Friday Prayer

 

Today, as we close out the week in prayer, I invite you to read (or better yet go and listen) to Josh Groban’s The Prayer.  Let these words soak and saturate your life: 

I pray You'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know

Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with Your Grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

La luce che to dai
I pray we'll find your light
Nel cuore restero
And hold it in our hearts
A ricordarchi che
When stars go out each night
L'eterna stella sei
Oh, ho

Nella mia preghiera
Let this be our prayer
Quanta fede c'e
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with Your Grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

Sognamo un mondo senza piu violenza
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace e di fraternita

La forza che ci dai
We ask that life be kind
E'il desiderio che
And watch us from above
Ognuno trovi amore
We hope each soul will find
Intorno e dentro a se
Another soul to love

Let this be our prayer
Let this be our prayer
Just like every child
Just like every child

Needs to find a place
Guide us with Your Grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

 

May God’s love enfold and hold you each and every day this month. Amen.

Pardon the Dust

 

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about building our lives on the firm foundation, the rock, of God’s presence and possibility.  So, I wonder, if you could add one additional space to your current house (or transform one room) what would you do? 

 

For me, I don’t know if I would add to our house, as much as pick out a different color paint or add some wonderful new decorations or find softer lightening.  Why don’t I do this?  Great question, probably because I am frugal or tell myself this is frivolous.  Philip Simmons says our lives are the unfinished house in which we live.  Look around at the place where you call home.  What do you love about your home?  What frustrates you?  One of the things that annoys my wife, and I, is that our brand-new refrigerator makes strange noises.  I know this is a First-World problem.  What we love about our house are comfy chairs that we sink and settle in on Friday nights after working all week.  Look around, what do you love and where would you like to remodel your home?

 

Now, let’s ponder this metaphorically, if you could clear out the clutter and chaos in the cobwebbed corners of your soul, what would you do?  For me, I would add more space for prayer ~ to breathe and be.  Why don’t I do this?  I could blame the Protestant work ethic that tells me my worth is based on what I accomplish.  I could look in the mirror at my own addiction to work.  I could confess that my ego likes to be noticed for being busy.  That is some of what is in the cardboard boxes shoved in the cobwebbed corners of my soul.  I long for space and place to be.  And the truth is, this doesn’t cost me a dime.

 

The questions we ask help us awaken to realities (past/present/and future) of what we are lugging in the luggage of our life ~ why we are feeling the way we are physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally (go back to Monday’s Morning Meditation).  Hold your thoughts today next to the fun you had on Tuesday.  Connect this question with the one from yesterday to give yourself a gift of resting in God’s presence this day in holy and healing ways.  Amen.

The Gift that Keeps Giving

 

So far this week, we have checked in with ourselves in mind, body, and soul.  Yesterday, I invited you to let loose your inner-10-year-old, who still resides and lives in you, in a holy way of hilarity.  The two prayer practices so far this week are not one and done, they can be returned to and repeated often!

 

Today, I wonder, what is the best gift you’ve ever been given?  Who gave it to you?  What was the occasion?  It may not be something tactile or tangible.  It could be the gift of an experience or encounter.  Please note, I am not asking about the gift you gave, but the one you received.  This is uncomfortable for us in a culture that demands and decrees control.  Many of us don’t like to feel in debt or beholden to someone.  When someone gives us a plate of cookies, we want to return that plate with a loaf of banana bread. 

 

I think about this because a month ago I was given the gift of additional time away, vacation.  As someone who struggles with over-functioning and can get enmeshed, the gift of stepping away and remembering that I am not defined or confined by my work.  What I do with our church is not where I get my worth.  My worth comes from God whose love is unconditional and unceasing and entirely uncontrollable by me.  Or I think about the gift of an upcoming vacation with my college-age young adult children.  This is a tremendous, holy, gift.  Or I think about the daily gift of time with my wife.  To be sure, don’t think that you only must limit yourself to one gift.  Name and notice the ways God’s love has shown up in your life through others.  And, you may want to call the person who gave you that gift today, to catch up and check in.  May the One who offers us a gift of presence and peace and possibility, be with you today.  Amen.

Finding Your Play this Lent

 

Yesterday, we checked in with ourselves.  How did that go?  Did you discover something hidden just beneath the surface that has been simmering there for a while?  Checking in with yourself is a profoundly beautiful way to begin any day.  Today, I invite you to get out the photo album of your life or the projector and slides of scenes from your childhood.  I wonder, what did you do for fun when you were ten years old? 

 

For me, I loved playing kickball as a lot.  I loved coloring with all the crayons in the box.  I loved listening to music ~ which was 80s rock!  I loved talking to friends.  I loved laughing.  I loved pizza and ice cream.

 

Today, as you remind yourself what caused your soul delight decades ago, I encourage you with as much pastoral love as I can, to go do that!  Get out the colors, blast the music of your youth, call a friend.  This is a holy, healing practice in Lent.  This might fill your soul with God’s love in a real, tactile and tangible way.  You have my permission, even in the season of Lent, to go have fun!  And even better, invite some others to join you.

 

May today your soul cry out with a joyful shout that God’s love is not some prize at the end of life, but a holy encounter in this life when we open ourselves to the creativity and care of our Creator.  Amen.