her free time. 

 

Who thought the morning mediation was going to be this educational today?

 

Finally, according to AAA, Orlando, Florida is near the top destinations for travel this week.  Just a public service announcement for anyone thinking about traveling I4 on Thursday.  You are welcome.

 

While these tidbits of trivia might be fun to share at your Thanksgiving table, the reality is that we know gratitude is about more than this one week.  We practice the prayer posture of praise every single week in worship.  Last Sunday in worship we heard another account of the people of God grumbling and groaning.  In Exodus, the people mutter and mumble on the banks of the Red Sea saying, “What the graves in Egypt weren’t good enough for you, Moses?”  They complain about not having enough to eat moaning, “Oh, when we were back in Egypt at least we had bread…after working our fingers to the bones making 2000 bricks a day for Pharaoh. You know, the good old days.”  And they take to Yelp to write a scatting review of Moses’ leadership saying, “The guy wouldn’t know water if he fell into a pond!  Worst road trip ever!!”

 

The more things change…the more our lives echo the history that is repeated and replayed in our words every day.  Yet, I don’t think an attitude of gratitude can ever be demanded or decreed.  It is why so many people groan silently/inwardly on Thursday when we go around the table to say one thing we are thankful for.  Forced gratitude can feel both ironic and irritating.

 

The practice of gratitude, giving thanks, living open to the goodness and God’s presence which is here hovering and hanging around you and within you, is more than one week.  I give thanks to you, dear reader, for sticking with me over the last few years.  I began these devotionals to stay connected during COVID back in 2020.  If you go back, many of my early prayers were about safety and fear and uncertainty.  I don’t know that I feel any more secure than I did back then, but I also know God has brought us this far.  Thanksgiving isn’t about saying everything is great and grand, but it is about noticing/opening to the unnamable and unmistakable presence of God.  What if we tried doing this every day in the coming month?  And what if we continued every day in the coming year?  I am not saying this would make everything magically better, but I am suggesting it would widen your perspective beyond only holding the sharp shards of brokenness that we so often capture our attention and call us to fix but are not sure how.  Thank you for continuing to be part of these meditations.  You, each of you, fill my heart with gratitude each day.  With God’s love to you.  Amen. 

Thanksgiving Week

 

²⁰ Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  Ephesians 3

 

Acorns. When I think of abundance, having far more than I can ask or imagine or ever want, I think of the acorns that have been piling up in parking lots, sidewalks, lawns, and streets over the last few weeks.  I think all the oak trees must have had a secret meeting where no human was invited or involved. The trees made a motion that was soon seconded and unanimously voted that this was the year of the nut. Science tells us that an oak tree can drop more acorns than hungry squirrels, raccoons or wild hogs would be able to gobble up. By some accounts, one single oak tree can drop upwards of 10,000 acorns in what is called a mast year. Which, one, that is a lot of nuts. Two, who exactly counted, because if they had asked me, I know I would have lost count around 2584 and have to start over again.

 

Hold that image of abundance, more than we could ask or imagine, in one hand.

 

On the other hand, out of these 10,000 acorns sometimes only one sinks down into the soil, stretches out roots, bursts forth from the ground, and grows into a new oak tree. 1 out of 10,000. If you told me that only one of my sermons this year would make a difference to one person, I wonder if I could keep preaching?  If you told me that only one pastoral visit or one morning meditation or one day out of the last year would make a difference, how would I live?

 

If I told you that you that being kind, gentle, generous, loving, peaceful would change just one person in your lifetime, would you continue? I am convicted by Paul’s words this morning about abundance. Of course, Paul isn’t preaching about acorns but about God’s grace, love, peace, promise, and presence which is even larger than10,000 acorns. Paul is talking about an inclusive, unconditional, unceasing gift from God that moves in our lives seeking to make a difference.

 

This Thanksgiving week it is easy for us to count our more than 10,000 blessings.  Honestly, though, most of us believe that life is happening to us ~ that there is some scoreboard of who is winning and losing.  Often our mood is based on the external evidence around us ~ rather than the transformation within us.  If the oak tree lived this way, my guess is 1 out of 10,000 might cause a deep depression for that tree.  Yet, creation testifies to generosity and the question for you and me this week ~ is are we willing to let this truth of creation inform and inspire our living ~ not just now but every day in the coming year? 

 

May that question cause us to ponder prayerfully and commit our lives to being conduits of liberating love in these days.  Amen.

Prayer

 

Here we are, O God, midway through November.  Visions of turkey dance in our heads, we can almost taste the sweet potato, pumpkin, chocolate pie on the tip of our tongue.   We long to feel our hearts strangely warmed as we approach Thanksgiving in less than one week.  Here You are, O God, with us even as we know our Thanksgiving may not be a Norman Rockwell painting version.  The turkey might be dry, or the pie dropped, or conversation turn toward a topic that causes the tiny vein in our neck to throb. 

Here we are together, O God, in this less-than-perfect present wilderness-wandering moment.  Help me, O God, be open to You…not just in the great and grand, but even in the messiness and broken.  Help me, O God, be open to You…not just when things go my way, but when life takes an unexpected twist or turn like a rollercoaster.  Help me, O God, be open to You knowing that Your presence doesn’t make everything magically better but does cause my mind, heart, soul and life to turn toward a fullness and wholeness that other things I buy cannot.  Thank you for this day.  Thank you for this breath.  Thank you for those whose love and friendship and presence are a gift that reminds me Your grace is not abstract but encountered in my life.  May my life be caught up in Your great composition and story that is unfolding in this day.  Amen. 

Here

 

“Isn’t it strange how we cling to the idea that there’s some elusive prayer formula that will revolutionize our devotional lives, if only we could figure it out?  And of course, we can’t figure it out.  We rarely trust what we already know how to do, which is why we miss many precious encounters with God.”  Claudia Mair Burney.

 

I recently read the above quote and was struck by how the words captured what I have often felt.  We long for some reliable practice that is instant and immediate access to the divine.  We all crave a peace that will help ease our struggle and alleviate our stress quickly ~ which is why we can become addicted to alcohol or shopping or busyness or even always being cynical because these tend to numb the pain (but only momentarily so we keep going back).  And the church can be lured into thinking that we have the secret sauce to help you; and if it doesn’t work, well that’s on you.  But here, right here in this wilderness wandering moment, God is.  We are just not sure we trust this to be true.  Hold this brilliant quote from Claudia Mair Burney. 

 

Breathe in God’s presence in your life in this moment.

Breathe out all the voices that want to point out what is wrong.

Breathe in God’s presence within you in this moment.

Breathe out all the pains/strains physically/emotionally/spiritually.

Breathe in God’s presence…

Be here with the One who enfolds and holds you.

 

This precious encounter with God right here and now.  Amen.

Prayer Practice

 

I have been inviting you in this prayer practice below on Fridays over the last few weeks, but it seems, given our theme and topic of grumbling/mumbling this week, these questions are particularly powerful here in the middle of the week:

 

As I look back on the week, I give thanks for (fill in two moments that brought a smile to your face).

As I rewind the past five days, I have felt the energy of emotion in my heart (name and notice some of the emotions sitting on the shelves of your soul).

As I examine where I’ve been, this person and place comes to my mind (sit with an experience from the last week.)

And I look to the coming days, I pray You would go before, beside, and behind me when facing (name an upcoming event where you need God to arrive first in that situation).

 

May you and I find ways to be open to God’s presence here and now, in the less-than-perfectness of this present moment.  Amen. 

Mumbling in Freedom

 

This week we are huddling and hovering around the question, “Why do we grumble and mumble?”  There might be a few different reasons:

1.      Culturally conditioned ~ I grew up in a family where complaining was a nightly litany at the dinner table.  I was schooled in spotting the brokenness and less-than-perfectness of life.  This was re-enforced in school where “feedback” was just a nice way of pointing out the fumbles and stumbles in red ink on my paper.  Or job reviews where my boss started with the positives, but I always knew the negatives (or growing edges) were coming.  

2.     Acceptable ~ we reward grumbling by joining in saying things like, “You think that is bad…” then filling in your bad experience.  We continually click on stories that share all the woundedness of the world, then complain about how awful the internet is without ever realizing that what we click drives the content online.  We tend to listen to negativity but see positivity as being Pollyanna (not good) or naive (even worse!). 

3.     Lives rent free in our mind ~ current science tells us that our brains are incredibly malleable ~ like Play Doh.  And research shows that if you show people just five minutes of bad news it causes them to think the worst and that it will happen to them!  And who among us stops reading the newspaper or scrolling our social media after five minutes?  Um, no one.  All we needed was to see one image of shelves empty of toilet paper to rush out and buy all we could get our hands on a few years ago.  What we consume ~ consumes us.

4.     Cathartic ~ sometimes we need to get things off our chest, venting can be healthy, but it can be a habit too.  I can fall into the trap of endless laments rather than finding good in each day. 

5.     We don’t know what else do to with our emotions ~ remember a few weeks ago I offered the idea that emotions are energy in motion ~ our emotions send us in a particular direction.  And our brains ~ wired the way they are ~ love to find ways to rationalize and intellectualize why we should feel the way we feel.  Our brains, like a mini-Sherlock Holmes, go out searching for evidence that supports how and why we should feel the way we feel.  Plus, we live in a culture of individualism where we cling to the belief that no one can tell us what to do or feel.

I wonder if you might have a few more reasons to add to this list.  When you find yourself always feeling like the weather pattern in your soul is always rainy with the chance of worst weather tomorrow, can you ask yourself, “Why?”  Scripture tells us that God provides, even to these less than grateful people wandering in the wilderness.  When you are muttering and mumbling can you take deep breath, slowly exhale, and ask yourself, “What might God be up to?”  Or, “How might God be present even here and now?”  May these questions help all of us be open to the One who hears our laments and seeks to turn our mourning into dancing ~ not because everything is suddenly pony rides and chocolate rivers ~ but because goodness is God’s prayer for each of us every day.  Amen.   

Exodus Moments Continued

 

Over the past few weeks as we’ve journeyed through Exodus, we’ve heard the people of God return to the refrain of complaining.  In Exodus 14, the people of God are a few steps out of Egypt ~ the sweet taste of freedom lingering on their tongues.  They camp by the Red Sea ~ roasting marshmallows and singing Kum ba yah.  But in the morning, Pharaoh regrets and reconsiders his decision to “let God’s people go,” and 800 chariots come charging after the people.  Hemmed in with the Red Sea before them and the guards breathing down their necks ~ the people of God take to social media and post the worst Yelp review of Moses’ leadership saying, “Moses couldn’t lead people out of an invisible box!”  God provides a way where there was no way and the Red Sea is parted.  Woo hoo!  Insert Queen singing, “We are the champions, my friends.” 

Yesterday in worship, we centered on Exodus 16.  On the other side of the Red Sea, the Israelites’ feet still soggy and muddy from cross over the parted waters, begin grumbling and mumbling again.  This time they are hungry.  “Great,” they say, “we are following someone who can’t read directions or cook.  Just our luck.”  This time, God provides manna, bread, in the wilderness.

Then, the very next chapter, Exodus 17, you guessed it, the people are still waking up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag while out camping in the wilderness.  This time their mouths are dry from eating too much manna.  The people, smacking their lips, trying desperately to make some saliva, overly dramatically say, “So…thirsty…why, o why, are we following the guy who wouldn’t know water if he was standing in a river.”

Scripture holds a mirror up to us, reflects our human nature to get caught in cycles of cynicism as we wander in the uncertainty of the wilderness today.  And it is easier to stay on the sidelines pointing out all the flaws and foibles of others than to step onto the field.  It is easier to play armchair quarterback or shout out advice to someone else to do something than to get involved.  Part of the reason is we know if we get involved, we might be responsible to come up with a solution.  What happens if that good advice and idea we keep sharing on social media really doesn’t work out?  What happens if our ideas and insights aren’t as brilliant as we think? 

My invitation for you this week is to notice when you reside in the muttering and mumbling zone.  Notice when you say things like, “This always happens,” when you get stopped at a red light when running late.  “This is the worst thing ever,” when the grocery store is out of an item.  I know I can get caught in cycle of catastrophizing and seeing only the brokenness.  Yes, stress and strain are a reality.  And yes, God provides strength, bread, water, and a presence we need in the wilderness today.  Yes, alongside the brokenness there is beauty and blessing ~ life is not an either or forced choice but an invitation to be present over perfect.  May you and I practice this prayer posture every day this week.  Amen. 

Friday Prayer

 

May God’s love meet You today.  May God’s presence enfold and hold you.  May God’s wisdom ground and guide you. 

 

Today, O God, we honor all those who have served in the armed forces.  I give thanks today for members of our church who have worn uniforms with courage and put service ahead of personal gain.  I am especially grateful for women and veterans of color who pave the way for others today.  We pray for our veterans, especially those who struggle in mind or body or spirit wounded by wars both visibly and invisibly.  Let us not so idealize war that we forget it’s painful realities and ramifications.  Let us not so much seek to provoke as to protect, especially the least and most vulnerable.  Let us not so much immediately fight but be challenged by Isaiah’s image of turning swords into plowshares. 

 

Be with us, O God, for too often we are too quick to fight with words and weapons.  Compel us, O God, to be honest about the hurt and harm done in other places, much of which we will never know.  Call us, O God, to find ways to be Your people and let Your peaceable realm come into our hearts, homes, and world. 

Breathe

 

Breathe in the truth that like the Israelites before the surging, scary Red Sea ~ so each of us stand before obstacles and feel fear.  What obstacles do you face?  What fears surge within you? 

Breathe out the promise of God’s presence even here and now.

 

Breathe in the truth that the way is made by walking, sailing, stepping forward even when we don’t feel ready.

Breathe out the deep desire each of us have to know how it is all going to turn out.

 

Breathe in the truth that life is full of forward steps and backwards momentum.

Breathe out the feeling that it is all up to us to save the world or that no one cares or waving the flag of surrender.

 

Breathe and be in the Presence of God who still parts seas providing a way forward.

Breathe and be in the Presence of God who beckons us to be in these Exodus days trusting in a strength we need.

Breathe and be in the Presence of God letting the stillness and silence right now wash over you.

 

God of Exodus moments when our hearts break and souls ache and we find ourselves caught in doom and gloom, lead us away from living in cynicism, break us free from prisons of pain, call us out of the shadows of clinging to idealized past to be in the messiness of this present moment.  Not that we have the answers, but that with You, we find our way one day at a time.  Let our songs of hope inspire.  Let our willingness to love break forth.  Let our call to be Your people in these days so challenge and change us that we might be the “we” You call us to be.  Amen.

Part of the Whole

 

I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night and found it had wheels and moved easily in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing.

 

The people of God are on the move, marching and dancing in the light of God.  They get to the other side of the Red Sea…they can almost taste the sweet honey on the tip of their tongues and the refreshing milk soothing their throats.  Then…spoiler alert…the people of God wander in the wilderness for forty years.  “Um, God, is this really the most direct route?  Why did You send us a leader who is directionally challenged?  Maybe we should download a different GPS ap on our phones.” 

 

Forty years of walking and waiting and wondering, “Is this really what God’s liberating love looks like, feels like?”  We know the people of God mumbled and grumbled in the wilderness – got hangry – angry and hungry – so God gives them manna/bread.  Bible Nerd Fun Fact ~ the word “manna” ~ as in the bread God gives them ~ can be translated, “What is this?!”  Feel free to put lots of emphasis on that question.  Feel free to ask it with some attitude – some sass.  Because I believe that ancient question is still our question.  We wonder, is this really the best God can do with these leaders and these headlines and this way of life? 

 

The Israelites…and so too you and me…forget that it is all relationship…it is all about finding the “we” inside the “me” (throwback reference to the summer sermon series).  We separate ourselves from the systems, rather than realizing we are all caught up in that web of mutuality.  But wait, you think, this isn’t the system I want or what I am working for.  This is the human struggle ~ that we don’t realize our connection/participation/contribution to the greater whole.  We push against the breeze trying to control the weather. 

 

I am not suggesting that everything is great and grand, but for us to also realize that we can’t just shrug our shoulders, stand on the sidelines waiting for someone to do something.  There are countless ways you and I can be conduits of God’s liberating love, especially when we realize that Exodus moments don’t easily or quickly get resolved.  Consider that some of the people who started the journey from Egypt never made it to Canaan.  Consider that Moses never put his pinkie toe in the Promised Land.  They could have given up.  They could have plopped down on a rock and thought, “What’s the point of all this.”  But the point was the journey together, step-by-step; day-by-day; moment-by-moment.  The point was the relationships formed and forged in the wilderness way.  So today, who might you pour your love upon by reading to a child or standing with those who are losing rights or brothers and sisters who are afraid?  The wilderness beckons us to be courageous and faithful and realize that God’s love is here and now even as the world gnashes its terrible teeth with evidence to the contrary.

 

May the Presence of God infuse and inspire you and me and we today to work toward a world where all are caught up, lifted up, and celebrated as children of God.  May you and I be conduits of God’s liberating love in ways that may never get notices or trend on social media ~ but makes a difference in the lives of those we encounter.  Amen.