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. 

Lent 2015: Week 2

Tuesday, Feb. 24  Prayer: GRATITUDE
Hebrews 12:28 CEB
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken, let's continue to express our gratitude.  With this gratitude, let's serve in a way that is pleasing to God with respect and awe.  
2 Corinthians 4:15 CEB
As grace increases to benefit more and more people, it will cause gratitude to increase, which results in God's glory.  
     I have spent alot of time in the last few months writing, reading, and thinking about gratitude. About grace and thanks and acknowledging God at work over and over again in our lives.  This should be the first part of EVERY prayer, before we wade into the help me and help them and all that other stuff.  
     Today's drawing simplifies GRATITUDE to Thank You - it was easier to fit together!  At least 5 of the letters are filled with those things for which I am grateful. The rest are intercessory prayers.   

Wednesday, Feb 25.    A Centering Place
Genesis 1:31 MSG
God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!
Mark 1:9-11 MSG
At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God's Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him.  Along with the Spirit, a voice: 'You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."
     These scriptures were the text for Katy's sermon last Sunday and the overall idea for this image was penciled on the back of my bulletin. I love the thought of heaven opening, God parting the Rainbow of Promise and bringing the holy within reach of us all.  
     Then I was reading a book by Sue Monk Kidd titled 'God's Joyful Surprise' and I found her describing Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel scene of God stretching out to touch Adam in the Creation story.  Both scripture and prose came together for me.  Kidd is writing of a time of turbulent spiritual decisions in her personal life as she struggled to center herself in God, to find a Centering Place.  I found her descriptions inspiring and thought provoking: 

      In the waiting room of a doctor's office one day I saw a copy of one tiny piece of Michelangelo's painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  It showed God's hand with one finger reaching out and Adam's hand with one finger extending back toward God's.  Their fingers are almost touching but not quite.  The tiniest space is left between them.  I remember staring at the picture while I waited for the doctor.  For some reason my attention was drawn away from the fingers to the space between them.  It brought to mind at the time the gulf of separation between human beings and God.        But maybe there is a different way to view that space.  The mysterious inch on the fresco could as easily be where God and humans reach their fingers into a common space.  It could speak to us of the place where our lives touch and mingle with God's.  A shared space, a center.        A center is not simply an inner place where you are in touch with God's presence.  Most important, it is a space from which you can focus your entire life.  Being centered is not so much a state of being as a point of beginning.  ......I don't think for a minute that a centered life is the solution to all our problems.  Rather it is a way to respond to our problems.  We don't withdraw from the world to a center.  We respond to the world from our center.       Instead of rushing about, accepting every job that comes, we get a sense of what's really important.  Being centered allows us to bring that elusive quality of focus to our lives.  It enables us to set priorities.  From the center we can respond to the chaos by eliminating that which isn't meaningful and bringing order and calm to the rest.  For in the center we are rooted in God's love.  In such a place there is no need for striving and impatience and dashing about seeking approval.       We need not avoid our active lives, but simply bring to them a new vision and shift of gravity.  We are called to live a life rich and full, but rooted firmly in the center where all is drawn together in God and then flows out of His presence.  That is when life becomes the silent dance revolving around Him, alive with the music of His love.  

      I thought of God reaching to touch Jesus in his baptism - the space between filled with the Spirit of God, the dove, the space of our intermingling. So many images and thoughts surround this concept....more to ponder.  In the meantime, prayers were penned into the rainbow, the promise that God listens to each and every one of them. 


Thursday, Feb 26.    Fasting: Drink Only Water Today
John 7:38 CEB
All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.”

            At first this drawing was conceived somewhat as the living water erupting from Jesus as in this passage he is describing himself.  But this morning I woke up still with the concept of centering in God in relation to the living waters.  I pictured God as the well we sit and live from, offering us a steady supply of life-giving water.  We can drink of it whenever we want and need.  We can start our day at the well; we can sit there in the evening.  Today’s challenge for Lent was to drink only water. I did pretty well….no wine this evening, water refills at the rest stops, and just a VERY light sprinkling of instant coffee in my cup this morning.  (Those who know me well can only imagine how watery I could conceive WEAK coffee as I never make it very strong to begin with!)

            Water is the one essential in our physical life.  Perhaps living water is the one essential in our spiritual life as well.  

Friday, Feb. 27  Prayer: JESUS
Matthew 1:21 MSG
She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” 

            When the Lent calendar proposed pondering the name of Jesus I had to go online and find a list of all the terms used for the Son of God.  I found listings of over 200 names!  I will limit my discoveries to some of the more common ones:   Christ, Redeemer, Saviour, Yeshua, Immanuel, Alpha and Omega, Lamb of God, Good Shepherd, Bread of Life, Messiah, Jehovah, The Word.

            The name Jesus itself comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua – a combination of Yahweh and Joshua.  The words means ‘to save’.  The names link Jesus both to God and to the Hebrew people.

            Many of the terms above describe Jesus’ role on earth and his purpose while human.  My prayer drawing began with a design I have often seen in necklaces, etc: the word Jesus in the shape of the cross.  This being Lent I pictured the Passion on it…nails and a crown of thorns.  But I am a ‘Resurrected Christ’ type of person and I needed the hope of the Eternal Jesus, so butterfly symbols of resurrection were added!  

Saturday, Feb. 28  CONVERSION: A Journey of Many Layers

 The word leaped into my head.  Conversion?  How strange I would think of that.  My interpretation of my own tradition was that the grace of God came in one great dose as we accepted Christ into our lives and were born again.  It was a one-time negotiation in which grace arrived in a lump sum.  Conversion then was more or less over.  There was nothing left to do except come to church, live for God and get other people to discover Him.  But what if conversion, this turning of the heart to God, is a gradual, ongoing process that begins at that great outpouring of grace and then continues on?  Is it possible that awakening to God is the continuation of conversion?     That means that conversion is a process of growth and change.  It begins with God and goes on silently within us, flowering out at certain unique times as He calls us to decisive moments, rediscovery, awakening, just as that initial moment of conversion did.  (Sue Monk Kidd in God's Joyful Surprise) 

      I will deviate again today from the Lenten Calendar and take another look at Sue Monk Kidd's book. She is struggling spiritually as God calls her into a deeper relationship.  This passage, along with my recent Session opening describing my 'call' or conversion moment as a journey merged into an image that was reinforced by yesterday's drive through the myriad of mountain ranges creating shadows and silhouettes that were unending. Our conversion is not just a moment, but a step by step growth in faith.  Very few people have a Saul-Paul moment of absolute turn-around.  We peel back layers of God as we journey through life.  We drive deeper into the hills and discover a richer and fuller relationship with the Almighty.  For Session I drew a scribble of my 'awakening rocks' along the river of life.  Today I draw the layers of mountains that call us to deeper relationships.  And perhaps a Saguaro God that stands guard, watches, waits, and guides us all along the way.  
 
Sunday, Mar 1  Service: Tend God's Earth
1 Cor 6:9-11 (Selections)
Those who use and abuse each other, ..... use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom.

     Whoa....I opened a can of worms this morning when I began googling Conservation Theology or Ecotheology.  I found all sorts of 'new story' proposals, many of which involve more the Creation Theology models, plus alot I just didn't understand the terminology to know what they were talking about.  I did find this  2nd century quote interesting, but I haven't figured out just what he is trying to say.  

"God delays causing the confusion and destruction of the whole world...because of the seed of the Christians, who know that they are the cause of preservation in nature."  (St. Justin (c.100-165 AD)

     In essence, however, my challenge today is to do something of a conservation nature to clean up my local environment.   Litter patrol about the CHRPA/Shalom property!  The wind of the past two days has surely blown some unwanted debris in. I chastise myself often on hikes for not carrying a plastic garbage bag in which to put some of the trash we find hidden along the trail.  I do believe more churches should consider what they can do as a community to 'tend God's Creation' or 'take care of the garden'.   As a world our actions just might come back to bite us if we don't change our ways.  

Monday, Mar 2  Prayer: SPIRIT
John 14:26 CEB
The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.  
      Various translations use the term Advocate, Helper, Friend in place of the CEB Companion.  All convey someone very intimate and personal who is in position to guide, assist, encourage, and help us along our way.  For believers, this Spirit is Emanuel - God with us, God IN us, God as an integral part OF us.  That is quite the Companion!  
      Commentary in this chapter of John from The Voice gave another interesting perspective on the role of the Spirit through us:

God becomes flesh and lives among humanity, not just to have a transaction with people and ultimately die, but to continue to be with them and to send His Spirit to be present with believers.  So God calls His Spirit-indwelled people to something greater, something more significant: they are here as redeeming forces on this earth; their time here is about reclaiming the things He has created.  Believing God has created the entire cosmos and that it is restored in Jesus, the believer's work here through the Spirit is to say, "This belongs to God," and to help point out the beauty of creation to everyone.  And most of all, to live in it themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit who plants the teachings of the Lord in their hearts.

The beauty of creation is not just the natural world around us, but the beauty that lies within each and every individual person created by God.  Our job is to recognize and reclaim that beauty for God.  A good goal as I begin my CHRPA work today.  

Tuesday, March 3    Prayer:  SOLITUDE

Matthew 6:6

         In contemplation of this word, I refer to a series of quotes from Chapter 8 of Sue Monk Kidd’s book:

Anyone can retire into a quiet place, but it’s the shutting of the door that makes the difference.  Solitude is a time for stripping away everything in order to focus on God. 

Solitude is a time for ‘God and God alone.’But we don’t stay in solitude.  Though Jesus spent much time alone, He also returned to the crowds that followed him, renewed in his power to heal, forgive, feed, and teach.

While there may be some loneliness in every experience of solitude, we should not confuse the two.  Solitude is breaking through my isolation into sharing, and being in touch with my Creator.  In fact, we can begin to heal our loneliness by transforming it into solitude.

Moments alone with God, untethered by time, noise and inner compulsions, nourish the places where our spiritual energy is depleted and regrounds us in His love. 

True solitude in God’s presence always leads us to discover others.  Love and community are born in our times alone with God.  

Wednesday, Mar 4  Service: Call Someone
Philippians 2:1-2 CEB
Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 
     Today's Lenten calendar challenge is to Call Someone.  I spent nearly an hour last night on the phone with my brother Mac, and I hope to call my sister Liz this evening.  She has had some rough medical challenges in the past few months, most recently concerning her husband.  I think it is time to 'check in'!  Maybe I will wrap up my mid-week conversations, my "opportunity for encouragement in Christ, sharing comfort with love" with a call to my oldest sister on Thursday!
      Today's challenge reminds me of the old telephone commercial to 'reach out and touch someone', but perhaps that is what our Lord 'calls' us to do! 
   

Copyright Traci Smith 2015 www.traci-smith.com LENTEN PRACTICES CALENDAR FOR FAMILIES:  These activities are based around the traditional 'Three Pillars' of Lent: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving or Service.  The pillars are rotated throughout Lent with simple activities.  On the prayer days, use the word provided to inspire a prayer you write, draw, or sing.  All of the activities are suggestions.  Modify as necessary or desired!