Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter Sunday

O Lord God, our Father, You are the light that can never be put out; and now you give us a light that shall drive away all darkness. You are love without coldness, and you have given us such warmth in our hearts that we can love all whom we meet. You are the life that defies death, and you opened for us the way that leads to eternal life. I am not a great Christian; I am humble and ordinary. But your grace is enough for me. Arouse in me that small degree of joy and thankfulness of which I am capable, that timid faith which I can muster, that cautious obedience which I cannot refuse, and thus bring me to that wholeness of life which you have prepared for all of us through the death and resurrection of your Son.

Do not allow me or any of your children to remain apathetic or indifferent to the wonderful glory of Easter, but let the light of our risen Lord reach every corner of our dull hearts. Of my dull heart, Father. Amen.

- Karl Barth (adapted), Call of God
from Ruth Etchells Just As I Am

Friday, April 18, 2014

Good Friday

From Just As I Am by Ruth Etchells

Christ, whose bitter agony
was watched from afar by women
enable us to follow the example
of their persistent love;
that being steadfast in the face of horror,
we may also know the place of the resurrection,
in your name. Amen.

- Janet Morley, All Desires Known

O my Lord Jesus, I cannot bring myself to watch you through this horror: yet their persistent love kept them watching by you to the end. Help me to face the Golgotha truth of human life, Lord; and so discover with wonder that you do not only watch alongside me, but shield me from its full terror with your own body and spirit. So may I join with you and the women in steadfastness: and with them discover that this is a place of redemption.

Lord, let us be with you, wherever you are crucified today,
Wherever the will of man crosses the will of God:
For being God and man, you are stretched out on the cross of God's purpose 
and our rebellion.
Where the will to violence crosses God's will for peace,
Where lying and corruption cross God's will for truth,
Where greed and possessiveness cross the use of God's plenty,
Where we live not for others but for ourselves,
Where ugliness and disease cross the will of God for beauty and well-being,
There let us find you, racked on the cross,
And there let us be with you and share your pain,
And bring about with you, in union with your sacrifice,
That redemption which you are accomplishing in your passion.

- Margaret Cropper, Draw Near

O Lord Jesus, forgive me for the times I have racked you on the cross of God's purpose and my rebellion. Let me gaze at that cross and recognize what my wilfulness has done. So join my grief with your passion, Lord; that with your whole creation I may be redeemed. Amen.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

There's Only What You Do

There's only what you do.
Everything else is inside your head.

But what you do is just the expression
of who you are
and what you know.

And what you do covers a multitude of sins.
You do your tone of voice
....
You do the silences between your words
as well as the words themselves.
You do the songs you sing.
You do the cup of tea you made your mum.
You do the way you spend your money
and the way you didn't spend it.
You do the love you make
and all the love you didn't make.
You do the atmosphere you change within a room.
You do the rocking of the baby in your arms
....
But ... what you do is the expression
of who you are
and what you know.

If what you are feels wrong or not worth much
scrunched up in a miserable little ball,
It goes without saying the way you do will mirror that.
And what others do you will receive
much the same.

'Doing Love' Love Burning Deep, Kathy Galloway

Oof. Those last few lines hurt a bit. I didn't want to write them out for you to read. I wanted to remove them, leave them out ... like some leave out certain lines of Scripture when reading it ... because they don't want to read them, hear them ... because of the truth they speak. Those last few lines are truth ... to one degree or another they are true ... for most of us. But, then Ruth Etchells gave a prayer to open it up for us today:

"O God of Love,...
Give me, now, the grace to open myself to you: this morning let me face those barriers within myself which shut out your love, and accept it fully in thankfulness:
- trusting you that its demand will not be too great for my frailty;
- letting its healing warmth teach me of my great worth in your eyes,
so that all I do and am is shaped by it. And let me see all that others do in the light of that love. So may the love I 'do' today shine with the love in which you have secured me. AMEN."

Ninth Day, Morning
Just As I Am, Ruth Etchells

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Just As I Am

O LORD God,
help me today
to recognize
how significant my life is,
even when it seems obscure and unnoticed.
Keep me conscious that I
live it out
in your presence
and that all I am and do matters infinitely,
not just to me,
but to you,
and to the sum of good in your world.

So, Dear Father,
take my living today
into your keeping.
Give substance to my longing to serve you,
deepen my understanding of you and your dealings with this world,
and strengthen my will.
Help me to a more deeply assured control of my thoughts and feelings,
and the speech and action that flow from them:
teach me to bring them constantly under your care. ...

2nd Day - Morning
Just As I Am
Ruth Etchels