reflection – Hear what the Spirit is saying

“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”

I was reminded of this adaptation of the 23rd Psalm the other day and wanted to share. What a beautiful thing to remember.

(arranged by Mack Wilberg)

My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
Thy presence is my stay;
One word of Thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home.
–Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Songs for Holy Saturday

Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering…He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our inequities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5

Songs for Maundy Thursday

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

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

Wind Chimes: 12 Jan 2013

Sometimes the sounds from the chimes are rhythmic, like the regular movement of a person from one place to another. We’re all on a journey. What do you hear?

The Journey Prayer

God, bless to me this day,
God bless to me this night;
Bless, O bless, Thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life;
Bless, O bless, Thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life.

God, bless the pathway on which I go;
God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
And bless, O God of gods, my repose.

Prayer of St. Brendan the Voyager, Irish Monk, (484-577)

Prayer: Quoted by Daniel Clendenin on Journey with Jesus: Poems and Prayers

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Wind Chimes: 11 Jan 2013

Listen. Do the chimes sound like the start of a conversation? Be still. Listen. What do you hear?

A God who is Friend

If you haven’t discovered inward/outward, today is a good day to change that. The site “is an ongoing, online conversation sponsored by The Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.”

As preparation for hearing the Gospel this Sunday (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22) listen to these words from Oscar Romero:

This is the beauty of prayer and of Christian life: coming to understand that a God who converses with humans has created them and has lifted them up, with the capacity of saying “I” and “you.” What would we give to have such power as to create a friend to our taste and with a breath of our own life to make that friend able to understand us and be understood by us and converse intimately–to know our friend as truly another self? That is what God has done; human beings are God’s other self. He has lifted us up so that he can talk with us and share his joys, his generosity, his grandeur. He is the God who converses with us.

Quote: Oscar Romero in The Violence of Love as quoted by inward/outward 8/13/12

Image: dreamstime images

Wind Chimes: 10 Jan 2013

Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.

A prayer (updated) of William Laud (see The Book of Common Prayer, p. 816)

The chimes produce a mixed sound today: sometimes a violent crashing sound, sometimes a soft peaceful sound. What do you hear?

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 1645

Today (January 10th) the Episcopal Church remembers William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633-1645). Laud’s short biography in Holy Women, Holy Men tells the truth, “Laud’s reputation has remained controversial to this day. [He is] [h]onored as a martyr and condemned as an intolerant bigot ….”

Given the current concern among some in England about “The Succession to the Crown Bill” it is informative to remember today that, “Laud believed the Church of England to be in direct continuity with the medieval Church, and he stressed the unity of Church and State, exalting the role of the king as the supreme governor.” (“William Laud” on Holy Women, Holy Men).

Wind Chimes: 08 Jan 2013

It’s a poetic sound in the chimes tonight. What do you hear?

We three kings of Orient are

If you haven’t discovered Hymnary.org yet, now would be a good time. The text of this favorite Epiphany hymn was written by John H. Hopkins (an Episcopal deacon) in 1867 and the text and more is set out nicely by Hymnary. It is a rich source of texts, history, music, and much more.

1
We three kings of Orient are:
Bearing gifts we traverse afar—
Field and fountain, moor and mountain—
Following yonder star.

Chorus:
Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

2
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain:
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.[Chorus]

3
Frankincense to offer have I,
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, all men raising,
Worship Him, God on high.[Chorus]

4
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom—Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.[Chorus]

5
Glorious now behold Him arise:
King and God and Sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Earth to heaven replies.[Chorus]

Source: “We three kings of Orient are” on Hymnary.org

Video: We three kings of Orient are sung by Kings College Choir, Cambridge

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