Uncategorized – Page 14 – Hear what the Spirit is saying

Wind Chimes: 24 Jan 2013 — Day 7

Readings for Day Seven — Walking in solidarity

Numbers 27:1-11 | The right of inheritance to daughters
Psalm 15 | Who shall abide in God’s sanctuary?
Acts 2:43-47 | The disciples held all things in common
Luke 10:25-37 | The Good Samaritan

To walk humbly with God means walking in solidarity with all who struggle for justice and peace. This poses a question for those who pray for the unity of Christians this week: what is the unity we seek? 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Seven

Triune God, in your very life you offer us a unique pattern of interdependence, loving relationships and solidarity. Unite us to live our lives in this way. Teach us to share the hope that we find in people who struggle for life all over the world. May their endurance inspire us to overcome our own divisions, to live in holy accord with one another, and to walk together in solidarity. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 23 Jan 2013 — Day 6

Readings for Day Six — Walking beyond barriers

Ruth 4:13-18 | The offspring of Ruth and Boaz
Psalm 113 | God the helper of the needy
Ephesians 2:13-16 | Christ has broken down the dividing wall between us
Matthew 15:21-28 | Jesus and the Canaanite woman

To walk humbly with God means walking beyond barriers that divide and damage the children of God. Christians in India are aware of the divisions among themselves. The treatment of Dalits within the churches and between them is a church-dividing issue that betrays the biblical vision of that unity for which we pray this week. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Six

Father, forgive us for the barriers of greed, prejudice, and contempt that we continually build which separate us within and between churches, from people of other faiths, and from those we consider to be less important than us. May your Spirit give us courage to cross these boundaries, and to tear down the walls that disconnect us from each other. Then with Christ may we step forth into unknown terrain, to carry his message of loving acceptance and unity to all the world. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 22 Jan 2013 — Day 5

Readings for Day Five — Walking as the friends of Jesus

Song of Solomon 1;5-8 | Love and the beloved
Psalm 139: 1-6 | You have searched me out and known me
3 John 2-8 | Hospitality to friends in Christ
John 15:12-17 | I call you friends

To walk humbly with God does not mean walking alone. It means walking with those who are those vital signs of God‘s presence among us, our friends. “But I have called you friends.” says Jesus in John‘s Gospel. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Five

Jesus, from the first moment of our being you offered us your friendship. Your love embraces all peoples, especially those who are excluded or rejected because of human constructions of caste, race or colour. Filled with the confidence and assurance of our dignity in you, may we walk in solidarity towards each other, and embrace each other in the Spirit, as children of God. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 21 Jan 2013 — Day 4

Readings for Day Four — Walking as children of the earth

Leviticus 25:8-17 | The land is for the common good, not personal gain
Psalm 65:5b-13 | The fruitful outpouring of God’s grace on the earth
Romans 8:18-25 | The longing of all creation for redemption
John 9:1-11 | Jesus’ healing, mud, bodies, and water

If we are to walk in humility with God, we will need always to be aware of ourselves as part of creation, and recipients of God‘s gifts. There is a growing recognition in today‘s world that better understanding of our authentic place in creation must become a priority for us. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Four

God of life, we thank you for the earth, and for those who care for it and bring forth its fruits. May the Spirit, the giver of life, help us to recognise that we are part of creation‘s web of relationships. May we learn to cherish the earth and listen to creation‘s groaning. May we truly walk together in the steps of Christ, bringing healing to all that wounds this earth, and ensuring a just sharing of the things that it brings forth. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 20 Jan 2013 — Day 3

Readings for Day Three — Walking towards freedom

Exodus 1:15-22 | The Hebrew midwives obey God’s law over the command of Pharaoh
Psalm 17:1-6 | The confident prayer of one open to God’s gaze
2 Corinthians 3: 17-18 | The glorious freedom of God’s children in Christ
John 4:4-26 | Conversation with Jesus leads the Samaritan woman into freer living

Walking humbly with the Lord is always a walk into receiving the freedom he opens up before all people. With this in mind we celebrate. We celebrate the mystery of the struggle for freedom, which takes place even in the places where oppression, prejudice and poverty seem to be impossible burdens. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Three

Liberating God, we thank you for the resilience and hopeful faith of those who struggle for dignity and fullness of life. We know that you raise up those who are cast down, and free those who are bound. Your Son Jesus walks with us to show us the path to authentic freedom. May we appreciate what has been given to us, and be strengthened to overcome all within us that enslaves. Send us your Spirit so that the truth shall set us free, so that with voices united we can proclaim your love to the world. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 19 Jan 2013 — Day 2

Readings for Day Two — Walking with the broken body of Christ

Ezekiel 37:1-14 | “Shall these dry bones live?”
Psalm 22:1-8 | God’s servant, mocked and insulted, cries out to God
Hebrews 13:12-16 | The call to go to Jesus “outside the camp”
Luke 22:14-23 | Jesus breaks the bread, giving the gift of himself before his suffering

To walk humbly with God means hearing the call us to walk out of the places of our own comfort, and accompany the other, especially the suffering other. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day Two

God of compassion, your Son died on the Cross so that by his broken body our divisions might be destroyed. Yet we have crucified him again and again with our disunity, and with systems and practices which obstruct your loving care and undermine your justice towards those who have been excluded from the gifts of your creation. Send us your Spirit to breathe life and healing into our brokenness that we may witness together to the justice and love of Christ. Walk with us towards that day when we can share in the one bread and the one cup at the common table. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 18 Jan 2013 — Day 1

Readings for Day One — Walking in conversation

Genesis 11:1-9 | The story of Babel and legacy of our diversity
Psalm 34:11-18 | “Come … listen.” God’s invitation to conversation
Acts 2:1-12 | The outpouring of the Spirit, the gift of understanding
Luke 24:13-25 | Conversations with the Risen Jesus on the road

To walk humbly with God means to walk as people speaking with one another and with the Lord, always attentive to what we hear. And so we begin our celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by reflecting on scripture passages which speak of the essential practice of conversation. 2013-WPCU-Readings-and-Prayers

Prayer on Day One

Jesus Christ, we proclaim with joy our common identity in you, and we thank you for inviting us into a dialogue of love with you. Open our hearts to share more perfectly in your prayer to the Father that we may be one, so that as we journey together we may draw closer to each other. Give us the courage to bear witness to the truth together, and may our conversations embrace those who perpetuate disunity. Send your Spirit to empower us to challenge situations where dignity and compassion are lacking in our societies, nations, and the world. God of life, lead us to justice and peace. Amen

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 17 Jan 2013

Unity. United. Different. United. One but different. Common, yet not the same. The chimes are moved by the wind and remind me that to be united in Love means to celebrate all that makes me, makes us, unique. Followers of the Way are unique creations of God who is Love. Each of us will respond differently to Love. Yet, each of us ‘loves’ the best we know how. Like the chimes, each of us sounds a different note, yet all of us together can make beautiful music. What do you hear?

Upcoming: A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Jan 18-25)

The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is 18-25 January. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Paul Wattson to cover the days between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul, and therefore have a symbolic significance. In the southern hemisphere where January is a vacation time churches often find other days to celebrate the week of prayer, for example around Pentecost (suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926), which is also a symbolic date for the unity of the church.

2013 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Brochure, p. 2

The theme for 2013: What does God require of us? The theme was developed in India and is based upon the text of Micah 6:6-8:

6 ‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? —NRSV

Over the next 8 days (beginning tomorrow, Jan. 18, 2013) I’ll invite you to join me and join others worldwide as we pray that the Spirit bring us even closer together as we walk humbly with God.

Image: School of Theology & Ministry, Seattle University

Wind Chimes: 15 Jan 2013

As the chimes move in accord with the wind and make their sounds, I hear both trust and playfulness. Let the sounds create an image of an eagle soaring; imagine that eagle is you and the wind supporting you is the Spirit. What do you hear?

Trust the wind (Spirit) and soar

In our Daily Office, (Morning Prayer for 1/15/13), we read from Isaiah:

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NRSV

Consider now this meditation from Lowell Grisham, Rector of St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, AR

What a compelling image. When the pressure is on; when we are weary and worn out; when there is more than we can handle; when we don’t know what to do… Isaiah says “Wait.” Breathe deeply. Be conscious and mindful. Wait for God.

I can see in my minds eye the next movement, an eagle beginning to mount the skies. With slow and deliberate movement, a perching eagle will spread her wings, feeling for the power of the wind. And then, gently, like sliding into water, the great bird will trust itself to the sky, throwing its arms out in a wide embrace. It catches the power of the wind and goes soaring, adjusting with modest effort as it picks up the drafts. In a similar way we can run and not be weary; walk and not be faint.

That’s the image I want to take with me today when that inevitable moment of weariness comes.

Please read the rest of his meditation, “Encouragement,” here.

You may visit the website of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Wind Chimes: 14 Jan 2013

What does a question sound like? What does friendship sound like? Today, I hear an important question in the sounding of the chimes. What do you hear?

Could it be true? How will you answer?

Today [Jan 12th] as Cistercians we celebrate the life and teaching of our own Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, a 12th-century monk of Great Britain. In his well-known treatise, Spiritual Friendship, Saint Aelred declares rather boldly that “God is friendship.” This is his own gloss on Saint John’s words, “God is love.” And clearly it expresses Aelred’s own experience of God’s intimacy.

Saint Aelred on the blog of St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer MA

Read the entire post (it’s short) to hear the question of the monks. Hear the question of the monks in the glorious sounds of the Good News proclaimed on Sunday (believing that what was true of Jesus and for Jesus is true of us and for us): “You are my Beloved.” (Luke 3:21-22)

Image: Clip art, photos, and animations on office.microsoft.com

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: