International Presbytery of the Church of Scotland
Madeleine L’Engle writes:
We need the prayers of words, yes: the words are the path to contemplation; but the deepest communication with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.
From the blog
3 Prayers while waiting
In the school of prayer with St Francis of Assisi
Healed from the inside out
James tells us the wisdom from heaven is – amongst other things – considerate (James 3:17).
Here’s a quote from a recent sermon I preached entitled Be wise in God’s eyes that references this verse:
True wisdom, the wisdom that comes from heaven looks like Jesus: Pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
The more we let Jesus shape our lives, the wiser we will be. Pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Lord, help me to understand what it truly means to be considerate of others and put their needs above my own. May I recognize the little things I do that reveal I am thinking more of myself than of others. Help me to see the blessing that comes from putting others first.
May I see that everything I think doesn’t need to be said. May I understand that an affirmative smile is better than speaking my mind. Please give me insight into where others need to be lifted up and encouraged in you.
Putting others first means that I listen to others and hear what they say even if I don’t agree with them. If you would have me speak truth then enable me to do it with gentleness and compassion, not with antagonism and force. In all things, remind me to examine myself first to see if there is any wrong way in me.
Lord, teach me to keep my words few and my heart full of you. May my mind be aligned with your mind and may I see into the souls of others and know what you know. May I recognize that all people need you and may the words I speak to them reveal a little of who you are and all that you have done for us.
Lord, at the heart of putting others first is the dying to self. It isn’t important what I want and think. What is important is what you want and that should be at the forefront of my mind. Lord may my thoughts and words be considerate of others and pleasing to you. May I learn to speak as you speak and love as you love. May all that I do be done in your name and bring glory to you.
Amen
~ written by Marty Elwell, posted on www.ultimateoutcomes.org
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.” (Luke 12:27)
inspired by Isaiah 35:1-10, Psalm 146:5-10
For the speechless tongues of those oppressed
For weak hands, feeble knees, widowed, spirits
Made lame, we pray
For those orphaned from war, violence, fear
Parentless children, silent, stifled cries. For the
Hungry, we pray
For wives, beaten, abused, trampled, shot
Spirits abandoned, imprisoned by fear. For
Women, we pray
In the dry land of desert wilderness, parched
Stranded spirit, a deer that cannot leap. For the
Broken, we pray
Blessed are those whose help is God
Happy are those whose hope is God, for the
Good News, we pray
For the Good News of God, born human, who
Comes to live and love us, as us, be glad, rejoice,
Singing, we pray
For hope, like blooming flowers in a dusty desert
For hope, compassion bursting forth, be strong!
God is with us.
Amen.
~ written by Terri C. Pilarski, and posted on RevGalBlogPals. Originally published in a prayer resource for Sixteen Days of Prayer Advocating for the End of Domestic Violence, 2010.
Those who were at the October 2021 Presbytery meeting might recognize this verse from Isaiah 40:26, which I posted in the chat to encourage us.
(inspired by Psalm 147)
Celebrate God’s grace!
How comforting it is to know God always accompanies us.
Approach God in awe!
How amazing it is to consider that God has created each of us
and each star in the heavens.
Praise the living God!
How good it is to sing praises together.
~ written by Ana Gobledale, and posted on Worship Words.
The story behind the card
I made this card towards the end of a two-week stay at Dutch L’Abri, returning home in time for our October 2021 Presbytery meeting (via zoom). This card is one of a whole pile of cards I made on my last full day at L’Abri, to give away to the staff and guests. I took photographs of all the cards I made, but I only kept this one, and happened to have it on me during our Presbytery meeting, tucked into a notebook.
In our discussions around the future of our Presbytery and the different charges, it seemed a timely reminder, worth sharing: If not one of the stars is missing because of God’s great power and mighty strength, surely we can trust ourselves and our congregations to God’s care and sovereignty too.
Lost
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
by David Wagoner, from Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems
The children’s book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest (based on a true story).
Youtube video on how to make paper growing trees (from illustrator of The Boy Who Grew a Forest)
Article from themarginalian.org about Ursula K. Le Guin’s Love Poem to Trees, also featuring some stunning artwork.
From the blog
One of my early children’s song was inspired by a verse from Hosea 14 where God likens himself to a tree.
“Israel, have nothing to do with idols. I, the Lord, am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you. I am like a green pine tree; your blessings come from me.”
The original Hebrew word for “pine tree” is sometimes translated as fir tree, cypress tree or juniper. And the word “green” is variously translated as “evergreen”, “luxuriant”, “flourishing”, “growing”, “glorious”.
What a beautiful picture for God, who watches over us and makes our lives fruitful, if we put our trust in him.
BIG STRONG TREE
by Irene Bom (from Shepherd King Project)
Chorus:
Lord, You are like a big strong tree
And You help us live fruitfully
Lord, You are like a big strong tree
And You help us live for You.
1. You are like the dew
You make us all blossom like the lilies
You are like the dew
(Repeat chorus)
2. You are like the vine
We will grow if we live in You
You are like the vine
(Repeat chorus)
3. You are like the stream
You fill us up with life-giving water
You are like the stream
(Repeat chorus)
Apples ready for harvest (Photo: Irene Bom)
Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so.
For summer’s passing and harvest home —
we thank you!
For autumn’s splendor and winter’s chill —
we thank you!
For seed that has fallen, the promise of spring —
we thank you!
As a part of nature’s wondrous cycle
of new birth, growth, fruitfulness and death
we rejoice in the creation of new life.
May our lives blossom as the apple tree in Spring
May we become fruitful in thought and deed
And may the seed of love that falls to the ground
Linger beyond our time on this earth.
~ posted on Third Space blog (excerpt)
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
From the blog
Flowers fall, but …
Lord of the dance
Bend down low
Iona Weekend labyrinth at Dopersduin (NL), outlined in flour
The labyrinth may be a set path, but it does not offer a set experience. Instead, it offers a door that anyone may go through, to discover realities that meet each person where each most needs to be met.
– An Altar in the world, Barbara Brown Taylor
The labyrinth in the photograph was created by Mineke during an Iona Weekend organised by the Dutch Iona regional groups in mid-September 2021.
Mineke is a pastoral worker at a psychiatric hospital in The Hague and is currently involved in establishing a labyrinth (maybe two) on hospital grounds. During the weekend Mineke led a labyrinth workshop, offering participants the experience of walking a labyrinth and getting their feedback on her design. Weather conditions were very favourable, and the labyrinth, outlined in flour, lasted till well after we all left Dopersduin.
I was leading a collage workshop at the time, so I couldn’t take part in Mineke’s workshop, but I was curious and later visited the labyrinth with Mineke and my friend, Margriet (seen here in the photo), and took some photographs.
Unique to Mineke’s design is the option to take the longer way round or move straight to the centre. It’s also easy to follow the longer route as many times as you like before exiting.
Here is a longer excerpt from Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, An Altar in the world, also on the subject of the labyrinth as a spiritual practice.
This truth is borne out by the labyrinth – an ancient spiritual practice that is enjoying a renaissance in the present century. For those who have never seen one, a labyrinth is a kind of maze. Laid out in a perfect circle with a curling path inside, it rarely comes with walls. Instead, it trusts those who enter it to stay on the path voluntarily. This path may be outlined with hand-picked stones out-of-doors or painted right on the floor indoors. Either way, it includes switchbacks and detours, just like life. It has one entrance and it leads to one center.
The important thing to note is that the path goes nowhere. You can spend an hour on it and end up twelve feet from where you began. The journey is the point. The walking is the thing.
More on labyrinths
Logo for PAX Walk of Peace
PAX is the largest peace organization in the Netherlands. They work to protect civilians from the violence of war, to end armed violence and to build inclusive peace. They do this in conflict areas worldwide, together with local partners and people who believe, as they do, that everyone has the right to a dignified life in a peaceful society.
In 2015 PAX teamed up with the Dutch Council of Churches to organize their first Walk of Peace. More than 100 Walks of Peace have taken place all around the country since then.
The Walk of Peace is a walk of and for peace. A walk to experience and to show that, despite our differences, we can still get along.
PAX’s 2021 Walk of Peace will be held in Zwolle this coming Saturday, 18 September.
You can go on a Walk of Peace too, anytime, right where you are – to pray for peace and peacemakers and affirm your commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our Prince of Peace. And take some friends along with you.
From the blog
A Peace Garden
Lively concern
imagine … no war …