CELTIC MEDITATIONS 4: Evening Opening Prayer

This week's meditations are based on the Evening Opening Prayer of J Phillip Newell's book, CELTIC BENEDICTION Morning and Night Prayer.  All red, italicized print is a direct quote from the book.

7.25.15  A Sleeping Heart

Psalm 16:7 MSG

The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.

Psalm 16:7 VOICE

I will bless the Eternal, whose wise teaching orchestrates my days
    and centers my mind at night.

Psalm 16:7 GNT

I praise the Lord, because he guides me,
    and in the night my conscience warns me.

SATURDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER

As it was in the stillness of the morning

So may it be in the silence of the night.

As it was in the hidden vitality of the womb

So may it be at my birth into eternity.

As it was in the beginning, O God,

So in the end may your gift be born

So in the end may your gift of life be born.  JPN

    

                This will seem just a little strange to be going through the evening prayers in the morning, but I will have JUST gotten up, so maybe the calm of sleep will still be upon me!  I’m going to focus this morning more on the scripture rather than the prayer, as I found the different translations interesting.  The term conscience never crossed my mind when reading the first two translations.  I like the phrase ‘sleeping heart’ – still but beating, quiet, but alive.  I like the centering notion from The VOICE.  My jumbled thoughts center during sleep…often against my will when it seems to keep me awake!  But how often do we awaken in the morning to the feeling that God had a message for us in our dreams, our sleeping thoughts?  How often do we rise with the notion that we are to DO something?  If never, then perhaps we aren’t listening very well!   If repeatedly and the same thought, then perhaps we are failing to act!  Perhaps when I drift off at night, if my final thoughts focus on God, I will be better prepared to sense God’s message when I awake.  Perhaps, just perhaps, that is the purpose of the ‘evening’ prayers! J

7.26.15  SILENT SEARCHING

Psalm 77:6 VOICE 

I call to mind my music; it keeps me company at night.
    Together with my heart I contemplate;
    my spirit searches, wondering, questioning:….

SUNDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER

Out of the silence at the beginning of time

You spoke the Word of life.

Out of the world’s primeval darkness

You flooded the universe with light.

In the quiet of this place

In the dark of the night

I wait and watch.

In the stillness of my soul

And from its fathomless depths

The senses of my heart are awake to you.

For fresh soundings of life

For new showings of light

I search in the silence of my spirit, O God. JPN

               How often do we lie in bed at night, restless perhaps and not sleeping, and review our life, events, relationships, and wonder….what is the purpose?  What does God want? Or maybe even where is God in all this?  The silence produces reflection, the darkness a sense of vulnerability to dare ask the questions.  Yet, it is in these very moments that God often touches our hearts, speaks to our souls, and we waken with new purpose and direction.  “For fresh soundings of life, for new showings of light, I search in the silence of my spirit, O God.”  Fresh beginnings, new glimpses of God-light will be revealed to us.  I need to take a longer moment to ponder God, to listen in the silence, before I turn over and give way to sleep. 

               In Psalm 77, verse 6 sets the stage but ends with unanswered wonderings and questions.  Verse 7 voices those concerns:  Has God abandoned us?  Unlike the psalmist, my doubts rarely question God; most often they question my response to God.  Am I seeing God-light?  (I KNOW it is present!)  Am I doing God-work?  Where have I failed to respond lately?  How can I change?  

7.27.15  Forever Uncontained

Psalm 90:2 GNT

Before you created the hills
    or brought the world into being,
    you were eternally God,
    and will be God forever.

MONDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER:

In the infinity of night skies

In the free flashing of lightning

In whirling elemental winds

You are God.

In the impenetrable mists of dark clouds

In the wild gusts of lashing rain

In the ageless rocks of the sea

You are God and I bless you. 

You are in all things

And contained by no thing.

You are the Life of all life

And beyond every name.

You are God and in the eternal mystery I praise you. JPN

               God cannot fit in a box.  I responded this morning to the line in Newell’s prayer, “You are in all things and contained by no thing.”  All Creation belongs to God and IS God.  Yet the earth itself doesn’t not contain God.  The universe cannot contain God.  So big, so vast, so eternal.  Yet….and this is what blows your mind away….this great, big, eternal, uncontainable God loves ME.  Me….one of billions on earth, billion trillions among the universe.  Not only loves, but understands, knows, and desires a relationship with….ME!  Comprehensible?  No!  A mystery?  Yes!  Worthy of praise?  Absolutely!  

7.28.15    Hiking in Grace

Psalm 62:1 VOICE

My soul quietly waits for the True God alone;
    my salvation comes from Him.

TUESDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER:

O God of the high mountains

O Christ of the fertile valleys

O Spirit of the earth

From whose dark soils burst forth fresh life

And from which my own body and soul are born

Be to me this night

The bestower of grace.

Be to my body and soul this night

The generous giver of love. JPN

               The first two lines spoke to me this morning.  I am up early to prepare to leave on a hike to the mountains, excited to circle the peaks of Anthony Lakes in one of my favorite adventures.  The Baker Valley below is ripe with harvested hay, fruit trees in production, vegetable gardens bursting forth.  May God bestow today the grace and love that flows from walking through God’s creation, from time spent with family and friends who ARE family.  May my soul be enriched, my spirit renewed, and may I be a vessel to pass the grace on to others. 

7.29.15 Trust the Darkness

Psalm 74:16  VOICE

The day and the night are both Yours—
    You fashioned the sun, moon, and all the lights that pierce the darkness.

WEDNESDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER:

Glory be to you, O God of the night,

For the whiteness of the moon

And the infinite stretches of dark space.

Let me be learning to love the night

As I know and love the day.

Let me be learning to trust its darkness

And to seek its subtle blessings.

Let me be learning the night’s way of seeing

That in all things I may trace the mystery of your presence. JPN

         Trust the darkness.  That’s the phrase that came to my mind as I began reading the prayer, and then suddenly I find the very phrase in the later lines.  Trust what we cannot see.  Trust that God is present.  Seek the shadowy glimpses of God that hide in every corner of our world, light or dark.  Seek to see during the brightness of the day what we have learned to see in the dimness of night: God.  Everywhere.  God will light our path; we can trust God.  It might be a tiny LED night-light that says, “This is the way.”  Not everyone gets the blinding light of a conversion like Saul.  But in the darkness, God is there.  Trust in that truth. 

7.30.15  Drink God
Psalm 42:1-2 MSG
A white-tailed deer drinks
    from the creek;
I want to drink God,
    deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.

THURSDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER:
In the darkness of the evening
the eyes of my heart are awake to you. 
In the quiet of the night
I long to hear again intimations of your love.
In the sufferings of the world 
and the struggles of my life
I seek your graces of healing. 
At the heart of the brokenness around me
and in the hidden depths of my own soul
I seek your touch of healing, O God, 
for there you reside.
In the hidden depths of life, O God, 
there you reside. JPN

           Brokenness. Suffering.  Healing. Hidden Hope.  In the depths of our sorrows and pain, God resides, waiting and ready to bring the healing hope to our lives.  When we reach out to God, we find that healing touch.  When we go to the stream of living water and drink of God, we are made alive.  Drink of God.  Drink of hope.  Drink of healing.  

7.31.15  Inner Universe
Psalm 8:3-5 ERV

I look at the heavens you made with your hands.
    I see the moon and the stars you created.
 And I wonder, “Why are people so important to you?
    Why do you even think about them?
Why do you care so much about humans?
    Why do you even notice them?”

But you made them almost like gods 

    and crowned them with glory and honor. 

FRIDAY EVENING OPENING PRAYER:
For the night skies opening outwards star upon star, expanse after expanse
Thanks be to you, O God. 
For the mystery of your presence in and beyond all that can be seen
Thanks be to you. 
Guide me further this night into the inner universe of my soul
Ever opening inwards, light upon light, new depth after new depth. 
Guide me through strange and fearful spaces
toward the place of your eternal dwelling
and assure me again that in drawing closer to you
I draw closer to the heart of every living being.
That in drawing closer to you I approach the heart of life. JPN

In great expanse
Universal proportions
God dwells.
In delicate sensitivity
Atomic minutia
God loves.
Go figure.
Why?
It doesn't make sense.
Yet such is our Creator God.
Incomprehensible. 
Yet accessible.
Draw close.
Talk with God.
Feel God.
Act through God.
Let compassionate radiate to all.
Transfer the infinity of the universe
To the specific individual next door.
Bring the magnitude of God
To the reality of love and life.
       

OUR GOD OF HOPE IS BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE

Ascension Conference Center

EOPW Women's Retreat
July 18-19
Ascension Camp, Cove, OR

       Over the weekend I took my mother-in-law, Doris, to a retreat up in Cove.  There were 27 women in attendance, including four others from our Baker Church: Betsy F, Kim B, Linda M, and Bev C.  I had enticed my mother with the lure of the title - it included the word CHOCOLATE, therefore it would be GOOD!  We weren't disappointed in the amount of chocolate we were given!  

Bell Tower outside
Conference Center

Long lost cousins!

       The retreat was led by the women of Pendleton First Presby.  They had graciously 'opened up' their annual retreat to others in the area and the response included our 6 from Baker City, 2 from La Grande, and several others who were connected to Pendleton, but no longer living there.  We had a few Catholics, an Episcopalian, and maybe even a Methodist!  
        Our guest speaker was Sue Daniel from Nampa, ID, who, as was discovered, is married to a first cousin of Linda's husband, Arron!  That was a fun reunion to witness, as they hadn't seen each other for several years!  Sue led us through Anne Lamott's book, STITCHES: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair.  We spent a session on each part of the title.  Sue was sincere, emotional, and funny.  An excellent facilitator! 

Ready for Session 1 to begin!

Singing together!

        Each session also began with singing, led by Carol and Marcia from Pendleton  I have to confess the tempo was a little slower than I like, but the songs were good ones and I enjoyed adding a little harmony.  My favorite was If I Were a Butterfly,  so the picture is from that one!  (My Baker City friends know I usually play everything too fast!)  
        I apologized to Sue about drawing while she talked, and it was obvious since I was sitting practically underneath her!  At one point, she looked down and said, "Is that me?"  Yes!  I told her I retain information best when it is drawn!  So I amassed a collection of pictures featuring some of the topics we discussed, interpretations of the scripture, etc.  
     

Meditative Art Table hard at work! 

  During free time ElRae Wells had an advanced coloring book (detailed pictures) about cats and a full box of colored pencils.  While Mom, Betsy, Marj and ElRae colored, I taught Barb and Linda how to construct a mandala.  Linda was in love (she has since drawn two more at home in two days!)  While a few walks were included, much free time was spent visiting around a table while we drew and colored.  Very calming and stress reducing!  Meditative art! 

Mom colors her picture.

Betsy coloring!

My first 'demo' mandala...now colored...included the names of all the participants in the purple border.

Mandala design using just wildflowers which I colored at the retreat with the colored pencils!

Chapel

Chapel Interior

    

 The weekend concluded with a Sunday afternoon worship service in the tiny Episcopalian Chapel.  I love these little wooden churches with their open ceilings and stained glass.  We sang, shared communion together, and used our bulletins as fans on the very warm afternoon!   

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 15:13)

NOTES & PICTURES......
MEANING:

• Meaning is always there, but purpose changes with stages of life; it is harder to see meaning during the change.  
• Meaning is given through love in all its forms.  
• Outward focus through service gives meaning. 

HOPE:

• What do we do when life unravels?  When we are consumed with grief, anger, pain, and despair?
• Why is not a useful question.  Why not?  Move on! 
• It's hard to go to God when we doubt but prayer SHOULD be our first response.  
• Stop giving CPR to dead situations! 
• Forgive doesn't mean forget.  
• Start with God, build from there.  Don't fit God into the last minute.  

Romans 15:13 was the theme scripture.  I love the image of overflowing HOPE holding us up! 

Sue read the Romans passage the second time from The Message  and the words GREEN HOPE reminded me of wildly growing plants and the energy and life and new growth. 

REPAIR:

• What resources do we have to repair our lives?  God. Each other. 
• One stitch at a time.  One patch of fabric-situation at a time. 

I tried to include excerpts from the weekend here - Sue's traveling friendship ring, the red chocolate hearts on our beds, the dark Kisses on the tables - along with the stitches and patches of healing hope. 

The three theme words included within the Meditative Art - cat coloring pages, mandalas, etc. 

This posting has been put together mostly for my record keeping....I wanted to keep some of my notes, but online where I might actually find them again!  Enjoy! 

A beautiful sunset skyline with moon and Venus on Saturday night.  

I couldn't get this picture into the right spot....but after dinner I was full so I ran around the building and discovered the grass was lush and cool and wonderful and I had an overwhelming desire to wallow in it.  Linda grabbed my camera and took the picture! 

CELTIC MEDITATIONS 3: Closing Morning Prayer

This week's meditations are based on the Closing Prayer from each morning of J Phillip Newell's book, CELTIC BENEDICTION Morning and Night Prayer.  All red, italicized print is a direct quote from the book.  

7.18.15  Be Still

Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God.

SATURDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER

In the busyness of this day

Grant me a stillness of seeing, O God.

In the conflicting voices of my heart

Grant me a calmness of hearing.

Let my seeing and hearing, my words and my actions

Be rooted in a silent certainty of your presence.

Let my passions for life

And the longings for justice that stir within me

Be grounded in the experience of your stillness.

Let my life be rooted in the ground of your peace, O God,

Let me be rooted in the depths of your peace.  (JPN)

               I am off this morning for a two day retreat with a group of Presbyterian women.  We gather at the Ascension Episcopal Camp in Cove, Oregon.  There will be around 30 of us, 6 from our church, including my mother-in-law Doris.  The theme is “Hope is Better Than Chocolate”  and I have to admit the word chocolate is what attracted me to the retreat!  But we shall look at hope, hope amidst darkness, hope in the middle of the light.  It will be a good opportunity to Be still and to be aware of God’s presence, to be rooted in the depths of peace.  I hope to grab a few moments to be by myself for reflection, to take a solitary walk, to find some roots in the busyness of the summer and our comings and goings. Perhaps a few moments of peace. 

7.19.15 Clothed in Light

Psalm 104:2 MSG

God, my God, how great you are!
    beautifully, gloriously robed,
Dressed up in sunshine…

SUNDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER

May the light of God

Illumine the heart of my soul.

May the flame of Christ

Kindle me to love,

May the fire of the Spirit

Free me to live

This day, tonight, and forever.  (JPN)

       I have been waiting to use this scripture for another ‘light’ day in the prayerbook!  I loved the idea of God clothed in the light of the sunrise and sunset, the rays of sun streaming down between cracks in the clouds.  But I also love the image of each one of us also garbed in God’s light, allowing that light to radiate from us.  Light, flames, and fire that free us to love. 

7.20.15  Mending Waters

John 7:38 MSG

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me…” 

MONDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER

In the beginning, O God,

Your Spirit swept over the chaotic deep like a wild wind

And Creation was born.

In the turbulence of my own life

And the unsettled waters of the world today

Let there be new birthing of your Spirit. 

In the currents of my own heart

And the upheavals of the world today

Let there be new birthing of your mighty Spirit. JPN

          At the retreat I attended over the weekend, we discussed hope, repair, and how to stitch together the pieces of our life in the face of ‘upheaval’.  Thus when I read this morning’s prayer about turbulence and unsettled waters, my mind instantly went to our conversations.  I can visualize the rebirthings of our hearts as the mending of our Spirits, the ‘wild wind of the Spirit’ the needle that stitches our lives back together.  And through that mending comes the Hope of our faith in our Creator God.  

7.21.15  Abundance

John 10:10 VOICE

 I came to give life with joy and abundance.

TUESDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER

I have tasted the fruit of the earth, O God.

I have seen autumn trees hang heavily with heaven’s gifts.

I have known people pregnant with your spirit of generosity.

Let these be guides to me this day….

May I know that deeper than any fallowness in me

Is the seed planted in the womb of my soul.

May I know that greater than any barrenness in the world

Is the harvest to be justly shared. (JPN)

 

Prayers prayed, but not embedded.  This mandala was
created at the retreat as I remember the profusion
of wildflowers during last week's hikes. 

         Abundance.  It is the time of year when wildflowers are in profusion, the vegetable garden is beginning to produce (love those zucchini), the local wheat fields are thick and ripe, fruit trees are becoming heavy with ripe bounty, and abundance seems to be the norm.  Yet abundance can be so localized, so unevenly distributed.  It is said that our world can easily produce enough for all, yet so many go to bed hungry, so many are malnourished.  Greater than any barrenness is ‘the harvest to be justly shared’.  What can I bring to the table of the world this day?  What can I bring to fill my neighbor?  May I be pregnant with generosity. 

7.22.15  HEALING

John 15:12 MSG

This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. 

WEDNESDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER:

O Sun behind all suns

O Soul within all souls

Grant me the grace of the dawn’s glory

Grant me the strength of the sun’s rays

That I maybe well in my own soul

And part of the world’s healing this day.

That I may be well in my own soul

And part of the world’s healing this day. 

          What does it mean to be ‘part of the world’s healing’?  There is so much asunder, so many adrift, so much conflict and destruction.  This was somewhat the theme of our retreat last weekend.  What can we do when things unravel?  We can pick up our needle of hope and begin to take a stitch to mend life.  It may only be a small, tiny stitch in one patch of fabric, but it is a start and it may be OUR part.  We can’t mend everything, but we can be a part of healing in our small corner of the globe. One stitch at a time.  One patch at a time.  

               I am going to take one of my drawings from the retreat and put my prayers into the fabric.  May God’s healing descend upon those who are in need, spiritually, emotionally, physically.  May God reveal to me ways in which I can be a part – perhaps ways beyond my prayers.  

7.23.15  Bread of Life

John 6:35 MSG

Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life.’

THURSDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER

The vitality of God be mine this day

The vitality of the God of life.

The passion of Christ be mine this day

The passion of the Christ of love.

The wakefulness of the Spirit be mine this day

The wakefulness of the Spirit of justice.

The vitality and passion and wakefulness of God be mine

That I may be fully alive this day

The vitality and passion and wakefulness of God

This is my Cinnamon Roll prayers from earlier
in the month.  Too busy baking and visiting
to draw today!

That I might be fully alive. 

          Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life’.  I went on a baking binge today.  Jed and Luke arrived late last night and I wanted cinnamon rolls for my boys, then I thought, maybe some for Todd and Amy if they help Jed unload.  I had better have a pan for Jed to take to my sister and brother and company.  I needed to make communion bread for Sunday.  I bought three giant zucchini at the Farmer’s Market Wednesday night and needed to process the bounty, plus use up some of the frozen zuke in the freezer.  I baked.  Lots.  It was not an overly warm day, thank God!  Two batches of cin rolls, 3 batches of zuke bread, 2 of zuke chocolate bundt cake, 1 of molasses bread, 1 of zuke-cranberry muffins.   For me to have bread to share is vitality. 

7.24.15 Grace and New Beginnings

John 16:13 MSG

When the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.

FRIDAY MORNING CLOSING PRAYER:

Glory be to you, O God, for the gift of life

Unfolding through those who have gone before me.

Glory be to you, O God,

For your life planted within my soul

And in every soul coming into the world.

Glory be to you, O God,

For the grace of new beginnings

Placed before me in every moment and encounter of life.

Glory, glory, glory

For the grace of new beginnings in every moment of life.

               Jed is embarking on new beginnings.  He left just 30 minutes ago to travel with Luke the last leg of his move back to Oregon from New Mexico.  He spent a day relaxing, visiting, and eating cinnamon rolls – a nice diversion from the past month of tying up loose ends and packing.  He is excited and ready for the glory of grace in new starts.  I pray the wisdom of the Spirit will go with him in his adventure.  I pray he seeks that guidance. 

               My brother is also embarking on new beginnings…of a different nature.  He seeks the glory of grace in forgiveness and the wisdom of the Spirit to guide him in sobriety.  I pray the Spirit will take him by the hand and guide him every moment and every day.  I cherish a God who gives us the grace of forgiveness, in all our weaknesses, and says no moment, no age, is ever too late. 

               New starts, new opportunities, new beginnings – all through the grace and glory of God.