Lord
here, in my head and my heart,
the kaleidoscopic fragments of this day –
sights and sounds
words and thoughts
snatches of conversation
moments of silence
energy and weariness
all whirl together
scintillating, elusive and distracting…
Help me to turn them gently
until the pieces
settle
and the patterns become clear.
~ Pat Bennet, England
O Lord, my God,
my one hope,
hear me,
that weariness may not lessen my will to seek you,
that I may seek your face ever more with eager heart.
Lord, give me strength to seek you,
as you have made me to find you,
and given me hope of finding you ever more and more.
My strength and my weakness are in your hands:
preserve the one, and remedy the other.
In your hands
are my knowledge and my ignorance.
Where you have opened to me,
receive my entering in.
Where you have shut,
open to my knocking.
Let me remember you,
understand you,
love you.
Increase in me all these,
until you restore me to your perfect pattern.
~ St Augustine
Heavenly Mother, heavenly Father,
Holy and blessed is your true name.
We pray for your reign of peace to come,
We pray that your good will be done,
Let heaven and earth become one.
Give us this day the bread we need,
Give it to those who have none.
Let forgiveness flow lie a river through us,
From each one to each one to each one.
Lead us to holy innocence
Beyond the evil of our days,
Come swiftly Mother, Father, come!
For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy –
Forever your name is All in One.
~ Parker Palmer
Laughter Came From Every Brick
Just these two words He spoke
changed my life,
“Enjoy Me.”
What a burden I thought I was to carry –
a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, “I know a song,
would you like to hear it?”
And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore
in the sky.
After a night of prayer, He
changed my life when
He sang,
“Enjoy Me.”
~Daniel Ladinsky
Transform Us
Holy, loving, inviting God
In Jesus you call us to yourself
And make us into a holy, loving and inviting people.
May we proclaim the good news of your reign
In all we say
In all we do
In all we are
in this congregation.
God the Sending One, may your love transform us in worship
God the Sent One, may your grace liberate us in ministry
God our Strengthener as we go, may your power lead us gently in mission.
~ Michael McCoy
When under, remember the surface.
When on the surface, remember the deep.
~ Mark Nepo
I understand little of how I became the person I am. I am learning that I am more than just a mind with a body. I also have a spirit where your compassion and feelings abide. Teach me to coordinate my life through mind, body, and spirit as I follow Jesus who teaches me.
~ Kim Martin Sadler
God of Love
God of love enfold us,
God of comfort heal us.
God of joy uplift us,
God of hope renew us,
God of peace refill us
Time and time again.
~ Cecily Taylor, England
Of God’s love we can say two things: it is poured out universally for everyone form the Pope to the loneliest wino on the planet; and secondly; God’s love doesn’t seek value, it creates value. It is not because we have value that we are loved, but because we are loved that we have value. Our value is a gift, not an achievement.
~ William Sloane Coffin
God of the weary
receive my tiredness
God of the hungry
know my emptiness
God of those in danger
hold my fear
God of the silenced
hear my despair
God of the heavyladen
give me rest
God of the hopeful
fill me again with longing.
~ Janet Morley
We cry to you, God Most High, for we have heard the singing of your Spirit. Its carols promise the fulfillment of your purposes, its chants whisper the destiny of the world. In an anthem we drown our ambition; in a hymn we proclaim our devotion. Inspire us, and we shall follow the song beyond the sound of music, trusting that, if we become lost, we shall only be lose in you.
~ Everett Tilson & Phyllis Cole
God, I want to thank you for the fireworks in my mind. Explosions of color – new realizations and revelations that shape who I am and who I will become. Thank you for this free-spirited summer of new friends, realizations, ideas and growth. The deepest dazzling darkness lights my way and fills me with hope for tomorrow.
~ Bethany Bodengraven
Prayer of Confession
O God, you place within our hearts a desire to see the future and to move toward it.
And yet we sometimes find ourselves slow to respond to your invitations; hesitant to hear your callings; fearful of required challenges; stuck in addictive patterns of living.
The distance between who we are and who you call us to be is wearying.
Give us renewed eagerness to live in hope and to follow in your steps, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ Kenneth Carter, Jr.
Shoes, Anybody?
It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi boarded a train one day, a sandal slipped off his foot and landed beneath the train. The distinguished Indian leader did not have time to retrieve it. Quickly Gandhi removed the other sandal and threw it back down the track in the direction of the other sandal. When asked for an explanation, the teacher replied, “The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track will now have a pair he can use.”
~ G. Curtis Jones & Paul H. Jones
In the Garden
One with colour and creation
growth and blossoming,
we think we know
how the garden will grow.
We ponder naming and nature
with trowels and forks
spade and rakes,
setting the seeds
that hold our dreams,
quietly growing words,
carrying stories in baskets.
We cover the holes in life
with sunflowers
and forget-me-nots.
A few strangely sweet hours
in a particular place
that might hold all things
collecting, cultivating, conserving
the homely acts of earth-keeping.
~ Joy Mead
We are freed to free others.
We are affirmed to affirm others.
We are loved to love others.
We are family.
We are community.
We are the church triumphant –
You, me, anyone who would come unto the Lord –
Renewed, Redirected, empowered
To change things and lives
Together in love and wholeness.
We are the Lord’s church,
The church of justice and mercy,
The people sent to open prisons,
To heal the sick,
To clothe the naked,
To feed the hungry,
To reconcile,
To be alleluias when there is no music.
The mantle I upon your shoulders.
Joy is apparent in our living.
We have been commissioned to be the church of Jesus Christ.
~ Ann Weems
For Good Government
Spirit of justice, creator Spirit;
help us to make & keep this country
a home for all its different peoples,
and grant to our government and all its representatives
imagination, skill and energy
that there may grow amongst us good neighborliness and peace.
~ A New Zealand Prayer Book
The Prayer of One Bursting with Life
Jesus
Tree of Life
Your roots have found me
I am bursting with life
I feel like a brand new bud
Singing gratefully to you
I will awaken the world
With the silent song of my being
My voice is not needed
I will preach
The gospel of silence
Joyfully
As I burst forth
Hopefully
Into the sacred space of this new day
Knowing full well
This is only a pale glimmer
Of the Life I am becoming.
SO FULL OF LIFE AM I!
~ Macrina Wiederkehr
Joy bursts in on our lives when we go about doing the good at hand and not trying to manipulate things and times to achieve joy.
~ C.S. Lewis
God of Computer and Test-tube
God of spaceship and satellite,
of computer and test-tube,
we marvel at the complexity of the world
in which we live.
We thank you for the knowledge
You unfold before us.
We pray for all who make knowledge available to others,
For teachers and librarians
And those involved in literacy programmes and skills training.
We pray for researchers and developers,
That the discoveries they make may be used
For good and not for evil.
We pray for all who work in medical research that disease and ill-health may be combated.
We pray for all who work with technology
And for all frightened by the speed of change.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
~ Jenny Spouge, England
A Response to God’s Generosity
It all begins with God
Creator, Sustainer, Provider
Who loves and shares and gives
Who covenants and cares
Abundantly
God
We respond
As we see God
Big God
Small God
Big Creator
Big Provider
Small Provider
It all begins with God
~ Geoffrey Duncan
Lord, in these times,
when we feel that we are losing hope or feel that our efforts are futile,
let us see in our hearts and minds
the image of your resurrection,
and let that be our source of courage and of strength,
with that, and in your company,
help us face our challenges and struggles
against all that is born of injustice.
~ Peter Millar
Mustard seed
A mustard seed
is full of possibility
there’s a tree in there
somewhere
reach into the sky
little seed
what possibilities lie dormant in us
ready to grow into being
when we let go
and open ourselves
to the light of the sun
to the refreshing rain
to the hidden depths of
the mothering earth
solid beneath us
yet soft to shelter our sprouting
reach up to the sky
let yourself grow
and one day you will find the birds of the air
resting with their heads under their wings
walking and singing the dawning of hope
sheltering in your branches
a soft nest
perhaps
a pale blue speckled egg
waiting to be born
and to fly
let yourself be grown
your life is full of possibility
you are the seed
you are the bird
and you are also the tree
~ Lotte Webb
Recovery
With all my soul I praise you, my Lord!
From the bottom of my heart I praise your holy name!
Dear Lord, let me never forget how kind you are: may your love be planted deep in my soul. I am filled with thanksgiving to you, Lord, for I feel the reality of your loving forgiveness, and know you are healing all my disease. As you fill my life with good things, I rejoice in you, and offer myself anew in your service, trusting in the strength of Jesus. Amen.
~ Michael Fulljames & Michael Harper
For the starved with no food tomorrow, for those in despair, struggling with disease, and those caring for them, for the redundant, able and willing to work, for the bullied at school, for those neglected by their family or friends, for the displaced, because of faith or background, for those who are lonely, longing for a warm embrace, for those who want to help and feel powerless to do so, I pray for hope.
Spirit of wisdom, today, make me one who ploughs the field of hope. In the wilderness of our world, may I plant seeds of life to brighten the days of tomorrow.
~ Terry Jin
We seek a clear light to shine
upon our troubled way.
We ask You to give us clearer directions
where we have missed the way
and wandered far, bring us back
at whatever cost to our pride.
Take away our stubborn self-will,
for we know that in Your will alone
is our peace. We seek that peace.
~ Peter Marshall
When our words enfold the silence, what we say will continue to speak even after we have stopped.
~ John S. Mogabgab
Suppose the world to be a ship; the earth to be placed below as the keel; the sky to be the sail; men to be the passengers; the subjacent abyss, the sea. How is it then that during so long a time, no shipwreck has taken place? Now let a ship go one day without a pilot and crew, and thou will see it straightway foundering!
For if a ship does not hold together without a pilot, but soon founders, how could the world have held together so long a time if there was no one governing its course?
~ Gordon Miller
I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs.
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway,
what’s wrong with Maybe?
You wouldn’t believe what once or
twice I have seen. I’ll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.
~Mary Oliver
I was just thinking
One morning
During meditation
How much alike
Hope
And baking powder are:
Quietly
Getting what is
Best in me
To rise,
Awakening
The hint of eternity
Within.
I always think of that
When I eat biscuits now
And wish
That I could be
More faithful
To the hint of eternity,
The baking powder
In me.
~ Macrina Wiederkehr
I dream of a church that joins in with God’s laughing
As she rocks in her rapture, enjoying her art:
She’s glad of her world, in it’s risking and growing:
‘tis the child she has borne and holds close to her heart.
I dream of a church that joins in with God’s weeping
As she crouches, weighed down, by the sorrow she sees:
She cries for the hostile, the cold, the no-hoping,
For she bears in herself our despair and dis-ease.
I dream of a church that joins in with God’s dancing
As she moves like the wind and the wave and the fire:
A church that can pick up it’s skirts, pirouetting,
With steps that can signal God’s deepest desire.
I dream of a church that joins in with God’s loving
As she bends to embrace the unlovely and lost:
A church that can free, by its sharing and daring,
The imprisoned and poor — and then shoulder the cost.
God, make us a church that joins in with your living
As you cherish and challenge, rein in and release:
A church that is winsome, impassioned, inspiring:
Lioness of your justice and lamb of your peace.
~ Kate Compston
Wind is fresh on his face,
Water laps at his feet,
A fire is ready
For the fish and bread meal
At the heart of his story.
Alone, he waits on the shore
For the fishers to come.
And they, with a catch
Heavier than their dreams,
Sail wondering into this story.
His greeting has the wholeness
Of bread and poetry.
No word to suggest dogma or creed;
No ninety-nine impossible things
To believe before breakfast
But this one thing:
Life…in all its abundance
…to be savoured and shared:
‘Come and have breakfast’
~ Joy Mead (John 21:9-14)
Maytime Prayer
Maytime is a fair season,
With its bird song and bright trees,
With the plow in the furrow,
While the sea is green
And many colors clothe the Earth.
The gift I ask of this Maytime,
May it not be denied me,
Is peace between myself and God,
Between myself and all I meet,
Between myself and the sweet Earth.
May this Maytime show me the way
To the gate of glory
That leads to your court, O Christ.
~ From Celtic Prayers for Ordinary Life
Lauds
My soul is an enchanted boat
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float
Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing;
And thine doth like an angel sit
Beside a helm conducting it,
Whilst all the winds with melody are ringing,
It seems to float ever, for ever,
Upon that many-winding river,
Between mountains, woods, abysses,
A paradise of wildernesses!
Till, like one in slumber bound,
Borne to the ocean, I float down, around,
Into a sea profound, of ever-spreading sound….
~Percy Bysshe Shelley
Work Gloves
These are my work gloves:
Like the hands inside
They have seen better days.
They are crumpled, dusty
And, at points, downright mucky.
They have been stained by paint
And snagged by nails.
But I’m not ashamed of them:
All these are signs of hard work –
After all, I’d rather
Wear out than rust away –
And, in their humble way
They help me to see you, God,
At work in the world.
Incarnation is hands-on:
In Jesus you showed yourself ready
To get your hands dirty –
Torn by nails, stained red…
These work gloves remind me of your love.
~ Jan Sutch Pickard
As surely as the tide returns to the shore,
The bird to its nest;
As surely as the sun runs its course,
So surely do I, your God and Lover
Return to you.
I will not leave you bereft.
I will weep with you.
I will dry your eyes
On the sleeve of my robe,
Release what binds and poisons
Your mind and your dreams.
I will come to travel with you,
You are not alone.
Come, Lord Jesus.
~ Ruth Burgess & Kathy Galloway
Loving and all-knowing God
Help us to remember you
When we are angry
When we are disappointed
When we are lonely
When we are unhappy
When we are joyful
And, having remembered you, enable us to acknowledge and feel your presence in us.
~ St. Hilda Community
God be in our heads and in our thinking.
God be in our hearts and in our loving.
God be in our ears and in our listening.
God be in our hands and in our doing.
~ Harvey and May Sweet Lord
Hope: a moment of being
As if the word is ‘Yes’
As if there were light
At the end of the tunnel,
As if there were good
To be illuminated.
An affirmation
That the tinsel
Will never outshine
The sunlight
And yesterday will be valued
As if there will be tomorrow
And it will be good.
~ Joy Mead
We give you thanks, Spirit of wisdom,
For you speak to us in ways
That often surprise us.
You uncover truths that
We had kept hidden from ourselves
And support us in tasks we fear to undertake alone.
We give thanks
For your invitations
To growth and intimacy and fullness of life,
And for the comfort you extend
In our often uphill struggle
To be faithful.
Inspire us. Encourage us.
Fill us with enthusiasm
For the mission of your Church.
“Transforming womb of God,
Conceive in us.
We ask you, create life anew:
Faith, the confidence to bear,
Hope, continuously expectant,
Love, the true beginning.”
~ Janet Schaffran & Pat Kozak
Let peace fill our world
Lead me from Death to Life
From Falsehood to Truth
Lead me from Despair to Hope
From Fear to Trust
Lead me from Hate to Love
From War to Peace
Let Peace fill our Heart
Our World, our Universe
Peace – Peace – Peace
~ Maureen Edwards
Deep in the heart of God there lurks
A mischief making note,
A gurgle of suppressed delight
A chuckle in the throat.
Deep in the heart of God there lies
A reservoir of pain,
A cross-marked agony of love
Filled and refilled again.
God of our laughter and our tears,
Transcending human thought,
You share our fun in life, our fears,
– By incarnation brought:
Father of Jesus Christ, the clown,
Whose Spirit gives us breath,
Hear us, who look to you to crown
Our merriment, our death.
~ Ian M. Fraser
God who is with us
At our beginning and ending,
Be with us now.
Help us to find you
In the chaos of our lives.
Let your light shine in our darkness
So that we may be guided
To walk in your ways all the days of our life.
~ Ulla Monberg
A Peace Dream
I dream
Of a loving world
Where we see each other
With God’s eyes;
I dream
Of a resourceful world
Where we cherish the unique gift
Of each other;
I dream
Of a hopeful world
Where we recognize the power of God’s grace
To transform and make new;
I dream of peace.
~ Claire Smith
I Flew
He said,
“Come to the edge.”
I said,
“I can’t, I’m afraid.”
He said,
“Come to the edge,”
I said,
“I can’t, I’ll fall off.”
He said, finally,
“Come to the edge.”
And I came to the edge,
And
I flew.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire
Christ is Living in Our World
Through human lips
Christ has spoken
Though human hands
Christ has healed
Through our hearts
Christ is loving
Through us all
Christ is working
So, behold the truth
Christ is living in our world.
~ Richard Becher
In These Fragile Times
Pentecost did not happen the day after Easter. Perhaps resurrection takes a bit of getting used to. Instead, the disciples waited and prayed. And suddenly, without warning, they were filled with power. At a time like this, filled with huge preventable suffering, we look for the freeing of the Spirit. We pray for the peace of the world. We ask, give us Pentecost again. And, like the disciples, we cannot predict where or when or how the Spirit will move among us. But we can wait in hope and readiness, open to its coming.
~ Kathy Galloway, Leader of the Iona Community
GIVING THANKS
I give you thanks, God our father,
for making us, your children, worthy to share,
In the inheritance of your Saints in glory,
for delivering us from the power of darkness
and welcoming us into the kingdom
(bright with the light of the glory of his risen body)
of your beloved Son.
In him you have given us the remission of sin;
by his blood we are redeemed,
and in his rising from the dead
we are restored to life.
For he became the firstborn from the dead
in order to be one of many brethren –
all those whom he has made
a chosen race, a holy nation,
a line of priests set apart to serve you, our God;
so that in him, over all your creation
a new age has dawned,
a broken world has been renewed,
and man is once again made whole.
To him be glory for ever;
and to you, Father, our Creator and our Lord,
be sung by men unceasing thanks.
~ Brian Moore & Charles Watt
As storytellers
we shape your
unfolding story
as passionate people
we share your
passion for justice
as bearers of God
we embody your life
in the world
Humble us to listen
to forgotten stories
empowe us with boldness
when we are afraid
re-source us
for the birthing of liberation
~ Ruth Burgess & Chris Polhill

The silence breaks into morning
That One Star lights the world.
The lily springs to life and
not even Solomon…
Let it begin with singing and never end!
Oh, angels, quit your lamenting!
Oh, pilgrims,
upon your knees in tearful prayer,
rise up
and take your hearts
and run!
We who were no people
are named anew
God’s people,
for he who was no more
is forevermore.
~ Ann Weems
Easter Sunday – April 4, 2021
“This is the day:
When tears are wiped away,
Shattered hearts are mended,
Fears are replaced with joy.
This is the day:
When the Lord rolls away the stone of fear,
Throws off death’s clothes,
Goes ahead of us into God’s future.
This is the day the Lord has made:
Death has no fear for us,
Sin has lost its power over us,
God opens the tombs of our hearts
To fill us with life.
This is the day – Easter Day!
Christ is risen!
Hallelujah!”
~ Ruth Burgess
Submitted by Dawn Garrett-Larsen
Holy Saturday – April 3, 2021
Scripture states, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh shall be opened”
~ Mathew 7: 7-8
Several years ago as I was reading about George Washington Carver, I was reminded that he was the famous American agricultural scientist whose lifetime of research resulted in a multitude of peanut products. This passage came to mind as I read the theme of his explanation for his discoveries — “God put them here and I found them.”
Like Carver, as we examine this very moment in our lives, our next breath, minute, hour, day, and week rest in God’s open hands. Who knows the discoveries awaiting us if we too knock, ask, receive, seek, find and act.
Submitted by D. Guy Burns
Good Friday – April 2, 2021
People are often unreasonable, irrational,
and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere,
people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating,
others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have,
and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
You see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It was never about them anyway.
~ Mother Teresa
Submitted by Kathy Ward
Maundy Thursday – April 1, 2021
“Hatching of the Heart:”
A Personal Maundy Thursday Story
I grew up in Rochester’s First Presbyterian Church, now a part of Downtown Presbyterian Church. I was a feisty, inquisitive child who broke the mold of first borns wanting to please.
I tried the patience of many adults including Sunday School teachers. With much later hindsight, however, I came to realize during these early years, I had been given the gifts of grace and loving acceptance.
The same pastor who nurtured my early church beginnings saw me through Confirmation Class. He too was patient. A stumbling block for me, in spite of cognitive explanation, was the Eucharist/Communion.
This continued into my adult years; in fact, it became quite stuck in my craw.
Fast forwarding to the early 1960s, Jim and I found ourselves back in Rochester where he practiced law for a brief time. We returned to First Presbyterian Church.
It was in that sanctuary during a Maundy Thursday Communion service that I had an epiphany, a light of understanding: the meaning and power of the Eucharist hit me full force. It was deeply personal; I was at that Passover meal with Jesus and his disciples. I had ‘passed over’ to a new level of faith and life.
“Do this in remembrance of me” was no longer ‘out there’.
Rather, it had become snugly tucked within my heart.
Then, as now, Holy Week still holds betrayal and Good Friday but when the heart has hatched* with the hallelujah of love, we know the promise of Easter Sunday, will be soon to come.
This Maundy Thursday, 2021, let us celebrate the varied and unique ways, both ordinary and dramatic, in which all our hearts can hatch into the hallelujah of resurrection.
*Hatching of the Heart is a term first used by Marcus Borg
Submitted by Mickey Ely
Wednesday March 31, 2021
“This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
King James Version, Psalm 118, Verse 24
Every Sunday, when I was a young child in Mrs. Ault’s Sunday School, Mrs. Ault would begin our worship gathering with this verse. I can still picture her standing in front of our group in the large Sunday School room, sitting in a semicircle around her, in the child sized chairs meant just for us.
I think of this as an inspirational verse. I try to remember it in the morning, the start of the new day. It especially helps for difficult days, with hardship or worry or sadness. It is good to pause and remember this verse and take that moment to think about the new day the Lord has given me and take that moment to try and improve my outlook, to be grateful that God has given me this day to see a new path, find new strength.
And throughout any day, just a glance out the window, or being outside with nature will bring this verse to mind. To see a beautiful fresh snowy scene, the green of fresh spring leaves, the morning sunbeams glimmering on the lake, or the full moon rise, I am reminded that this is the day that the Lord has made. And I do rejoice at the wonder of it all.
In reviewing the psalm in my own King James Version, it both begins and ends with another familiar verse, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth forever.” Those are certainly words of hope to remember at any time.
I hope Mrs. Ault would feel rewarded that this verse has remained with me all these years, and that it gives me comfort and hope, and that so frequently, it inspires wonder at this beautiful creation of God. I hope that reminding you of this verse will bring occasion for renewed hope and wonder for you.
Of note: I went online to check where to find this bible verse and found that I am not alone in thinking of it. There are songs, story books and much, much more, that I did not have time to even glance at, that are brought up by just typing in Google “This is the day.”
Submitted by Tarry Shipley
Tuesday – March 30, 2021
Lent is a time of listening, of letting God speak to us. When Jesus needed to be close to his heavenly Father, he went alone into the wilderness.
This Lenten season we need God’s quiet presence more than ever after months of distancing and uncertainty.
We pray for the overworked medical and emergency workers, the families, teachers, caregivers. We are concerned about health and the healing and forgiving we need as in Jesus’ day.
“Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
of our life’s wild restless sea –
Day by day his sweet voice calls us,
saying Christian follow me.”
We can find God’s love and peace in our hearts through MUSIC.
We’re thankful for our singing Pastor Dawn and the youth and all in our church who share their gifts of music.
You lift our spirits and inspire us. Heavenly music like Mozart and Faure’s “Requiem” and the hymns we sing can now all be downloaded on our iPhones.
When we are anxious “Be Still my Soul”
calms us and God is with us as we seek Him
in “Nearer my God to Thee.”
People the world over sing “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy.”
Twenty years ago our church welcomed a persecuted family from warm west Africa to snowy Canandaigua.
The mother, a pastor, sang our same hymn tunes in her language from her well-worn hymn book.
We shared and learned from each other and attended their citizenship ceremony. (They are well and we are blessed.)
Help us, O God, in troubled times.
“Precious Lord, take my hand.”
Submitted by Mary Lou Mees
Monday – March 29, 2021
“Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous;
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
~Psalm 97: 12
Submitted by Bill Blaker
Palm Sunday – March 28, 2021
“Beautiful Savior!
King of creation!
Son of God and Son of man.
Truly I’d love Thee,
Truly I’d serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.
Fair are the meadows,
Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flowers of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer,
He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
Fair is the moonlight,
Bright are the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of the nations!
Son of God and Son of man.
Glory and honor,
Praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.”
~Joseph Augustus Seiss
Submitted by Denise Morphy
Friday – March 26, 2021
WALK DON’T RUN
“Walk, don’t run.
That’s it.
Walk, don’t run.
Slow down, breathe deeply,
and open your eyes because there’s
a whole world right here within this one.
The bush doesn’t suddenly catch on fire,
it’s been burning the whole time.
Moses is simply moving
slowly enough to see it.
And when he does,
he takes off his sandals.
Not because
the ground has suddenly become holy,
but because he’s just now becoming aware
that the ground has been holy the whole time.
Efficiency is not God’s highest goal
for your life,
neither is busyness,
or how many things you can get done
in one day,
or speed, or even success.
But walking,
which leads to seeing,
now that’s something.
That’s the invitation for every one of us today,
and everyday, in every conversation, interaction, event, and moment:
to walk, not run. And in doing so,
to see a whole world right here within this one.”
~Rob Bell
Submitted by Delana Hey
Thursday – March 25, 2021
When my brother was in high school, probably in wood shop, he etched the Bible verse “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10) onto a chunk of wood to create a door stop for my grandmother.
Fast forward many years later- on a breathlessly quiet early morning, a few days after that much loved brother’s funeral, I was on my way to get the newspaper when the wind chimes played a few gentle tones. Who moved those chimes? A squirrel or a bird? I do not care-I choose to: “Be still and know”
I opened my ‘star’ word on Epiphany and found “center” as my word.
What a good word for me – a reminder for me to tune out the external chaos and quiet my internal distractions and:
“Be still”
“For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)
Our being
“Be”
Submitted by Marty Daniels
Wednesday – March 24, 2021
Submitted by Alicia Francis
Tuesday – March 23, 2021
“The Miracle of Morning”
“I thought I’d awaken to a world in mourning.
Heavy clouds crowding, a society storming.
But there’s something different
on this golden morning.
Something magical in the sunlight,
wide and warming.
I see a dad with a stroller taking a jog.
Across the street, a bright-eyed girl chases her dog.
A grandma on a porch fingers her rosaries.
She grins as her young neighbor
brings her groceries.
While we might feel small, separate, and all alone,
Our people have never been more closely tethered.
The question isn’t if we will weather this unknown,
But how we will weather this unknown together.
So on this meaningful morn,
we mourn and we mend.
Like light, we can’t be broken, even when we bend.
As one, we will defeat both despair and disease.
We stand with healthcare heroes and all employees;
With families, libraries, schools, waiters, artists;
Businesses, restaurants, and hospitals hit hardest.
We ignite not in the light, but in lack thereof,
For it is in loss that we truly learn to love.
In this chaos, we will discover clarity.
In suffering, we must find solidarity.
For it’s our grief that gives us our gratitude,
Shows us how to find hope, if we ever lose it.
So ensure that this ache wasn’t endured in vain:
Do not ignore the pain. Give it purpose. Use it.
Read children’s books, dance alone to DJ music.
Know that this distance
will make our hearts grow fonder.
From a wave of woes our world
will emerge stronger.
We’ll observe how the burdens
braved by humankind
Are also the moments that make us humans kind;
Let every dawn find us courageous, brought closer;
Heeding the light before the fight is over.
When this ends, we’ll smile sweetly, finally seeing
In testing times, we became the best of beings.”
~Amanda Gorman
Submitted by Dawn Garrett-Larsen
Sunday – March 21, 2021
Journey of Hope
For a few years we have contributed to a program that supports educational opportunities in central Asia – especially for girls. It is a dangerous area of our world without a guaranteed future of survival – let alone progress – in freeing young people to achieve their full potential. But the magazine of the organization is named Journey of Hope. How can anyone hope in those circumstances? So it seems extremely selfish for me to even consider the use of the word “hope” in my own life.
On the other hand if I don’t embrace hope, haven’t I wasted my unique position due to my privilege – as a male, as a white person, as a citizen of the United States? It seems to me that there are two kinds of hope: 1. the kind that I have no control over: “I hope it doesn’t rain on our picnic tomorrow”; and 2. the kind that with some effort on my part I can bring about change: “I hope the local food bank has enough volunteers to sort the donations for distribution.”
My favorite Bible verse is James 2:26: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (NIV) How about substituting the word “hope” in place of “faith” in this verse?
I’m writing this devotion in the hope that I will read it and even consider it! So thank you for indulging me!
Submitted by Jim Hilton
Saturday – March 20, 2021
“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
~ Mother Teresa
Submitted by the Schneider Family
Friday – March 19, 2021
“Judge not a person by their family
because their family is not of their choosing. But judge a person
by the company they keep
because the company they keep
is of their choosing.”
Submitted by Connie Fredericks-Malone
Thursday – March 18, 2021
“God of Love, help me to take advantage of each opportunity I have to offer someone a helping hand, a kind word, a listening ear, or a pat on the back. Amen”
~ Helen Lesman (Heart Delights)
Submitted by Don Oakleaf
Wednesday – March 17, 2021
“May the blessing of Light be upon you.
Light without and Light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine upon you
and warm your heart till it glows
like a great peat fire so that
the stranger may come and warm himself
at it and also a friend.”
~ A Little Book of Irish Blessings
Submitted by Ron & Lu Krahl
Tuesday – March 16, 2021
No one feels strong when
she examines her own weakness.
But in facing weakness,
you learn how much there is in you,
and you find real strength.”
~ Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee Lady Vols Basketball Coach
Submitted by Sue Hawkes
Monday – March 15, 2021
Home
“no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home
is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i don’t know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here”
~ Warsan Shire
Submitted by Jesse Garrett-Larsen
Sunday – March 14, 2021
Death Is Nothing At All
“Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever
the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.
All is well.
Nothing is hurt;
nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be
as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble
of parting when we meet again!”
~Henry Scott-Holland
Submitted by Hannah Morgan
Saturday – March 13, 2021
“The way I see it is that if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
~Dolly Parton
Submitted by Gloria McAlpin
Friday – March 12, 2021
Reflections on Time
These past months have found us all focusing on staying healthy, and that has meant isolating ourselves, and limiting contact with family and friends.
The plus side is that we may have been able to find time for communicating in various ways with acquaintances near and far, reading,
exercising, and dealing with projects which we have neglected.
I think many of us find ourselves losing track of the days, weeks and months, and wondering: Where has all of this “free” time gone?
As I’ve reflected on my relationship to time, a hymn which we sang in church often as I was growing up came to mind. I share it now, as we enter the Lenten season and set aside time for meditation.
It was written in the 1880’s, with words by William D. Longstaff and music by George C. Stebbins.
Take Time to Be Holy
“Take time to be holy,
speak oft with your Lord;
abide in him always,
and feed on his Word.
Make friends of God’s children;
help those who are weak;
forgetting in nothing
his blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy,
the world rushes on;
spend much time in secret
with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus,
like him you shall be;
your friends in your conduct
his likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy,
let him be your guide,
and run not before him,
whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow,
still follow your Lord,
and looking to Jesus,
still trust in his Word.”
Submitted by Elaine Hilton
Thursday – March 11, 2021
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
As a child, I learned the poem: “Hearts like doors will open with ease to very, very little keys and two of these are thank you and if you please.” It seems to me that courtesy is the first step on the way to the goal of Christian love. From courtesy the next natural step is respect for self and others. Through respect for others, an understanding of other’s needs and goals is developed. With an understanding of other’s values, compassion naturally occurs, followed by Christian love.
Perhaps this is a simplistic approach from courtesy to love, but here are a few examples of how it works. Will not a child, who holds the door for another, be an adult who allows a car to merge ahead of him or her? Will not a child, who makes friends with all children, be an adult who treats his co-workers with respect regardless of ethnic or economic background? Will not a child, who gives food to the Salvation Army, be an adult who contributes to the needs of the homeless? Will not a child who sees his church family united in serving others, be an adult who serves others?
Prayer: Dear God, give us knowledge and understanding as we seek to train our young people. Help us to show Christian love through our actions at home, at church, at work, in our community and in the world. Amen.
Submitted by Sharon Day
Wednesday – March 10, 2021
A Collection from Winnie the Pooh:
“You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”
“Some people care too much. I think it’s called love. “
Piglet “How do you spell love?”
Pooh “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”
“Sometimes said Pooh, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there someday.”
“If a person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
“The things that make me different, are the things that make me, me.”
“If there ever comes a day, we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll be there forever.”
“Friendship, said Christopher Robin, is a very comforting thing to have.”
“Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.”
“A little Consideration, a little Thought for others, makes all the difference.”
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”
“Good judgement comes from experience – and experience – well comes from poor judgement.”
“Forever isn’t long at all, Christopher, as long as I am with you.”
~ A.A. Milne
Submitted by Linda Orrell-Fair
Tuesday – March 9, 2021
“May the sun bring you
new energy by day,
May the rain wash away
your worries,
May the breeze blow new
strength into your being,
May you walk gently through
the world and know it’s
beauty all the days
of your life.”
~ Apache Blessing
Submitted by Laurie Stoutz
Monday – March 8, 2021
“The great lesson is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends and family, in one’s backyard.”
~ Abraham Maslow
Submitted by Kathi Nacca
Sunday – March 7, 2021
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace.
One must believe in it.
And it isn’t enough to believe in it.
One must work on it.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Submitted by Betsy Gillim
Saturday – March 6, 2021
“Thank you God, for this day!
Thank you for my friends and family.
Help me to use today for good.
I am KIND.
I am CARING.
I will be gentle with my words and hands.
I will use my words
to encourage myself and others.
I am BRAVE.
I am HONEST.
I can do hard things.
Help me to remember,
I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me.
I am LOVED and I am ENOUGH!
I am ready to go out and share my gift with the world!”
Submitted by The Leasure Family
Friday – March 5, 2021
“Look to this day,
for it is life,
the very life of life.
In its brief course
lies all the realities
and verities of existence:
the bliss of growth,
the splendor of action,
the glory of power.
For yesterday is but a dream,
and tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness.
And every tomorrow
vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.”
~ Sanskrit Proverb
Submitted by Cathy Brooks
Isaiah 43:2
“When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
~The Holy Bible
Submitted by Lin Case
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
“I’d go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I’d look up into the sky-up-up-up into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer”
by L. M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery)
Submitted by Kelly Meath
Monday, March 1, 2021
“Lent is a call to renew a commitment
grown dull, perhaps,
by a life more marked by routine
than by reflection.”
~Joan Chittister
Submitted by Marilyn DeSmith
Sunday, February 28, 2021
“No one is born hating another person
because of the color of his skin,
or his background,
or his religion.
People must learn to hate,
and if they can learn to hate,
they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally
to the human heart than its opposite.”
~ Nelson Mandela
Submitted by Debbie Lyon
Saturday – February 27, 2021
Sleeping in the Forest
“I thought the earth
remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.”
~Mary Oliver
Submitted by Jay Garrett-Larsen
“The Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one;——or if they think there is not——at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.”
~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Submitted by Lorena Garmezy
Thursday, February 25, 2021
BURNING THE OLD YEAR
“Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.
So much of any year is flammable,
lists of vegetables, partial poems.
Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.
Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.
I begin again with the smallest numbers.
Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,
only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.”
~ Naomi Shihab Nye, Words Under the Words: Selected Poems
Submitted by Jim Malone
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Submitted by Rhonda Nyerges
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
“One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord,
across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed
two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times
along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me,
so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you!
Never, ever!
During your trials and testings,
when you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”
~ Author Unknown
Submitted by Nataelee Mullen
Monday, February 22, 2021
Leviticus 26:6
“I will grant peace in the land,
and you will lie down
and no one will make you afraid.
I will remove wild beasts from the land,
and the sword will not
pass through your country.
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people
with peace.”
~The Holy Bible
Submitted by Rhonda Nyerges
Sunday, February 21, 2021
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born
to eternal life. Amen.”
~ St Francis of Assisi
Submitted by Amy Ogden
Saturday, February 20, 2021
Friday – February 19, 2021
“Look to this day, for it is life,
the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities
and truths of existence.
The joy of growth,
the splendor of action,
the glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory
and tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well-lived
makes yesterday
a memory of happiness of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.”
~From the Sanscrit
Submitted by Lu & Ron Krahl
Thursday – February 18, 2021
Ash Wednesday – February 17, 2021
To You We Shall Return
“Mysterious God,
morning, noon and night
reveal your creative power;
around us the whole earth cries glory.
Your presence beats in our blood,
children of creation!
Yet we go on our way deaf to the larks
above the track,
looking down into the mud
and not up into the clear sky.
And, even then, we miss the myriad small signs of hope: crocus opening its heart to the sun,
colors of sea-washed stones, rainbows in the mist.
We despair so easily.
We say: ‘Where is God in all this?’
And we deny it has any meaning.
We say: ‘God is dead.’
We cannot find or feel the pulse of your life in us.
We put our shaky faith in things we have made,
we give cringing power to the institutions.
We give up on ourselves, saying: ‘We are no good.’ We live in a way that says: ‘There is no God.’
And the song of creation
turns to dust and ashes on our lips.
Forgive us.
Dust we are – and to dust we shall return.
But, in Jesus, you chose to share our human frailty, to enter into our mortality in all its mystery,
to redeem this handful of dust.
We are yours – and to you we shall return. Amen.”
~ Ruth Burgess
Submitted by Dawn Garrett-Larsen
February 16, 2021
Hope is a dark elusive child curled in the womb
cradled in our arms,
hope growing, silently, secretly,
fluttering – putting out soft tentacles;
hope – stretching, stirring.
Hope growing silently,
secretly, swelling,
burgeoning, bursting,
until the flower opens,
the child is crowned, and hope is born.
God of all hopefulness,
for seeds of silent growth
and secret expectation,
we thank you.
God of steadfast love,
never leave us hopeless.
Bring hope to birth
in us, and your world.
God, giver of peace,
grow hope within us
and around us.
God of steadfast love,
never leave us hopeless.
~ Kate Mcllhagga
February 11, 2021
No One Can Take Your Place
The symphony needs each note
The book needs each word
The house needs each brick
The ocean needs each drop of water
The harvest needs each grain of wheat
The whole of humanity needs you
As and where you are
You are unique
No one can take your place.
~ Michel Quoist
February 10, 2021
Loving Parent God, forgive us for the many times that we cannot see and feel.
Every time we close our eyes in prayer, help us to open them afraid to see the many injustices and oppression around us.
Every time we raise our hands in praise to God, help us to stretch them out once again that we may help those who are in need.
Forgive us, and every time we kneel in prayer, help us to stand again with our brothers and sisters in struggle; help us to stand in solidarity with them.
~ Claudio Carvalhaes
February 5, 2021
Journeying with you, Creator God,
Is to journey in your world,
Full or marvels and such beauty.
To glimpse eternity in sky and sea,
To feel the earth and rock beneath my feet.
Journey with you, brother Jesus,
Is to journey with your friends.
To meet and travel a while together,
Then part at the crossroads,
Knowing you are with us all.
Journeying with you, Holy Spirit,
Is to journey with the wind.
To move to your wild music
Then try to sing your song
So others may hear.
~ Chris Polhill
February 1, 2021
Our Global Village
Loving God, you commission us to care
For the widow and orphan,
To walk the ways of truth and mercy.
So often we fail in our global village,
Where many are hungry
And some are sick and diseased.
Ours is an unequal world,
Often a place of terror.
Lord, send us showers of compassion;
Let streams of justice flow.
May the parched lands of oppression
Become the fruitful fields of sharing.
~ John Johansen-Berg, England
January 28, 2021
Wheat Grain
The given beauty of it –
Inert in my palm
Tender, fragile thing
Quietly holding
Good for all people,
Complex and intricate,
Storing life and the means
Of life.
The silent wonder of it –
Jack in the beanstalk story:
Always ready to sprout
While the sower is away;
Fairy story; or miracle:
Seed, soil, labour, love;
Life, death, rebirth,
Earth’s best gift,
Seed of freedom
For all our tomorrows.
~ Joy Mead
January 27, 2021
The Words and Wanderings of Being Alive
I am thankful for:
insights that show me straight lines are overrated, logic and reason don’ t solve everything,
the table is round
and there’s music in the air;
quiet moments, noisy moments, inspiring moments; voices that echo in my mind
and become friends;
all-sorted conversations; seeds that don’t stay
where they are put;
my friend’s shoes that encourage walking on air
which is not an element for walking on;
earth-supported, water-washed, air- blessed, fire-inspired
bread and poetry;
people who in all their extraordinary ordinariness
turn up on the doorstep like parcels
of wonderful surprises;
connections and process;
being and becoming;
today and tomorrow,
which are different and always will be.
~ Joy Mead
there’s a tree in there
somewhere
reach into the sky
little seed
what possibilities lie dormant in us
ready to grow into being
when we let go
and open ourselves
to the light of the sun
to the refreshing rain
to the hidden depths
of the mothering earth
solid beneath us
yet soft to shelter our sprouting
reach up to the sky
let yourself grow
and one day you will
find the birds of the air
resting with their heads under their wings
waking and singing the dawning of hope
sheltering in your branches
a soft nest
perhaps
a pale blue speckled egg
waiting to be born
and to fly
let yourself be grown
your life is full of possibility
you are the seed
you are the bird
and you are also the tree
~ Lotte Webb






Giver of Hope
Spirit of God,
you open doors that are locked,
break the shackles of slavery,
erode the pyramids of domination,
and tumble tyrants from their thrones.
You give us life
and whisper in our hearts,
“You are God’s beloved child,
and always will be.”
Deep in every human heart
you plant a seed of promise,
a glimmer of expectation, and a spark of hope.
And because you give us breath, we praise you.
Somewhere between Annunciation and Magnificat;
between the angel thought and the setting out
into the unknown is the waiting time
when ordinary happenings: leaping of babies, conversations of home, holding out hands,
in friendship and trust, become miracles;
that bridge the gap between loving and being.
Then the words that tumble out of the everyday
begin to take the rhythm of a liberation song
and the body moves wholly towards tomorrow.
Advocates, peacemakers,
Those who seek justice
And all who support them.
Let us pray in confidence
And inspire to action,
Living out our faith
As the people of the way,
Lighting that way
For younger generations
And all who have given up hope.
We come together
In prayer and reflection
To consider the plight of the earth,
Of humanity and all living things,
To remember in solemnity,
To consider in kindness,
And to encourage one another
In the finding of solutions,
In the task of applying them
And in the will to work together
To carry them through.
~ Anastasia Somerville-Wong
Love is a living thing,
God of boisterous spirit and unflinching hope,
For their nurture and protection,
Comfort and assurance.
We pray for their characters,
That they might enjoy the untainted beauty
Of unspoiled landscapes and pristine seas,
All the earth and beyond.
~ Anastasia Somerville-Wong
~ Richard Rohr
an eagle soaring,
a voice from the wilderness
echoing through your ear.
Whispering, encouraging –
keep going, seek My glory,
don’t worry, I’ll keep
your fears.
~ Juanita Helphrey
Bless your eyes that you may have clarity of vision,
Bless your mouth that you may speak the truth,
Bless your ears that you may hear all that is spoken to you,
Bless your heart that you may be filled with love,
Bless your feet that you may find and walk your own true path.
~ Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild
the wonder of whose presence fills us with awe,
let kindness, justice and love shine in our world.
Let your secrets be known here as they are in heaven.
Give us the food and the hope we need for today.
Forgive us our wrongdoing
as we forgive the wrongs done to us.
Protect us from pride and from despair
and from the fear and hate which can swallow us up.
In you is truth, meaning, glory and power,
while worlds come and go. Amen.
~ The St Hilda Community
The guarding of the God of life be upon me,
The guarding of loving Christ be upon me,
The guarding of hte Holy Spirit be upon me,
Each step of the way,
To aid me and enfold me,
Each day and night of my life.
~ Esther De Waal
August 26, 2020
August 25, 2020
Lord of the morning,
you come to us in sunshine and in shower. Unobtrusive, you call us into life once again. We long for your love to enfold us,
your Spirit to refresh us and renew us,
your gentle presence to guide and protect us. In return we offer you our grateful thanks – ourselves just as we are.
August 20, 2020
NEW BEGINNINGS
Lord, take my life, my small life,
and illume it:
that everything I say and do
may reflect the light of your glory.
Lord, take my life, my small life,
and imprint it:
that everything I say and do
may reveal the image of your love.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and inspire it:
that everything I say and do
may resonate with the power of your Spirit.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and indwell it:
that everything I say and do may radiate your Life,
your glorious Life.
~ Pat Bennett
August 19, 2020
After Psalm 19
The sky does it simply, naturally day by day by day
the sun does it joyfully like someone in love
like a runner on the starting-line the sky, the sun,
they just can’t help themselves
no loud voices, no grand speeches
but everyone sees,
and is happy with them.
Make us like that, Lord
so that our faith is not in our words but in our lives not in what we say but in who we are
passing on your love like an infectious laugh: not worried, not threatening, just shining like the sun, like a starry night,
like a lamp on a stand, light for life –
your light for our lives.
~ The Iona Community
August 18, 2020
Get articulate. Move the blood. Attend periphery.
Prepare to dance the Open Dance. Learn to gather momentum and Throw it away.
Explode into the ordinary and
Keep your eyes wide. Embrace fear. Suspend doubt. Specify.
Simplify. Strengthen. Launch.
Float.
Dignify the confusion. Visualize the next step. Stick your toe in. Get all wet!
Barbara Dilley, Dancer and teacher, CO
August 14, 2020
Be still, my children,
My voice is not always
heard in the thunder and earthquakes
of your experience.
I do not only speak when you are
physically and mentally involved in living.
Be still – and in the stillness I will speak.
When you are quiet
when you are resting
when you are aware of me pulsating within
you and around you
when you are waiting and listening,
I will break through
and enrich your silence
releasing my peace and glory
and transforming your experience
until in the stillness
you find yourself longing
to shout for joy.
~ Ruth Burgess
August 13,2020
I Am Silent . . . and Expectant
How silently, how silently
the wondrous gift is given.
I would be silent now, Lord,
and expectant . . . that I may receive
the gift I need,
so I may become
the gifts others need.
~ Ted Loder
August 12, 2020
August 11, 2020
Otherwise the Darkness
I
have a cause.
We need those don’t we?
Otherwise the darkness and the cold gets in
and everything starts to ache.
My soul has a purpose;
it is to love.
If I do not fulfill
my heart’s vocation,
I suffer.
~ Thomas Aquinas
August 10, 2020
FOR THE LIFE OF YOUR WORLD
Lord of the journey – I offer You my feet; take them and anoint them
that I might go out into the barren places run towards the prodigal
travel the extra mile.
Lord of compassion – I offer You my hands; take th m and free them
that I might reach out to the rejected tend the wounds of the broken
wash the feet of the poor.
Lord of the Gospel – I offer You my voice; take it and strengthen it
that I might proclaim the reign of Your Kingdom speak out against injustice
ask hard questions.
Lord of wisdom – I offer You my mind; take it and enlighten it
that I might see with the eye of an eagle uncover new possibilities
reach beyond the obvious.
Lord of love – I offer You my heart; take it and wound it
that I might share in the pain of the suffering become a home for the lost
love without calculation.
Lord of eternity – I offer You my life; take it and spend it
for the life of Your world. Pat Bennett
August 7, 2020
The time for healing of the wounds has come. The time to build is upon us….
We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination…
There is no easy road to freedom…
None of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
~Nelson Mandela
August 6, 2020
The world is fast losing its soul
but you don’t have to surrender yours.
You don’t have to live on a mechanical globe.
You don’t have to tame your deep-forest passions.
You don’t have to suppress your radiant beauty.
Live your joy,
Go against the grain.
Don’t be made timid by worried rejection.
Let nature’s curious wisdom fill you.
Let the world’s mystical heritage guide you.
Paint your canvases,
play your tunes.
Give your all to the words that are born from you.
Your father and your father’s heaven
will never abandon you
but always love
the scintilla of your spirit.
~ Thomas Moore
August 4, 2020
Celebrating Along the Way
We celebrate this God who leaps free of all our boundaries
In love stretching out from horizon to horizon,
And in mercy bending deep into fragile human hearts.
~ Dorothy McRae-McMahon
August 3, 2020
When faith feels as insubstantial as a spider’s thread,
when I dangle terrified,
unconvinced of the realities that I do not see,
help me to hear the stories of the faithful who have gone before,
life lines in the darkness,
creating a web of certainty.
Faithful people who hoped in times of no hope:
Abraham leaving behind all the certainties of home,
Sarah believing in new life, against all the odds,
the saints, names and unnamed who have lived lives of hope,
proclaiming their faith in word and deed.
Then as I hear their witness, I swing like an acrobat,
confident that this thread of faith will never break,
secure once again of the realities that I cannot see,
but upon which I trust my life.
Ruth Maxey
July 30, 2020
Count the Stars
He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. ~ Genesis 15:5-6
July 29, 2020
Fingerprints
Gently working,
Potter’s hands;
Kneading, shaping,
Softening clay.
Moulding, flexing.
Changing form,
With skillful eyes the guide
To see
Beyond the lump of lifeless clay
A vision of of what lies within:
Potential yet to come to birth,
Created from his loving touch
And his fingertip imprints
On the clay.
Lord, let me be
As clay within Your hands,
That You may shape
The me You hold within Your dreams
And I may know
Your fingerprints
Upon my life.
~ Pat Harsh
July 27, 2020
I believe
Enemy of apathy
She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters, hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day; she sighs and she sings, mothering creation, waiting to give birth to all the Word will say. She wings over earth, resting where she wishes, lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies; she nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder, nourishing potential hidden to our eyes. She dances in fire, startling her spectators, waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned; she weans and inspires all whose hearts are open, nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained. For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence, gifted by the Saviour in eternal love; she is the key opening the scriptures, enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.
~ The Iona Community
I desire to know the illusions that keep me from growing.
Help me pay attention to what stirs within me. May any falseness in my life be revealed.
Lead me to the peaceful place deep within where you and I are truly one.
I open the door of my heart to you. I open the door.
Hear the Call of Your Love
God of Space and God of Time:
Give me a listening heart to hear the call of your love. Infinite and vast, beyond all timea and space, yet also right here and now, you show me there is plenty of awe to go around. Thank you for this day and all the experiences it will offer. Amen.
~ Peter Traben Haas
July 1, 2020
“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” ― John F. Kennedy
June 30, 2020
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
we step back from the activities of the day.
the things we are doing,
and find new meaning for them, and new strength for doing them.
And moments for recalling
how we are meeting you already,
in the stuff of daily living and engagement,
and compassion is translated into action.
AMEN.
June 22, 2020
It was the wind that gave them life.
It is the winds that come out of our mouths now that gives us life.
When this ceases to blow we die.
In the skin of our fingers we can see the trail of the wind;
it shows us where the wind blew when
our ancestors were created.
~Washington Matthews
June 10, 2020
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 9, 2020
“Sever the ties to your comfort zone.
Stretch yourself to see the wonders for you beyond the horizons.
Get up on your tiptoes
Reach up to the Lord
Great things await only those who see and believe.
It’s only them that can receive.”
― Manuela George-Izunwa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 28, 2020
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear r>ebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter h9w lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
MARY OLIVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 27, 2020
Compline
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half.heard,
in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always –
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and rose are one.
~ T.S. Eliot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 22, 2020
Litany of letting go
I let go:
window and door house and home memory and fear.
I let go the hurt of the past
and look to the hope of the future.
I let go
knowing that I will always carry
part of my past (part of you) with me woven into the story of my life.
Help us, Christ our brother to softly fold inside
the grief and the sadness, to pack away the pain and to move on;
taking each day in your company, travelling each step in your love.
May time
The greening of trees
the gentling of friends
laughter’s healing art and love’s costly power
beckon and lead me onwards.
O God, star -kindler
kindle a flame of love within me
to lighten my path
in days of darkness.
O God, sun-warmer
warm me with your love
to melt the frozen hand of guilt.
O God, moon-burnisher
burnish my shield of faith
that I may seek justice
and follow in the ways
of peace.
~Kate Mcllhagga
O Holy One.
Blessed be these hands that have touched life.
Blessed be these hands that have held pain.
Blessed be these hands that have closed in anger.
Blessed be these hands that have become knotty with age.
Blessed be these hands that are wrinkled and scarred from doing justice.
Blessed be these hands that have reached out and been received.
Blessed be these hands that hold the promise of the future.
Blessed be the works of your hands,
O Holy One.
The words and wonderings of being alive
I am thankful for:
Insights that show me straight lines are overrated,
Logic and reason don’t solve everything,
the table is round
and there’ s music in the air;
quiet moments, noisy moments, inspiring moments;
voices that echo in my mind and become friends;
all sorted conversations;
seeds that don’ t stay
where they are put;
my friend’ s shoes that encourage walking on air
which is not an element for walking on;
earth-supported, water-washed, air-blessed, fire-inspired bread and poetry;
people who in all their extraordinary ordinariness
tum up on the doorstep like parcels of wonderful surprises;
connections and process;
being and becoming;
today and tomorrow,
which are different and always will be.
~ Joy Mead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 11, 2020
Ask, seek, live
Ask and it shall be given to us.
Seek and we shall find.
Lord, what should we look for?
If we ask for the earth we shall have it,
but why would we want it?
If we seek riches and gems they shall be ours,
but what can we do with them?
These will wither and decay.
You make it clear and simple, Lord.
In prayer we may not boast or curse
or ask only for things we like or want.
Rather, we must hallow your name,
bring about your kingdom,
asking for sustenance, seeking forgiveness,
looking for repentance and guidance.
For only these things can truly bring us life,
health and peace.
These we ask and seek,
in your name and for your glory.
~Simon Peters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 8, 2020
Affirmation
We believe in a bright and amazing God who has been to the depths of despair on our behalf;
who has risen in splendour and majesty; who decorates the universe with sparkling water,
clear white light, twinkling stars and sharp colours,
over and over and over again.
We believe that Jesus is the light of the world;
even though we make the same mistakes,
over and over and over again.
We commit ourselves to Jesus,
to one another as brothers and sisters,
and to the Maker’s business in the world.
God said: Let there be light.
Amen
~Helen Lambie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 7, 2020
New Beginnings
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and illume it:
that everything I say and do
may reflect the light of your glory.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and imprint it:
that everything I say and do
may reveal the image of your love.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and inspire it:
that everything I say and do
may resonate with the power of your Spirit.
Lord, take my life,
my small life,
and indwell it:
that everything I say and do
may radiate your Life,
your glorious Life.
~ Pat Bennett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 6, 2020
They Have Different Needs
Some seeds beneath the earth are dormant.
They fell the last time the cool air turned the leaves
gold.
Those seeds have different needs than we do:
let them go about their life completely unharmed
by your views.
We have cracked open, we sensed even beneath the earth- theholy was near,
and are reaching up to know and claim
light
as our self
St. John of the Cross
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 5, 2020
THE SILK WORM
I stood before a silk worm one day. And that night my heart said to me,
“I can do things like that, I can spin skies,
I can be woven into love that can bring warmth to people; I can be soft against a crying face,
I can be wings th.at life, and I can travel on my thousand feet throughout the earth,
my sacks filled with the sacred.”
And I replied to my heart,
“Dear, can you really do all those things?” And it just nodded “Yes”
in silence.
So we began and will never cease.
~ Jalaludin Rumi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 4, 2020
Renewal of Creation
Creating and renewing God
in the renewal of spring nature bursts into life.
We see lambs in the fields, buds on winter branches and give thanks for your continuing creativity.
You are the God who also promises new things: a new heaven and a new earth,
free of futility, hurt or destruction,
and give thanks for your redeeming love.
In Jesus raised, we see his life renewed,
we see disciples lives transformed,
we celebrate new life for us now.
In Jesus raised, we see your future breaking in,
the promise of renewal for creation,
we celebrate hope for our world.
May your new life at work in us,
help us to work in the present for your future, through Jesus
Christ, our risen Lord
Simon Walkling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 30, 2020
If there is any one message the Bible delivers, it is the message that God loves outcasts and that Jesus was born into the world an outcast to rescue and renew outcasts from religion gone bad. He was born poor and died poor, yet the legacy of love he left us, the legacy of inclusion and acceptance and understanding, will endure forever. ~Mel White
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 29, 2020
The Christian life is not about pleasing God the finger-shaker and judge. It is not about believing now or being good now for the sake of heaven later. It is about entering a relationship in the present that begins to change everything now. Spirituality is about this process: the opening of the heart to the God who is already here.
by Marcus Borg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 28,2020
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 27, 2020
Home is more than a house. It is a sacred location, a place of aspirations and dreams, of learning and habit, of relationships and heart. Home is the geography of our souls.
~Diana Butler Bass
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 23, 2020
Good and gracious God, if our minds have ever succumbed to dark thoughts,
If our hearts have sunk to the depths of despair,
If our spirits have wearied of empty promises,
We rejoice this day!
In our minds, bright hopes arise,
In our hearts, love soars to new heights,
In our spirits, we sense that an empty tomb is a promise fulfilled.
For new life given through the risen Christ, we offer our thanks and praise.
Amen.
~ Glenn Rainsley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earth Day
~ Jane Yolen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 21, 2020
A Great Pilgrimage
I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three days
and God came to me.
~ Author Kabir
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 20, 2020
Spirit of Comfort and Longing
Spirit of comfort and longing,
enfold my fear,
unclothe me of my pride,
unfold my thoughts,
uncomplicate my heart,
and give me surrender:
that I may tell my wounds,
lay down my work,
and greet the dark.
~ Janet Morley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 13, 2020
How the Virus Stole Easter
By Kristi Bothur
(With a nod to Dr. Seuss)
Twas late in ‘19 when the virus began
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.
As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.
April approached and churches were closed.
“There won’t be an Easter,” the world supposed.
“There won’t be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can’t go about.”
Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.
“Easter can’t happen this year,” it proclaimed.
“Online and at home, it just won’t be the same.”
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.
The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people, estranged.
“Pooh pooh to the saints,” the world was grumbling.
“They’re finding out now that no Easter is coming.
“They’re just waking up! We know just what they’ll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.
“That noise,” said the world, “will be something to hear.”
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.
And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.
But the sound wasn’t depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn’t be so!
But it grew with abundance!
The world stared around, popping its eyes.
Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!
Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small,
Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It hadn’t stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
Stood puzzling and puzzling.
“Just how can it be?”
“It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money.”
Then the world thought of something it hadn’t before.
“Maybe Easter,” it thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
And what happened then?
Well….the story’s not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share the source of your life in this fight?
The churches are empty – but so is the tomb,
And Jesus is victor over death, doom, and gloom.
So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.
May the world see hope when it looks at God’s people.
May the world see the church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that –
Let it start a revival!!
Good Friday – April 10, 2020
‘I thirst’ (John 19:29 KJB/AV)
“I thirst
The heat of the midday sun beats back
from the bare rocks of this hilltop,
from the bleached wood of this cross.
The last time this man saw water
was when Pilate washed the blood-guilt from his hands.
The last time it passed these cracked lips
was at table with his friends –
who have now run away like raindrops into the thirsty earth.
I thirst
He imagines water flowing down a river-bed
after the spring rains, when the land is green
where trees grow at the water’s edge,
and – watched by kingfishers in their branches and by crowds from the city alone the bank –
two men wade into the Jordan,
waist deep in the still unpolluted waters.
John cupped his hand and raised it,
a rosary of bright drops falling as he poured water over this head that is now beaded with blood.
Then the dove came down out of a clear heaven
and a voice proclaimed, “this is my beloved son…”
But now the only words under the empty sky are
I thirst
‘Son,’ said his mother at the wedding,
‘there is no wine left!’
And he laughed, ‘what’s that to me?’
But now, when his hour has come, he remembers
that in the courtyard there stood six stone water jars –
huge and full to the brim with cool pure water –
and that he sent the servants
to draw all the wine that they wanted –
to quench everyone’s thirst,
enliven the party and celebrate human love.
That was a sign, water into wine,
just as much as the voice from heaven.
folk said then that the host had left the best till last.
but at last, for the man on the cross, water will do.
I thirst
‘Give me a drink,’ he had said
to the woman at the well outside the city,
her look mingled wonder and mockery.
‘You, a Jewish man, ask for a drink from
Samaritan woman?’
So many prejudices, prohibitions, dangers
of misunderstanding.
Water was the only simple thing.
He remembers how thirsty he was,
sitting there by the well.
She drew water out of its depths,
the bucket overflowing, splashing, echoing,
precious water coming up dark and then flashing gold as she poured it out in the sunshine.
The traveler drank his fill,
letting if caress his throat, grinning in gratitude,
splashing it on his face, his hands, his dusty feet,
making free with the water that was her gift.
Then the talk turned to living water –
a gift to her she didn’t, at first, understand.
But she had understood his human need:
I thirst
His friends hadn’t understood,
when he took the basin and the towel
and washed their feet.
The upper room was filled with baffled silence,
the slip-slop of water, words of protest,
uncertain laughter. but his gentle hands
turned a routine task into a sing of caring:
the water blessed them, brought them together.
Though they drank wine that night,
for some the water was what they remembered:
the washing, the water poured out for them.
And it went on flowing through their lives.
As his life ebbs, he calls out again
I thirst
The soldiers raise a sponge soaked in sour wine, vinegar to his parches lips. it is sharp
as the barbed wire and the minefields along
the Jordan;
as cheap as booze which people drink to forget
and as stale as a marriage the doesn’t work out;
as bitter as the divisions between men and women,
rich and poor, races, different faiths;
it silences the cry for justice
and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth;
it is as numbing as our guilt, as our fear of being loved.
This man’s life was living water. Is this the last word?
I thirst”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maundy Thursday – April 9
Prayer before going to church on Maundy Thursday
“I will walk in the wind
to meet you Jesus
to let you wash my feet.
I don’t want to.
I would rather stay here in the warm,
away from your towels and water
and offers of forgiveness,
for I know what you mean,
what you ask,
what you give.
But I will come,
for I cannot stay here alone,
and I cannot run elsewhere,
for I know that you are waiting,
welcoming.
And I know that only you
can heal me and hold me.
So I will come
with empty hands to your supper,
empty hands and dirty feet.
I will come as your guest
and with water, bread and wine
you will make me whole
and set me free to serve you.”
~ Ruth Burgess
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 8, 2020
Open my eyes so I can see the wonders of the earth
And the beauty of the sky
Open them wide so
that you can see all the people
that God has given us
as friends to love and abide
For the gifts given to us
with friendship and love
Tranquility and peace
always look for it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 7, 2020
How do we wait
in these fragile times?
How do we understand
resurrection
in the face of so much death?
How can we be still
When so many around
are violated?
Questions
that we cannot answer –
just like the disciples of old.
They were baffled too,
and lost,
weary with grief.
Yet with them
we can pray:”
“God, in these fragile times,
help us to remain open to your Spirit, to work
for the coming of peace and understanding
in our violent and divided world.”
~ Kathy Galloway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 6, 2020
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
~Audre Lorde
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Palm Sunday – April 5, 2020
Peace Prayer of St. Francis
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying (to ourselves) that we
are born to eternal life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 4, 2020 “You can’t use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have.”
~Maya Angelou
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 3, 2020
Eagle Poem – Joy Harjo
“To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2, 2020
“Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything. This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything.”
~ Alan Cohen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 1, 2020
Chimes of Freedom
”Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An’ for each an’ ev’ry underdog soldier in the night
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
Through the city’s melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden as the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin’ rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an’ forsakened
Tolling for the outcast, burnin’ constantly at stake
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing”
~ Bob Dylan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 31, 2020
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
~Martin Niemoller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 30, 2020
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us.”
~John 4: 18-19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 29, 2020
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.”
~Rumi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 28, 2020
Recently, having been through struggling times, I have used my Bible to find passages to sustain me. As I was reading through Psalms one verse called out to me. I read it often. It helped me with my worries… still I turn to it.
Psalm 55:22
“Cast burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 27, 2020
“In the external scheme of things, shining moments are as brief as the twinkling of an eye, yet such twinklings are what eternity is made of — moments when we human beings can say “I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” “I forgive you,” “I’m grateful for you.” That’s what eternity is made of: invisible imperishable good stuff.”
~ Fred Rogers (1928-2003)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 26, 2020
There is a lot of unclear information about where this poem came from but I think that it was found scratched into the wall of a concentration camp after WWII.
“I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love, even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent.”
Author Unknown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 25, 2020
Wild Geese
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
~from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 24, 2020
“May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft about your fields
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
~Irish Blessing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 23, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 20, 2020
“Each moment of our days–our meals, our conversations with friends, our escapes, obsessions, romances, and distractions–is what we make of our lives. Our habits and rhythms of life are formative not only of who we are but how we know the world, including whether we know it to be a place where God is present or absent.”
~ Mike Cosper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 19, 2020
Morning Poem
“Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange
sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again
and fasten themselves to the high branches —
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands
of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails
for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it
the thorn
that is heavier than lead —
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging —
there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted —
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.”
~ from Dream Work (1986) by Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life is what happens to you while you make other plans”
~John Lennon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
-from Richard Hendrick (Brother Richard) in Ireland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grand Canyon
“They say the layered earth rose up
ancient rock leviathan
trailing ages in its wake
lifting earth-mass toward the sun
and coursing water cut the rock away
to leave these many-storied walls
expose of ages gone
around this breathless emptiness
more wondrous far
than earth had ever known.
My life has risen layered too
each day each year in turn has left
its fossil life and sediments
evidence of lived and unlived hours
the tedium the anguish yes the joy
that some heart-deep vitality
keeps pressing upward
toward the day I die
And spirit cuts like water through it all
carving out this emptiness
so inner eye can see
the soring height of canyon walls within
walls whose very color, texture, form
redeem in beauty all my life has been
the darkness and the light, the false, the true
while deep below the living waters run
cutting deeper through my parts
to resurrect my grave-bound heart
making, always making, all things new.”
~Parker J. Palmer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead, find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed; clear the chaos and the clutter, clear the eyes, so we can see all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.”
~ Shirley Erena Murray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isaiah 6:1–8
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” (NRSV)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Let me keep my distance from those who think they have the answers. Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment, and bow their heads.”
~Mary Oliver
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble, baby
In this world there’s a whole lot of pain
In this world there’s a whole lot of trouble, but
A whole lot of ground to gain
Why take when you could be giving?
Why watch as the world goes by?
It’s a hard enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly?
In this world there’s a whole lot of sorrow
In this world there’s a whole lot of shame
In this world there’s a whole lot of sorrow
And a whole lot of ground to gain
When you spend your whole life wishing
Wanting, and wondering why
It’s a long enough life to be living
Why walk when you can fly?
And in this world there’s a whole lot of golden
In this world there’s a whole lot of pain
In this world you’ve a soul for a compass
And a heart for a pair of wings
There’s a star on the far horizon
Rising bright in an azure sky
For the rest of the time that you’re given
Why walk when you can fly?”
~Mary Chapin Carpenter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”
~Wayne Dyer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Turning Thirty
“Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work.” – Luke 3:23
“Luke doesn’t mean that Jesus lazed around for twenty-nine years and then, upon turning thirty, got off his duff and went to work. It’s true, no one knows for sure what Jesus was up to before his thirtieth, but Christians have traditionally imagined him knocking out tables and benches in Joseph’s shop. In other words, working.
So it’s not work that Jesus begins at thirty. It’s his work. Work only he can do; work that fits him; God-imagined, God-bestowed, Jesus-shaped work. A purpose so persuasive that he stops filling orders for dining room chairs, picks the wood curls out of his hair, and leaves his mother calling after him at the door. His work.
Each of us has our work, too. A purpose we find in the overlap of who we are, what we’re good at, what we love, and what our human neighborhood is needing. Work that generates motivating joy as we lend ourselves to it. Work that makes us more fully who we were created to be as we give ourselves away in doing it.
Sometimes our work coincides with our jobs. Sometimes it doesn’t: it disrupts and uproots us. Sometimes it leads to great public achievements. Often it’s as hidden as Jesus was in those first twenty-nine. Whatever it is, we’re meant to seek and find this work that is seeking us. We’re meant to turn thirty, which we can do at any age. The important thing isn’t how old we are when we find it. The important thing is that, like Jesus, once we find it, we step out in trust and do it.”
Prayer
“God, may I find the work that is mine to do, and the courage and grace to do it.”
~ Mary Luti
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Be the living expression of God’s Kindness; Kindness in your face, Kindness in your eyes, Kindness in your smile, Kindness”
~ Mother Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”
– Rosa Parks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” —Mother Teresa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
—Barack Obama
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Truth is powerful and it prevails.”
— Sojourner Truth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
~ Nelson Mandela
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”
—Coretta Scott King
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
— Langston Hughes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
—Desmond Tutu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” Martin Luther King Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
– Jackie Robinson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Come,’
He said, and I did,
Following his voice
Through the crowd on the edge of town.
I needed wait no longer:
My voice had been heard
Calling for change,
Crying out for a fresh start –
Even though it meant casting off old ways,
No longer the needy person everybody knew.
‘Come,’ he said
And I saw what God could do.
‘Your faith has healed you,’
He told me. ‘Now go.’
He never said, ‘Follow me’ –
But, as I could see, there was no other way.
February 5, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Follow me,’
He said, for I had asked him
The next step on a journey
Of personal salvation.
He reminded me of all the good things
I already knew and did.
So nothing was left to do –
I was ready to go.
‘Now sell all you have,’
He said, ‘Give it away to the poor.’
How could I let go just like that –
Lighten the load,
Shed my responsibilities,
Become someone I did not know?
What would be left?
‘Follow me,’ he said
But with heavy heart
I shook my head
February 4, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Go,’ he said.
‘Let the children be fed first –
Why should the dogs eat their bread?’
But I would not be turned away:
Hoping for healing,
Hungry for justice,
I stood my ground and argued:
‘In God’s household
Even the dogs are fed.’
Seeing my faith,
He told me to go home
And find my daughter healed.
‘Go,’ he said – and I did.
Feb. 3, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Follow me,’
he said – and I did.
Tax collecting never made me popular,
But it put a roof over my head
And bread on my table –
Bitter bread, because grabbed and grudged.
He invited me to become
No longer dog in the manger
But host at the feast.
He came right under my roof
Sharing my bread
And showing me how to share
With all the rest.
‘Follow me,’
He said – and I did.
January 31, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Follow Me
“Follow me,”
he said – and we did.
We let go of the heavy wet nets,
the tough strands of tarred rope:
our strong hands
were empty – we let go
or all we knew how to do,
our livelihood, our identity-
to follow a dream,
a job description
that no one in their senses
would take seriously.
“Follow me,”
he said – and we did.
January 30, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The Christian life is not about pleasing God the finger-shaker and judge. It is not about believing now or being good now for the sake of heaven later. It is about entering a relationship in the present that begins to change everything now. Spirituality is about this process: the opening of the heart to the God who is already here.”
― Marcus J. Borg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.” – C.S. Lewis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, and love is why he continues to come, year after year to person after person… May you experience this vast, expansive, infinity indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about, and may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.”
~ Rob Bell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“And this is it. This is the life we get here on earth. We get to give away what we receive. We get to believe in each other. We get to forgive and be forgiven. We get to love imperfectly. And we never know what effect it will have for years to come. And all of it…all of it is completely worth it.”
― Nadia Bolz-Weber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you can’t fly then run,
if you can’t run then walk,
if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do
you have to keep moving forward.”
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/17/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/16/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Birthday, MLK, Jr.!
1/15/20
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Martin Luther King, Jr.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something Wise, Something Joyful
Walk wisely in this world.
Listen before you speak.
Look deeply before you leap.
Share love with those who walk beside you.
And, on long winter nights
When the moon is hiding
And frost crusts the soil,
Do not be afraid to try out something different,
Something wild,
Something joyful,
Just for the hell of it
And hope that it leads you to heaven.
~ Ruth Burgess 01/10/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/08/2020
In-dwelling God, we greet you in this new year. As centuries come and go, your presence is ever new when we open our senses to receive you. We ask now that you sharpen our awareness of your creative energy at work within and around us. Let us welcome you in the stranger who is not yet a friend, in the hungry who need the food and care we might provide, in the nurse who fulfills our thirst for water and kindness. Show us your expectations for us this season. Amen.
~ Lavon Baylor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epiphany 01/06/20
Epiphany is a jewel
multi-faceted,
flashing color and light.
Epiphany embraces
the nations of the world,
kneeling on a bare floor
before a child.
Epiphany shows
a man
kneeling in the waters of baptism.
Epiphany reveals
the best is kept for last
as water becomes wine
at the wedding feast.
O Holy One
to whom was given
the gifts of power and prayer,
the gift of suffering,
help us to use these same gifts
in your way
and in your name.
~Kate McIlhagga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Away in the Manger…at Home in the Heart
The gift of God’s creative Word that called each one into being is swept into our heart this day like the rush of breath of God’s Holy Spirit. Truly at home in the heart of God, filled with the presence of Divine life and breath, we are called to incarnation. We are invited to the body, the vessel of God’s very presence. We become the embrace for wounded friends, the words of grace for the heartbroken, encouragement and love for those who are the subjects of our greatest relationships. Today may you become a Bethlehem as Divine love is birthed into your life.
~ Rev. Dr. Brenda K. Buckwell, OBL, OSB 01/03/20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christ Like! 01/02/2020
I open the stable door,
I look into the manger,
I see the child there,
looking just like you.
I give my love as a blanket
to keep you warm
as I discover in you
the Christ of today
and when you cry
I hold you in my arms
and realize
you’re just like me.
~Richard Becher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12/31/2019
We welcome the new beginning that a fresh year offers. All our good intentions are caught up in the promise of starting over. Help us to leave behind that which we cannot change and move forward boldly on the paths in which you would lead us. We accept from your hand the water of life. May the fountain of love never run dry, for we need to drink from it day after day. Amen.
~ Lavon Bayler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The World Still Knows 12/30/2019
The night is still dark and a procession of Herods still terrorize the earth, killing the children to stay in power. The world still knows its Herods, but it also still knows men and women who pack their dreams safely in their hearts and set off toward Bethlehem, faithful against all odds, undeterred by fatigue or rejection,
to kneel to a child.
And the world still knows those persons wise enough to follow a star, those who do not consider themselves too intelligent
Too powerful
Too wealthy
to kneel to a child.
And the world still knows those hearts so humble that they’re ready to hear the word of a song and to leave what they have, to go
to kneel to a child.
The night is still dark, but by the light of the star, even today we can still see
to kneel to a child.
~ Ann Weems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Christmas Song 12/27/2019
In the cold of the night
as Mary held her baby tight,
O, warn us, hold us
in your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the lonely night
as Mary calmed her baby’s fright,
O, still us, comfort us
in your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the peaceful night
as Mary trusted all was right
O, guide us, hearten us,
with your love, God with us, in Christ.
In the dark of night
as Mary saw her baby’s light,
O, shine on, shine on us
with your love, God with us, in Christ.
~ Michael Coffey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve 12/25/2019
Tonight old dreams die and new dreams come to life. The Promise is fulfilled! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Hope gives way to joy and prayer to proclamation. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. Our candles illuminate our story. Dawn invades midnight. The Light of the World has come. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace. And this light is a light for all; igniting a flame within the soul, warming us from within, radiating love, lighting our lives with the presence of God-come-alive in human flesh within us and among us now and always. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to all.
~ Ruth C. Duck & Maren C. Tirabassi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Christmas Spirit 12/23/2019
The Christmas spirit is that hope which tenaciously clings to the hearts of the faithful
and announces in the face of any Herod the world can produce and all the inn doors slammed in our face and all the dark nights of our souls that with God all things are still possible, that even now unto us a Child is born!
~ Ann Weems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer 12/18/2019
Ransom me, O God of freedom, from my captivity. Set me free from the things that keep me in bondage. Empower me to take action to reach one of your least or lost. May I see your face in all those I meet today, and may I be your hands and heart in this captive world. Amen.
~ Beth A. Richardson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Wild Rose 12/17/2019
Sometimes hidden from me
In daily custom and in trust,
So that I live by you unaware
As by the beating of my heart.
Suddenly you flare in my sight,
A wild rose blooming at the edge
Of thicket, grace and light
Where yesterday was only shade.
And once more I am blessed,
Choosing again what I chose before.
And once more I am blessed,
Choosing again what I chose before.
~ Wendell Berry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Waiting 12/16/2019
All my life I have waited: waited for the project to be completed, waited for supper to be ready, waited for the doctor to see me. I have waited at the traffic light, waited for the right relationship, waited to grow up.
I have waited alone or waited with friends. I have waited anxiously. I have waited expectantly. Some waits have brought joy. Other waits have brought bad news. Some waits have been “worth waiting for.”
Now it is Advent, and I am waiting again. This time I am waiting in the darkness of my soul-ravaged by sorrow, anger, and fear. But I do not despair in the waiting, for I remember the way light looks and feels. The memories of silent nights with starlit skies are with me, and I have been bathed in the warmth of love’s light. And so I hope-for Messiah to come.
Voices sing, “Prepare him room.” I know now waiting cannot be passive. There is something to do, but where? I have no inn or stable, but in my heart, I can make room. Move over doubt. Move over despair. Make room for Truth, for Life, for Love. Make room for the Prince of Peace.
~ Kathy Clark-Dickens
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12/12/2019
God did not wait till our lives were spotless.
God did not wait till every child was loved.
God did not wait till the hungry were fed.
God did not wait till the broken-hearted were comforted.
God came to a world such as ours to lighten the way, bring hope and guide us into the ways of peace.
~ Nicola Slee & Rosie Miles
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The Hope of Loving 12/11/2019
What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?
I think it is the hope of loving,
or being loved.
I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey to find it’s source, and how the moon wept
without her lover’s warm gaze.
We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither like fields if someone close
does not rain their
kindness
upon
us.
~ Meister Eckhart
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Caregiving God 12/10/2019
Caregiving God,
providing for our needs,
as you long to fill the hungry with food,
so also fill our imagination
with people and things that are just true,
excellent, noble, and worthy of praise,
that by dwelling on the beauty of goodness,
we may grow into it day by day
as students of Christ
in whose name we pray, Amen.
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Second Sunday in Advent 12/9/2019
Our God, who sends your most valuable gifts as tiny children,
And teaches us to love each other by first loving us,
Remind us again that two candles always give twice as much light,
And that only in community can we receive and share your gifts.
As we lovingly shop,
Help us remember that our gifts are symbols of your incredible life.
Help us remember people who may receive no gifts,
And sometimes even may receive no love that they can recognize.
Teach us to see that no child of yours is unlovable.
Come, Lord Jesus!
~ Kit Kuperstock
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SAPENTIA – WISDOM 12/6/2019
Prayer
O Wisdom, breath of God’s power,
Your glory fills the streets and skies,
Your order all things sweetly and justly:
Come, blow us clean
And teach us wonder and truth.
~ Ruth Burgess
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Midwinter prayer 12/5/2019
God of all creation
of bare forest and low northern skies
of paths unknown and never to be taken
of bramble, sparrow and damp, dark earth
we thank you for loss, for the breaking of the dimming year
we thank you for light, even in its seeming midwinter falling
we thank you for life, for its hope and resistance
like a seed dying and living.
~Rachel Mann
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12/4/2019
Night is drawing nigh –
“How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes-by.
~ Dag Hammarskjold
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Giver of Hope 12/3/2019
Spirit of God,
you open doors that are locked,
break the shackles of slavery,
erode the pyramids of domination,
and tumble tyrants from their thrones.
You give us life
and whisper in our hearts,
“You are God’s beloved child,
and always will be.”
Deep in every human heart
you plant a seed of promise,
a glimmer of expectation,
and a spark of hope.
~ Brian Wren
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First Sunday in Advent 12/2/2019
Creator of infinite stretches of icy universe,
Now is the time we need to address you as Father, as Mother.
Daylight has shrunk. Out in the darkness, people are cold.
You have promised that your word will become flesh and dwell among us,
Bringing your peace and love and joy.
In the cold and the dark,
give us the courage to light one candle,
And share your light with all those around us. Come, Lord Jesus!
~ Kit Kuperstock