Deeper, closer

 
“When I let myself converse truly and deeply with my heart – whether through reading, writing, walking and thinking, or prayer – I find I am conversing with the creator of my heart, who invites me into conversation with him. In that conversation, I don’t always come by the answers I set out to uncover, but I draw closer to the one who holds the answers, and that is enough.”

~ written by Abigail Carroll, from A gathering of larks: Letters to St Francis from a modern-day pilgrim, p. 83

Prayer of Intercession

inspired by Luke 24

You come to us
In unexpected places,
In a crowded room,
In a journey on a dusty road,
In conversation,
In the stillness.
You come in the midst of our doubt, our fear, our sorrow
You come in the power of the resurrection
No pain and suffering is unknown to you.

You bring us peace
And we pray for the places where there is no peace
Countries torn by war
Refugees seeking homes
Prisoners facing torture

You bring peace
Peace to the tensions and conflicts within us
To the regrets, the failure,
The broken relationships
The lost friendships

You bring peace
For you are a friend to us
When we are alone
When we are lonely
Unseen you are there

You bring us peace
And we pray that we too
may become peacemakers.

 
~ written by Susan Miller, posted on re:worship

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Ignatius of Loyola
To Emmaus and back
Small talk
 

Deeper and deeper here

* Adsum *

What if the miracle of living this life is not that we all get our way but that we sink our roots and souls and bodies deeper and deeper into the place God has put us, for just the time God has put us there? This place is not even a physical place – remember, there is no moral good or evil to leaving or staying – but simply the space we inhabit today. Adsum. What if the miracle of life is that we move through belief and unbelief, doubt and faith, joy and sorrow, anger and grief, truth and faith, being as wholly ourselves as we can be in that moment. Is being here, wherever here is, wholeness?

I think it is.

    from The Understory by Lore Ferguson Wilbert, p. 205

 
* Adsum is Latin for “I am here”

From the blog
Bloom where you’re planted
Continually ever-present
Yield as sacrifice
 

Look deeper


 

The deeper heart issue

Luke 9:46-48 (The Voice)
 
Later the close followers of Jesus began to argue over the stupid and vain question, “Which one of us is the greatest disciple?”

Jesus saw what was going on — not just the argument, but the deeper heart issues — so He found a child and had the child stand beside Him.

Jesus: See this little one? Whoever welcomes a little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. The smallest one among you is therefore the greatest.
 

Call to Worship

Welcome to this place:
where children and seasoned citizens sit side by side,
where heaven and earth embrace in peace,
where God has been, is, and always will be.

Welcome to this place, as we gather with all of God’s children:
where we find God’s love,
where we hear the tender voice of Jesus,
where the Spirit teaches us new songs.

Welcome to this place, where all is made ready by our God:
where we bring our hunger, and find food;
where we bring our brokenness, and find healing;
where we bring our very selves, and find acceptance.

~ written by Thom Shuman, posted on Lectionary Liturgies

From the blog
The promise of carefree play
Quiet near a little stream
Continually curious
 

Deep calls to deep


Caution: Wet floor   (Verbeke Foundation, Belgium)
 

In my local congregation in Rotterdam we’re doing a sermon series called “Deep calls to deep”, starting on Lent 2 and running through to Good Friday and Easter.

The series includes Psalm 42, Hannah “deeply troubled” (1 Samuel 1:1-20), “deep darkness” from Isaiah 59, Jonah’s prayer “from deep in the realm of the dead” (Jonah 2:1-10), Jesus “deeply distressed” in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42), Peter’s advice to “love each other deeply” (1 Peter 4:7-11) and Paul commending the Thessalonians for their “deep conviction” (1 Thess 1:1-10).

What deep treasures will you discover this Lent?

Ash Wednesday prayer

Our ancestors in the faith
used ashes as a sign of our repentance,
a symbol of the uncertainty and fragility
of human life.
Like them,
we have tasted the ashes of hopelessness;
we have walked through the ashes
of our loss and pain;
we have stood knee-deep
in the ashes of our brokenness.

God of our lives,
out of the dust of creation
you have formed us and given us life.
May these ashes not only be a sign
of our repentance and death,
but reminders that by your gift of grace
in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
we are granted life forever with you.
Amen.

(A period of silence will follow. Those who wish to do so, may come forward to have the sign of the cross placed on their foreheads or hands. The ashes are from palm branches used at Palm Sunday services in the past, mixed with oil).

~ written by Thom Shuman, posted on re:worship
 

Leave your tree

Benediction

inspired by Luke 19:1-10

God is the rock to which you cling,
            your hiding place.
      This doesn’t mean that now you should go
            where no one can find you.
Instead, this week, I invite you:
            come down out of your own sycamore tree.
      Jesus is coming to your home,
            to where you work
                  or learn
                        or play.
Don’t be afraid. It’ll be all right.
      Today salvation has come to this house,
            because you too are a son or daughter
                  of Abraham and Sarah.

 
~ from Long Green Valley Church of the Brethren, posted on re:worship

This week’s post was inspired by an article in The Guardian featuring photographs of women posing in trees, a recurring theme in amateur photographs taken between the 1920s and 1950s.
 

Tree of beauty

Hymn

87 87 87

Faithful cross, O tree of beauty,
tree of Eden, tree divine!
Not a grove on earth can show us
leaf and flow’r and fruit so fine.
Bearer of our Savior’s body,
tree of life, salvation’s sign!

Cross of pain transformed to gladness
ever green and sheltering tree,
symbol once of shame and bondage,
now the sign that we are free!
Cross of splendor, cross of glory,
cross of love’s great victory!

Christians, chant your grateful praises
for the tree of triumph won,
proof of overflowing mercy
and redemption in the Son.
To the cross of Christ give glory
while the endless ages run!

 
by Delores Dufner, sourced from Treasures Old and New: Images in the lectionary by Gail Ramshaw, p. 394

From the blog
In the school of prayer with Eugene Peterson
In the school of prayer with Michael Mayne
In the school of prayer with Brother Lawrence
 

Trees of healing


 

I saw a tree that was growing on each side of the river. It is the tree that gives people true life. It has 12 different kinds of fruit, a new fruit every month. The tree’s leaves are like medicine. They make people of every nation well again.

A prayer for wholeness

We grieve and confess
that we hurt and have been hurt,
to the third and fourth generations,
that we are so afraid of pain
that we shield ourselves from being vulnerable to others,
and refuse to be open and trusting as a child …

O God of Wholeness, we rest in you …
You listen with us to the sound of running water,
you sit with us under the shade of the trees of our healing,
you walk once more with us in the garden in the cool of the day,
the oil of your anointing penetrates the cells of our being,
the warmth of your hands steadies us and gives us courage.
O God of Wholeness, we rest in you …

 
by Jim Cotter
from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #349

From the blog
Settle yourself into the quiet
In the school of prayer with Terry Hinks
Theme: He heals the brokenhearted  [prayer sheet]
 

Beloved, be blessed


 

Litany

based on the life and ministry of Jesus

Come to Galilee and be blessed.
Come, see, and be blessed.
Hear him calling, and be blessed.
Stay with the Lord, and be blessed.
Take root in his land, and be blessed.
Walk along the lakeshore, and be blessed.
Bathe your feet in the water, and be blessed.
Listen to his words, and be blessed.
‘Be merciful and be blessed.’
‘Be a peacemaker and be blessed.’
Marvel at the crowds that follow him, and be blessed.
‘Feed them yourselves’, and be blessed.
‘But I have only five loaves and two fish’, and be blessed.
Watch the sunrise together, and be blessed.
Know the darkness and the light, and be blessed.
Say ‘I love you, Lord’, and be blessed.
Say ‘You know I love you’, and be blessed.
Throw out your nets, and be blessed.
Confront your fears, and be blessed.
Cross over to the other side, and be blessed.
Face into the storm, and be blessed.
Accept your weakness, and be blessed.
Acknowledge your sin, and be blessed.
Ask for healing, and be blessed.
Come to the water of life, and be blessed.
Drink deep of the Lord, and be blessed.
Walk with him on Tabor*, and be blessed.
Know yourself beloved, and be blessed.
Live in the Lord, and be blessed.
Give him space to hold you, and be blessed.
Breathe in his Spirit, and be blessed.
Let go of past pain, and be blessed.
Celebrate your joy, and be blessed.
Sing out your praises, and be blessed.
Stay a while in this place, and be blessed.
Know too when it is time to move on, and be blessed.
Take his love with you, and be blessed.
Set your face for Jerusalem, and be blessed.
 
~ written by Dr. Gareth Byrne, posted on re:worship

 
* Mount Tabor, traditionally identified as the Mount of Transfiguration

From the blog
A healing blessing
Grace upon grace
How good, how pleasant
 

To love as Jesus loved


 

Opening prayer

O God,
you broke down the barriers when you crept in beside us.
In Jesus, your hands touched all, and touched us.
You opened our eyes
to see how the hands of the rich were empty,
and the hearts of the poor were full.
You took the widow’s mite and the child’s loaves
and used them to show us the Kingdom.

Here in the company of the neighbour whom we know
and the stranger in our midst,
and the self from whom we turn,
we ask to love as Jesus loved.

Make this the place and time, good Lord,
when heaven and earth become one,
and we in word and flesh
know ourselves beloved.
Amen.

 
~ from the website of Old South Church in Boston, posted on re:worship

From the blog
3 prayers for the New Year
Table grace
Germinate and grow