Morning Meditation

 

On October 31, 1517, the Catholic Priest, Martin Luther, posted his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  Many view this action as the beginning of the Protestant Church, which the UCC is classified and categorized.  Luther didn’t want to break from his Catholic faith; he wanted to begin a discussion of the papal practice of raising money by charging for the forgiveness of sins.  There was even a popular saying, “As soon as the coin of the coffer (offering plate) rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”  While I love the fact that the saying rhymes, the reality is that this turns our relationship with God into a transaction and makes my stomach queasy as we begin our Stewardship Season here.

 

The church has had a complicated relationship with money.  On the one hand, we need financial resources to keep the lights on, the air conditioning running, the staff compensated fairly/justly for the faithful work each does, and to maintain our church campus.  On the other hand, the world is full of God’s beloved who lack financial resources that we could direct our dollars toward.  We walk a tight rope trying to be good stewards of your gifts of time, talent, and treasure.  We seek prayerfully to find ways to keep our church thriving and share God’s love beyond our walls.  The reality is that each member of our church has a financial autobiography.  You picked up lessons about money from your family and friends.  You caught cultural messages through advertising.  And we swim in a sea of messages about money ~ trying to untangle the string of thoughts and emotions inside us is difficult and demanding.  We have a past, present, and future with our relationship with money.  In the mail this week, members of our church received your pledge card.  I pray you take a moment before filling out the information to center yourself.  Remind yourself that you are held by the Holy, God has you, knows you, and all of you is welcome ~ from the top of your head to pinkie toe.  We live in a time where peace can be elusive, some of the stress and strain is around money ~ will we have enough, and what is enough?  I pray that our time of stewardship this year will be filled with honesty, peace, and hope for what God is doing here and now.  May the dream of God’s love be realized in us and through us for the sake of the world God so loves.  Amen.  

Prayer for Today

 

Which of the prayers so far this week did you find most helpful?  Remember, there is no right answer; in fact, you may not have liked either poem/prayer from the past three days.  If the peace prayers of the first three days stirred you, I pray these words might hold and help. This prayer comes from John Birch:

 

We are molded, each one of us,
in the image of God,
and within our souls, there is a fingerprint
none can erase.
We pray for those who have no regard
for anyone but self,
who put no value on human life.
For nations and individuals who abuse and kill.
We are not called to be judge or jury,
but we are called to be agents of change,
and if the butterfly that flaps its wings
should be our attitude to others
then so be it, Lord,
and may the waves this generates
somewhere within the world
reach into the hearts and souls of those
for whom we pray, and reveal to them
how precious are those
for whom they have no love,
and how precious are they
who now bring tears to the eyes of God.

 

I find the image of “tears to the eyes of God” to be profound and powerful.  What makes God cry right now?  Are there ways that I might be contributing to God’s sorrow or lament?  Which words of the prayer above caught your attention?  Were there words that caused your shoulders to tense or your stomach to turn?  Were there parts of the prayer your inner defense attorney objected to?  Were there moments your shy soul said, “Amen”?  Re-read the prayer again at some point today to see how the words land in you at that time.  May the preciousness of God’s gaze be felt in your life this day.  Amen.

Prayer for Today

 

Please pray for Jamaica, Cuba, and all in the path of Hurricane Melissa.

A prayer for World Peace from 1978

 

We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness makes them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
Praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.

 

Notice this is a personal and communal prayer.  You could substitute the word “we” to “I” above.  I pray for power to be gentle (I love that paradoxical phrase and the counter-cultural idea that power can be gentle); for the strength to be forgiving (again, forgiveness as strong rather than weak); for patience or curiosity to understand.  Where is there a situation in your life where you feel the holy nudge to be gentle, forgiving, and understanding?

 

Which words of the prayer above caught your attention?  Were there words that caused your shoulders to tense or your stomach to turn?  Were there parts of the prayer your inner defense attorney objected to?  Were there moments your shy soul said, “Amen”?  Re-read the prayer again at some point today to see how the words land in you at that time.  And may peace be planted in your heart and alive in your life this week.  Amen.

Prayer for Today

 

This prayer of peace comes from Alan Paton in South Africa.  Pray these words slowly with me:

 

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart so that they need not be without support;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.

 

Part of what I hear in this prayer is that peace is an embodied experience.  Remember from yesterday, shalom is the alignment of your whole self.  Are your ears closed to certain people or places?  Are you turning away from certain situations?  Sometimes we turn away for protection.  We can turn away when we don’t feel safe, seen, and soothed.  We may close off our ears and eyes, even as we stay physically present in a moment.

 

Which words of the prayer above caught your attention?  Were there words that caused your shoulders to tense or your stomach to turn?  Were there parts of the prayer your inner defense attorney objected to?  Were there moments your shy soul said, “Amen”?  Re-read the prayer again at some point today to see how the words land in you at that time.  And may the peace that surpasses understanding hold you every hour this day.  Amen.   

Prayer for Today

 

This week, we will center and open our hearts to prayers for peace that I pray you find meaningful.  When I see the word “peace”, I also hear the Hebrew word, “Shalom” ~ which is more than the absence of war or violence, but a wholeness, healing, and flourishing.  Hold a moment when you felt aligned and alive in mind, heart, soul, and body.  Hold a moment when you felt healing.  Hold a moment when you were lost in wonder, love, and awe.  Peace has an elastic, expansive, and evolving vision in our life.  Please slowly pray these words from Mary Lou Kownacki:

 

I bow to the sacred in all creation.
May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder.
May my mind seek truth with humility and openness.
May my heart forgive without limit.
May my love for friend, enemy, and outcast be without measure.
May my needs be few and my living simple.
May my actions bear witness to the suffering of others. 
May my hands never harm a living being.
May my steps stay on the journey of justice.
May my tongue speak for those who are poor without fear of the powerful.
May my prayers rise with patient discontent until no child is hungry.
May my life's work be a passion for peace and nonviolence.
May my soul rejoice in the present moment.
May my imagination overcome death and despair with new possibilities.
And may I risk reputation, comfort, and security to bring this hope to the children.

 

Which words of the prayer above caught your attention?  Were there words above that caused your shoulders to tense or your stomach to turn?  Were there parts of the prayer your inner defense attorney objected to?  Were there moments your shy soul said, “Amen”?  Re-read the prayer again at some point today to see how the words land in you at that time.  And may the peace that surpasses understanding hold you every hour this day.  Amen.   

Prayer

 

Discern Part 4

 

One final process that I would like to share with you this week on discernment.  This process is less about words and more about silence, quieting, breathing and being. 

 

Start by focusing on your breath: breathe in for four counts, hold for six counts, and exhale for eight counts.  Do this at your own pace.  I recommend doing these seven to twelve times until you feel your pulse slowing down.

 

Say your question out loud slowly three times.  This may feel a bit awkward, but you are speaking your question so you can hear yourself.  I believe my question sounds different when I hear it with my own ears than when it is closed off in my mind.

 

Say, “Speak, God, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).  Sit in quiet for three to five minutes.  If your mind starts to wander, as mine does, softly and gently say, “Speak, God, for your servant is listening”.  You may have to say that twenty times during the quiet, but you are waking yourself up to the fact that silence is God’s first language.  You are paying attention to the Spirit surfing over the chaos of the questions that crash like waves in your soul. 

 

Slowly breathe in again, hold, and release.

 

Write down how the experience felt and any new insights.  Maybe it felt awkward or frustrating because God didn’t send you a neon sign or text message.  Maybe you felt uneasy with how the question is being spoken.  There is no grade from God; we are simply inviting the sacred to sit with us in the mysterious unfolding of our lives.  May this prayer practice help center you in our Creator who is painting on the canvas of your life right here and now. Amen.