CELTIC MEDITATIONS 6: Evening Closing Prayer

This is the last in a series of 6 posts based on John Phillip Newell's book, CELTIC BENEDICTION.  All red italicized print is a direct quote from the book.  

8.8.15  Peace in a River of Love
John 14:27 MSG
I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.

SATURDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER

The stillness of God be mine this night

That I may sleep in peace.

The awareness of the angels be mine this night

That I may be alert to unseen mysteries.

The company of the saints be mine this night

That I may dream of the river of love.

The life of Christ be mine this night

That I may be truly alive to the morning

That I may be truly alive. JPN

Peace.  Rivers of love. Unseen mysteries. Truly alive.  I love the visual images that come to mind when praying Newell's prayers.  These evening closing prayers really are for night, not as I sit at daybreak overlooking the dawn strike the clouds and waves of the ocean.  But I am feeling much more peace this morning than two days ago.  Mom and Jed are healing; The hikers are breaking camp and ready to head out; Liz is enroute to NYC and back today with Tommy.  But there are still unseen mysteries waiting to be discovered, trickles of miscommunication and rivers of distrust to navigate for my brother, and the bumps and hurdles of life for us all that create discontent and unrest.  Moments of stillness.  Moments of quiet search for God's peace can make all the difference.  May I be washed and restored in the river of love, O God.  

8.9.15 In the Darkness: LIGHT!
John 1:5 MSG
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

SUNDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER
May the grace of the night's stillness be mine
may the grace of the moon's guidance be mine
may the grace of heaven's vastness be mine
to renew my soul in sleep
to enlighten my dreams in the night
to open my spirit to eternity
until the angels of light awaken me
until the morning angels awaken me. JPN 

Thanks to Hubbleimages.com for help with today's drawing!

          For some reason what struck me as I wrote the words of the prayer was how we approach the nighttime process of sleep.  We seem to put it off rather than welcome it.  It is a necessity of life rather than a process to be spiritually embraced.  We go to bed hoping to be rested in the morning, but rarely do I consider the time for spiritual enlightenment, for renewal of my soul.  There is the darkness of the unseen in the night, but the Light of Life shines through.  God's presence is so very visible in the vast eternity of the universe, the beauty of a clear sky and the Milky Way, the intricate colors and designs of space as revealed by Hubble and technology.  May I allow this Life-Light to blaze in my sleep and wrap me in the wonder and beauty of God. 

8.10.15 Windsong of the Spirit
John 3:8 GNT
The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

MONDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER
O Brother Jesus
who wept at the death of a friend
and overturned tables in anger at wrong
let me not be frightened by the depths of passion.
Rather let me learn the love and anger
and wild expanses of soul with me
that are true expressions of your grace and wisdom.  
And assure me again that in becoming more like you
I come closer to my true self
made in the image of outpouring Love
born of the free eternal Wind.  JPN

        There is something amazing if you consider that to be Spirit-filled is like the wind.  When we work on Habitat builds in Montana, our site supervisor emphasizes the 'air penetration factor'.  The houses we build have a tiny penetration as opposed to most standard homes.  The wind simply cannot get in the cracks.  And such is the Spirit-Wind: it shifts and changes direction, the tendrils of God filling a crack here and a crack there.  We don't always know how and where the Spirit will blow through us, but we can be assured that God is at work.  If I can resolve to be the wind of the Spirit, an outpouring of love for all, then I know that God is touching lives through me.  Be like the wind!  
         This seems so appropriate because the other day we were discussing John Denver's Windsong.  I'll close with the final verse from the song:

So welcome the wind and the wisdom she offers,Follow her summons when she calls again,In your heart and your Spirit, let the breezes surround you, Lift up your voice then and sing with the wind.  

          Substitute the concept of Spirit-God-Wind into the lines and 'follow the summons'! 


8.11.15 RECKLESS IN LOVE
John 12:24-25 MSG
Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

TUESDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER
Glory be to you, O Holy Seed of all that has been born
for earth, sea and sky in vibrancy of color.
Glory be to you O Light of Life
for your liberation of earth's bound treasures. 
Glory be to you O River of delight
surging through the heart of creation. 
Renew me this night in the depths of sleep, 
set free my dreams of the unknown. 
Safeguard this time of resting, O God, 
enfold me in the darkness of the night.  JPN

          O Holy Seed. Light of Life. River of Delight. Reckless in love.  These are the words that strike me this morning.  I've written this week of rivers and light.  So perhaps today I'll focus on reckless.  Reckless is defined as unconcerned about the consequences of an action.  It seems to me Jesus was often reckless in love - he didn't care if he angered the religious leaders or worked on the Sabbath or ticked someone off.  If love was the right thing to do at that moment, Jesus loved. (And when isn't love in the right?)  But to me reckless in love also implies unselfish in love or without concern for the personal consequences of my loving action.  Will people laugh?  Will I be in danger?  It doesn't matter.  Love with abandon.  Love without regard for consequences.  Just plant the seed of love.  Over and over.  And in so doing we will find the River of Delight.   

8.12.15  Eternal Waves
John 8:32 MSG
“If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

WEDNESDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER
In the beginning, O God,
you placed seeds in the womb of the earth. 
On the surface of the earth and in its seas and skies
you made male and female of every species. 
And above the earth 
you called the two great lights into relationship. 
Renew me this night
in the fruitful intermingling that you have woven into creation 
that I may wake to the morning
enlivened by love
that I may wake to the morning
enlivened by love. JPN

         I took a walk on the beach yesterday and as I stood and watched the waves roll in, constant, predictable, the eternal ebb and flow of water,  it occurred to me that the shore is very much a metaphor for God.  I could see love washing up on each surge of wave, sometimes a smooth flow of liquid, more often in a froth of foam and turbulence.  God comes to us in both the peace and chaos of our lives, but God always comes.  I watched children playing, jumping waves, splashing God-love everywhere.  Children do that; they approach God with wild abandon.  I saw some older women timidly near the water, then turn and run when it appeared they might get wet.  We all react in such a way at times, fleeing when we get too close to God, the reality too intense.  But I also realized that we HAVE to get wet to experience the ocean; we have to dive in to realize the power of God's love, the faithfulness of God's presence.  
          The God-waves of love will roll into our lives unchanging, steady, and consistent, waiting for us to take the risk of stepping into the unfamiliar waters and discovering the freedom of going to sea with God.   May I always hear the reassuring sound of the waves, may I wade in the waters of love, and may I finally dive head-first into the heart and soul of the Almighty.  Where is my swimming suit?

8.13.15  SENSES of the SOUL
John 11:25  VOICE
 I am the resurrection and the source of all life; those who believe in Me will live even in death.

THURSDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER:

You have given me eyes to see with, O God, 

and ears to hear life's sounds and sorrows

and yet my seeing and hearing

like my tasting and touching

are wounded and weakened by failures. 

As rest can heal the sores of a body

and sleep restores its strength

so may your angels of grace visit me in the night

that the senses of my soul may be born afresh. 

Visit my dreams with messengers of grace, O God,

that the senses of my soul may be born again.   JPN

           When I walk on the beach I feel like my senses truly are alive.  The wind is usually blowing in my face, my eyes are dazzled by sunlight reflecting off the beach sand, the bass harmonies of rolling waves a constant roar, the smells and taste of salt air linger everywhere, and the touch of my barefeet on the sand brings to life the temperature changes, the stones and shells.  Barefoot on the beach can be a sensory overload! It is easy to discover traces of God-Light everywhere.

           I am keeping a journal this year of my daily God-Glimpses: moments and situations, encounters with a sliver of the Almighty.  Some days I think my God-sensory receptors are finely tuned and I can't write 'sightings' down fast enough.  Other times  my 'senses of the soul' seem to be turned off and I am blind to God-encounters. May I continue to be daily restored to receive God in each and every way we meet in the days ahead.  


Later....I took Mom to the eye doctor today and while we were waiting I starting sketching an EYE!  (How appropriate!)  Since the eye is one of our senses I figured I could finish with a Bandon themed drawing filled with my prayers of thanks and glimpses of God at work.  

   8.14.15 
   John 6:63 MSG
The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.

FRIDAY EVENING CLOSING PRAYER

Renew me this night in the image of your love

Renew me in the likeness of your mercy, O God. 

May any refusal to forgive

that lingers with me from the day

any bitterness of soul

that hardens my heart

be softened by your graces of the night. 

Renew me in the image of your love, O God, 

renew me in the likeness of your mercy.  JPN

          I walked on the beach early this morning and started pondering my meditations while on the shore.  I knew that the Friday readings concentrated on our being made in the image of God.  As thoughts started coming to my mind about how we shroud ourselves in schedules and wealth, materialism and indifference, I used the verbal notes on my phone to remember some of it.  Not a good idea.  Here is what I found when I returned: "Me too God like hidden in all of that but we cover that I did underwears free him materials fail"  UNDERWEAR FREES HIM?  What kind of hidden message is that, Lord??  I'm not even sure I can remember the phrase I said from that garbled mess! 

           We are created in the image of God, filled with God-love and God-mercy.  Why do we hide it?  Why do we cover up our God-within through pride and egoism, abundance and busyness?  Perhaps because it is risky to let the light shine.  It involves trust and faith to peel off the layers of protection and live solely with God alone pouring from our soul.  We wear a costume of humanity, a mask of our mortal being, when our inner self is capable of radiating God.  Renew us, Lord. Free us from our underwear of humanness!  Help us discard our pretense and truly live in your image.  

          I am finished with Newell's book.  I love the simple language and the God-in-everything aspect of Celtic traditions.  Now what?  I'll have to figure that out tomorrow.   

CELTIC MEDITATIONS 1: Morning Opening Prayer

For the next few weeks I am going to concentrate my thoughts each morning on the opening prayer from my Celtic Benedictions Prayer book, written by J Phillip Newell of the Iona community. All italicized, red text is directly from Newell's book.

7.4.15  LISTEN!

Psalm 19:1-4 GNT

How clearly the sky reveals God's glory!
    How plainly it shows what he has done!
2 Each day announces it to the following day;
    each night repeats it to the next.
3 No speech or words are used,
    no sound is heard;
4 yet their message goes out to all the world
    and is heard to the ends of the earth.

SATURDAY MORNING:

In the silence of the early morning

Your Spirit hovers over the brink of the day

And new light pierces the darkness of the night.

In the silence of the morning

Life begins to stir around me

And I listen for the day’s first utterances.

In earth, sea and sky

And in the landscape of my own soul

I listen for utterances of your love, O God.

I listen for utterances of your love.

I was up early this morning and out on my back deck.  As I prayed through Newell’s prayer, I listened to God. God was speaking…..

Look closely.  You'll find the birds, the chimes, the hawk, the sprinklers, the wind
and the leaves, and the insects all within the design.  And our ears
must listen for the utterances of God's love.

I listen for God.

He speaks in the not-so-quiet of the early morning.

The piercing call of the resident hawk circling the sky.

A chorus of birds chirping and chattering.

The rhythm of sprinklers renewing the earth.

The silence of deer grazing in the neighbor yard.

The melodies of various wind-chimes gently filling the air.

The rustle of the lilac branches in the rush of the wind.

The popping of the coffee as it perks inside.

Distant, yet early, roar of mowers already at work, beating the afternoon heat.

The hum of insects, white noise in the background of my ears.

God is gently, quietly calling.

So softly we might not hear.

Let those who have ears to hear, listen!

God is speaking ‘utterances of His love’.

  

7.5.15  The Grace of Seeing

John 1:5
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

SUNDAY MORNING:

I watch this morning for the light that the darkness has not overcome. 

I watch for the fire that was in the beginning and that burns still in the brilliance of the rising sun.

I watch for the glow of life that gleams in the growing earth and glistens in sea and sky.

I watch for your light, O God, in the eyes of every living creature and in the ever-living flame of my own soul.

If the grace of seeing were mine this day I would glimpse you in all that lives.

Grant me the grace of seeing this day.

Grant me the grace of seeing.  (JPN)

          Sunday morning.  I have coffee hour duties today.  I have fellowship duties today.  Luke and the PYGS are leaving for their mission trip right after church.   My mind is not peaceful in the storm of ‘duties’ and I fail to take the time to reflect on this opening prayer.  Yet the grace of seeing is bestowed in that the words call me back to my list of God-Moments.  I haven’t added to it for a couple days and the prayer calls me to stop and SEE glimpses of God in the days past.  That simple reflection has the power to calm the storm.  Katy preached this morning on Jesus Calming the Storm.  She talked of the storms in our lives, the buckets we fill to ‘bail out the boat’ when what we truly need is the faith and trust to simply curl up with Jesus and sleep alongside our Savior.  I absolutely loved the imagery of nestling confidently beside Christ on the bow of the boat.  Let the storms rage.  Perhaps my list is a step toward the bow and a step toward that kind of peace. 

               Hmmm….a spectacular sunset streaking red and orange across the sky BEFORE the glory of fireworks; star bursts of gold and red, silver and green, in the distant night sky; Jupiter and Venus still blazing light in the west; the light of old friends not seen for awhile; the flame of charcoal fire, embers barely lit; the warmth of hugs and hellos; the fireball energy of five little boys and the pride of watching youth grow into maturity as parents; God-light.  God.  Thank you, Lord, for the grace of seeing glimpses of you in all that lives, glimpses of God-light to illuminate my way.  

7.6.15 Bridled by Love, Bridled FOR Love

Psalm 18:1 MSG

I love you God, you make me strong!

MONDAY MORNING: 

For the morning light and its irresistible dawning,

For your untameable utterances of life

in boundless stretches of space and the strength of the waves of the sea

I give you thanks, O God.

Release in me the power of your Spirit that my soul may be free and my spirit strong,

Release in me the freedom of your Spirit that I may be bridled by nothing but love

That I may be bridled only by love. (JPN)

Release in me the power to love.

Wipe clean the chains that limit my action

The bondage of my own accord.

Release in me the power of your Spirit

That love overwhelms all else,

That love becomes my bridle,

That love controls my every thought.

Release and bridle.

Set free, yet restrained.

Opposites at first glance.

Yet one empowers the other. 

Bridled by love frees us to see God in all,

Bridled by love frees us to be God’s heart here

In this place and time. 
It frees us FOR Love. 

7.7.15  AWAKEN MY SENSES

Psalm 34:8  MSG

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.

TUESDAY MORNING:

In the beginning, O God,

When the firm earth emerged from the waters of life

You saw that it was good. 

The fertile ground was moist

The seed was strong

And earth’s profusion of color and scent was born.

Awaken my senses this day

To the goodness that still stems from Eden.

Awaken my senses to the goodness that can still spring forth

In me and in all that has life. (JPN)

Awaken in me.  Open my eyes to see!  Open my ears to hear!  Smell!  Touch textures!  Awaken my senses!  God is present.  In the amaryllis that refuses to die, but in the heat of summer pushes long blades of green upward.  Growth springing forth.  God is present – in the daily surge of green that radiates from the cucumber vines, rapidly creeping across the garden plot.  Growth springing forth.  Goodness and life.  We can bemoan the news and the pain and suffering of our world and forget to notice that God is present.  Goodness is present.  May we savor and taste, see and acknowledge our God alive.  Our God weeping with us in the suffering, knowing when we see the blessing and life in each other, the goodness and growth, we will act in his name.  Awaken in me a vision of God-present, awaken in me where I must act in God’s name.  

7.8.15  Dark to Light.
Psalm 143:8 GNT
Remind me each morning of your constant love,
    for I put my trust in you.
My prayers go up to you;
    show me the way I should go.

WEDNESDAY MORNING PRAYER:
With the rising of the sun life rises again within me, O God.
In the dawning of the morning light you lead me from the mists of the night
into the clarity of the day.
In the new light of this day bring me a clearer knowing
of the mystery that first bore me from the dark
Bring me to a clearer knowing of the love from which all life is born.  (JPN)

Womb. Clouded.  Dark. Night.  
Unknowing.  Uncertain.
Birth.  Emergence.  Misty light. Mother's love. 
Rebirth in Christ.   Brighter light. 
Clarity of purpose; Dawning understanding.
Savior's love. God's love. 
Death.  Pure light.  Blazing light.
Perfect understanding; unending trust.
Eternal love.
Dark to light; light to love.
Love to all life. 
Bring me to a clearer knowing. 



7.9.15 Satisfy, Fill
Psalm 107:9 GNT
He satisfies those who are thirsty
    and fills the hungry with good things.

THURSDAY MORNING:
As the light of dawn awakens earth's creatures
and stirs into song the birds of the morning
so may I be brought to life this day. 
Rising to see the light
to hear the wind
to smell the fragrance of what grows from the ground
to taste its fruit and touch its textures
So may my inner senses be awakened to you
so may my senses be awakened to you, O God.  (JPN)

          I am called this morning to ponder verse 9 from Psalm 107, rather than a phrase from Newell's Thursday morning opening prayer.  "He satisfies the thirsty....he fills the hungry."  My mind wanders to physical hunger and thirst versus spiritual hunger.  While God does provide abundantly for our physical needs, we don't always share that abundance in equal measure.  There are those in our world with knots of hunger twisting their bellies, with parched lips and withered skin in the grip of drought.  Yet God fills them with a spiritual food that lessens the pain and thirst.  We who live in the land of abundance are never REALLY hungry or thirsty, yet our spiritual deprivations are great because of that abundance.  May God fill us with the spiritual food that calls us to share more freely, to answer the cry for help, and view our world's resources as God's blessing for ALL.  May ALL 'taste the fruit and touch its textures' and be satisfied and full.  

7.10.15 WONDROUSLY MADE
Psalm 139:13-14 VOICE
For You shaped me, inside and out.
    You knitted me together in my mother’s womb long before I took my first breath.
14 I will offer You my grateful heart, for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe.
    You have approached even the smallest details with excellence;
    Your works are wonderful;
I carry this knowledge deep within my soul.

FRIDAY MORNING:
In the morning light, O God, 
may I glimpse again your image deep within me
the threads of eternal glory
woven into the fabric of every man and woman.
Again may I catch sight of the mystery of the human soul 
fashioned in your likeness
deeper than knowing, more enduring than time. 
And in glimpsing these threads of light 
amidst the weakness and distortions of my life
let me be recalled to the strength and beauty deep in my soul. 
Let me be recalled 
to the strength and beauty of your image in every living soul. (JPN)

          Made in the image of God.  Wonderfully and intricately created. Fashioned in the likeness of God.   Wow.  What words!  When we have self-doubt, all we have to do is read these lines and be uplifted.  God is our creator and God doesn't make junk!  We have God within us, yet we often cover up the wonderful being we are with the clothing of denial, rejection, pride, or conceit.  May we peel back the layers of self and allow the God deep within to emerge.  May we constantly seek to view others beneath their costume and see the God hiding within them.  
          I am off this morning to work a shift for Crossroads at the photobooth for the motorcycle rally.  Nearly 4000 motorcycles are expected to arrive in Baker City this weekend.  It is easy to carry a pre-conceived notion of 'bikers' with their leather garb, tattoos, and chains.  May I look today beneath to the image of God in each face, the threads of God 'strength and beauty' deep within each person.