by John Philip Newell
TUESDAY PRAYERS
Blessed are the humble for they are close to the sacred earth. Matthew 5.5
1.24.17 Tuesday Morning Prayer of Awareness
It is in the depths
of life that we find you…
The very Soil of
our soul. JPN Excerpt
Where do we find God? Not on the surface, not in the trivial of
life. We find God in the trenches,
working down deep in our lives. I love
Newell’s term, the Soil of our Soul.
What does soil do for the emerging plant? It provides the nutrients, the energy, and
sustenance for growth. And there we find
God in our developing souls – encouraging, supporting, nourishing us in ways we
can’t even imagine.
This is perhaps off the subject, but I
did a keyword search within The Message for
the use of the terms soil and dirt.
Wow! What a difference in
connotations. Soil is good. Soil is nourishment. Dirt is….well, dirty! Filth and perverse behavior. I was intrigued, so I googled, “What is the
difference between soil and dirt?” The scientific answer? Dirt is dead, misplaced soil. So….we are more
alive, in tune with our world, when our soul is filled with the soil of God,
rather than the dirt of the earth? You
get the picture, I think.
God
of substance and nourishment, fill my soul with the soil of life. Amen.
1.25.17 Tuesday Morning Scriptures
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| I 'cheated' today and borrowed a Scribble from 2012!! But the text was right! |
Whoever
wishes to be great among you must be a servant among you. (Matthew 20.26)
Why do you not bow
to the one whom My own hands have made? (Quran – Sad 38.75)
Be a servant of others. Humility puts you in the position of
servanthood, because humble people think of others first. The Bible is filled with references to
servants and the term would have been familiar in Biblical times because household
servants were a common occurrence. Jesus
once again used concepts people understood, but often with a new twist or way
of looking at things. To be great and
powerful, I must humble myself and serve those ‘beneath’ me? YES!
God
of the Humble….May I serve you through my service to others. Amen.
1.26.17 Tuesday
Morning Prayer for the Life of the World
Guide us as nations
to what is deepest
Open us as people
to what is first
Lead us as a world
to what is dearest
That we may know
the holiness of wholeness
That we may learn
the strength of humility
That together we
may live close to the earth
And grow in
grounded glory. –JPN
So many phrases in this prayer for the
world that call to me. I love ‘holiness
of wholeness’, ‘open us as people’ and ‘together living close to the earth’. But God speaks to me in ‘grow in grounded
glory’. Perhaps it is the alliteration I
love, or that the word GLORY always brings a vision of light and beauty to my
mind. But grounded glory? That sounds like making sure our heads aren’t
in the clouds, blind to the realities of life around us! To grow in such a glory….together our
becoming filled with a presence of God while attune to the needs and sufferings
of others.
God
of Glory…Ground me to the earth while surrounding me with your presence. Amen.
1.27.17 Tuesday
Morning Prayer of Blessing
May the deep
blessings of earth be with us
May the fathomless
soundings of seas surge in our soul.
May boundless
stretches of the universe echo in our depths
To open us to
wonder
To strengthen us
for love
To humble us with
gratitude
That we may find
ourselves in one another
That we may lose
ourselves in gladness
That we give
ourselves to peace. –jpn
INFINITE
Infinite
universe
A
Milky Way of twinkling lights
Stretching
across the sky
Unfathomable
Incomprehensible
In
the magnitude of the Creator God.
Galaxy
upon galaxy,
Black
holes of nothingness, yet
Filled
by God.
May
the immensity spark wonder,
The
immeasurable a sign of love
And
bring us in awe to a
Recognition
of our own
Value
and worth.
A
realization of you in me
And
me in you.
Interconnected.
Tiny
hearts beating
Amid
the sparkling universe.
Infinite
love.
Infinite
God.
Infinite
God…connect us together within the vastness of your universe. Amen.
Yesterday I drove across the state…from
the snow white, fog shrouded Baker valley, over a Ladd Canyon sunrise on the red and green barn, past the hoarfrost of the Blue Mts.,
through the gorge of the mighty Columbia, and then down green fields of the
Willamette Valley to Bandon. I found
hyacinths blooming on Mom’s front porch.
I can’t even imagine my bulbs bursting forth with green buried deep
under the 2 feet plus of snow in Baker.
It was like driving through a weather warp, perhaps from the morning
cold into the ocean breezes, from one expression of God glory to another.
1.28.17 Tuesday Evening Prayer of Awareness
May we remember the
ground from which we come
And know You as
Presence in the mystery
As Evening Breeze
in our soul
As Everlasting
Strength in earth’s body. –JPN
What does it mean to know God as
Presence in the mystery? The mystery of
what? The mystery of life? Of Creation?
Of relationships? How is God an
evening breeze in our soul? Newell uses
some word images here that I don’t quite grasp, yet find intriguing.
Yesterday I drove across the state…from
the snow white, fog shrouded Baker valley, over a Ladd Canyon sunrise on the red and green barn, past the hoarfrost of the Blue Mts.,
through the gorge of the mighty Columbia, and then down green fields of the
Willamette Valley to Bandon. I found
hyacinths blooming on Mom’s front porch.
I can’t even imagine my bulbs bursting forth with green buried deep
under the 2 feet plus of snow in Baker.
It was like driving through a weather warp, perhaps from the morning
cold into the ocean breezes, from one expression of God glory to another.
God
of mysterious glory….fill my soul with the breeze of your presence. Amen.
1.29.17 Tuesday Evening Scriptures
God leads the
humble in what is right. (Psalm 25.9)
The
Son of Humankind came not to be served but to serve. (Matthew 20.28)
God has brought you
forth from the earth like a plant and to the earth God will restore you. (Quran – Noah 71.17-18)
We are talking the Blessed are the Meek
Beatitude this round, and in looking at Psalm 25:9 through a variety of
translations, I have found the word 'reject' used in Peterson’s The Message. A word that I
think changes the meaning dramatically.
Here are a few translations for this Beatitude:
- He gives the REJECTS his hand, and guides them step by step. (MSG)
- God guides the WEAK to justice, teaching them His way. (CEB)
- The MEEK will He guide in judgement…(KJ21)
- He will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to Him. (Living Bible)
- God leads the HUMBLE in what is right. (NRSV)
So…. Do humble and weak mean the same
thing? Is reject a synonym? What about meek? To me these words are NOT all the same! Humility does not equal weakness, and it
certainly doesn’t mean a reject! Maybe I
am putting my 21st Century interpretation on this, but…..do the
words really change the essence of the scripture when we consider Jesus’ words
from Matthew? The humble serve rather
than wait to be served. And that is what
we are to do. If that is a sign of
weakness, then may I be a weak reject for God.
But somehow, I don’t think it makes me meek or weak, but simply a humble servant, with the strength to do what God has called me to do.
God
of Humility…May my first response be to serve.
Amen.
1.30.17 Tuesday Evening Prayer for the World
May we love the
earth and cherish her fecundity.
May we love the
rivers and obey their ancient purity.
May we love the
skies and honour their infinity
All for one
another. –jpn
Just for the record, I had to look up fecundity. It means fertility or the ability to
produce. Knowing the meaning helped make
Newell’s prayer make sense to me. Honor,
obey, cherish that which is pure, eternal, and fertile. Honor it all in and through and for one
another. We are an interwoven web of
life on this earth. We can’t separate
the fibers of the cloth and expect the cloth to hold together.
I find this relevant in light of
today’s news concerning new immigration sanctions against targeted countries
and religions. Our new leader is intent
on division rather than wholeness. His
actions seem to be picking the fibers of the earth apart rather than weaving a
tapestry of love. May we ALL call out in
peaceful love, may we reach out to those who are apart and pull them back into
our oneness.
God
of all Creation….Help us hold on to one another in love. Amen.
1.31.17 Tuesday Evening Prayer of Blessing
Glory be to you,
Great Creating Spirit
Who shines in
distant stars beyond numbering.
And on earth peace.
Glory be to you,
Great Creating Spirit
Who sings and wings
in birds on high.
And on earth peace.
Glory be to you,
Great Creating Spirit
Whose thunder
shakes the shining firmament.
And on earth peace.
Glory, glory,
glory.
And on earth peace.
–JPN
‘Glory be to you, Great Creating Spirit
- And on earth peace’. What greater
prayer can we have for this day, this time?
I asked Rick to turn off the news last night after a half hour. We watched a movie instead. The only encouraging thing was to see that
the country wasn’t taking the news quietly.
Protests were happening. Will it
be enough? Will I lend my voice? Will the thunder of the people shake the
nation? Peace. Peace.
Peace in our homes and families, our communities, our country, our
world. How can we interweave the Glory of God with the Peace of God in our lives?
God
of Creating Glory….Help us find Your peace here on earth. Amen.
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| Totally off the subject, but as I posted this I realized I also see the word PRAY interwoven into this. Perhaps that is our message....PRAY for the PEACE of God's GLORY. |
All quotations are from PRAYING with the EARTH: A Prayerbook for Peace by John Philip Newell. William B Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 2011.
