questions, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle. Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13

Scripture for the Day: John 21:1-19

Reading for Reflection:

Each one who is born comes into the world as a question for which old answers are not sufficient. (New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton)

There are questions, lots of questions.  And it is good to live in the question.  A pat answer is closed, it is finished; that’s it.  It goes nowhere and leaves little room for hope.  A question, the mystery, opens the space for us.  It is full of possibility.  It gives hope of life and even more abundant life.  Our faith, solid as it might be is full of questions.  And therefore full of life and hope. (Living in the Question by M. Basil Pennington)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Closing Prayer:
It seems to me Lord
that we search
much too desperately
for answers
when a good question
holds as much grace
as an answer.

(Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

questions, day 4

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle. Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13

Scripture for the Day: John 13:1-15

Reading for Reflection:

“Why do you weep when you pray?” Moshe asked me, as though he had known me a long time.

     “I don’t know why,” I answered, greatly disturbed.

      The question had never entered my head.  I wept because—because of something inside me that felt the need for tears.  That was all I knew.

     “Why do you pray?” he asked me, after a moment.

     Why did I pray?  A strange question.  Why did I live?  Why did I breathe?

     “I don’t know why,” I said, even more disturbed and ill at ease.  “I don’t know why.”

     After that day I saw him often.  He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.

     “Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him,” he was fond of repeating.  “That is the true dialogue.  Man questions God and God answers.  But we don’t understand His answers.  We can’t understand them.  Because they come from the depths of the soul, and they stay there until death.  You will find the true answers Eliezer, only within yourself!”

     “And why do you pray, Moshe?” I asked him.

     “I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.” (Night by Ellie Wiesel)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Closing Prayer:
It seems to me Lord
that we search
much too desperately
for answers
when a good question
holds as much grace
as an answer.

(Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

questions, day 3

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle. Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13

Scripture for the Day: John 11:17-44

Reading for Reflection:

You are so young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient with all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.  Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.  And the point is, to live everything.  Live the questions now.  Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. (Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Closing Prayer:
It seems to me Lord
that we search
much too desperately
for answers
when a good question
holds as much grace
as an answer.

(Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

questions, day 2

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle. Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13

Scripture for the Day: John 5:1-9

Reading for Reflection:

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Jesus is too much for us.  The Church is a kind of collective teenager.  Perhaps we’re gradually getting ready to let the Gospel talk straight to us.  We have always wanted answers, because in an early stage of human life the first thing we need is certainty.  But Jesus doesn’t offer us any certainties; he offers us a journey of faith.  Jesus doesn’t give us many answers; he tells us what the right questions are, what questions the human soul has to wrestle with to stumble onto Christ and the truth.

     Our formulations determine what we’re really looking for.  Our questions determine what we ultimately find and discover.  Answers acquire power too quickly; they often turn our words into ammunition to be used against others.  And answers make trust unnecessary, they make listening dispensable, they make relations superfluous.  Having my answers, I don’t need you in order to take my journey.  I need only my head, my certainties, and my conclusions.  It’s all private.  But Jesus said we have to live in this world so as to be dependent on one another.  The real meaning of a poor life is a life of radical dependency, so I can’t arrange my life in such a way that I don’t need you.  We can’t do it alone. (Simplicity by Richard Rohr)

 

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Closing Prayer:
It seems to me Lord
that we search
much too desperately
for answers
when a good question
holds as much grace
as an answer.

(Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

questions, day 1

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, our Father, Creator of all that is, give us the courage to wrestle with the questions you ask us rather than jumping to some immediate answer—thereby cutting off any possibility of real growth or struggle.  Help us stay in the question long enough to hear what it is you have for us there.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 13

Scripture for the Day: John 1:35-42

Reading for Reflection:

I don’t know Who—or what—put the question.  I don’t know when it was put.  I don’t even remember answering.  But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender, had a goal. (Markings by Dag Hammarskjold)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: How Firm a Foundation


How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Closing Prayer:
It seems to me Lord

that we search

much too desperately

for answers

when a good question

holds as much grace

as an answer.

(Seasons of the Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr)

gathering, day 7

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O Lord our God, help us to be faithful to gather what you have provided for our hearts and souls this day—that we may feed on you and live. In the name of Jesus, the bread of life. Amen. (JLB)


Psalm for the Week: Psalm 147

Scripture for the Day: Ezekiel 34:11-16

Reading for Reflection:

Not every meal is a banquet or a special celebration.  True, there are high moments, times for delicacies and treats.  But still, we need our daily bread.  We need to nourish ourselves with the staples of life even if they do not always tickle our palates.  Each day we need to sit at the table with Jesus and eat the Bread of his Word to nourish the life he has given us.  On days we do not let him break for us the Bread of the Word, our spirits languish.  If our lives are not filled with joy and all the other fruits of the Spirit, it is because we do not ask, do not seek.  His table is always spread.  We want always to keep our Bible spread out before us in our homes, in our offices, in our places of ministry, to remind ourselves of this.  Let it be there as a tempting dish filled with enticing morsels, inviting us to nibble constantly and to sit down regularly and eat heartily.  There is never a moment when we cannot enjoy, be nourished, and be refreshed by the table talk of Jesus. Taste and see how good the Lord is! (Breaking Bread by M. Basil Pennington)


Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I'll Find You There

When I needed love
When I needed peace
When I needed understanding
I’ll find you there

When I needed hope
When I needed strength
When I needed someone who cares
I’ll find you there

Lord, you made me laugh
Even when I felt like crying
Lord, you made me sing
Even when my heart was aching
Lord, you let me hide in you
When the sky was raging
I know the sun always shines
After the rain

I’ll find you there
I’ll find you there
I’ll find you there, O Lord


Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you that you are present in the midst of the broken pieces of this day. May we find you there as we gather them up and may it help us to trust both your provision for us, as well as the goodness of your heart. Amen. (JLB)

gathering, day 6

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O Lord our God, help us to be faithful to gather what you have provided for our hearts and souls this day—that we may feed on you and live. In the name of Jesus, the bread of life. Amen. (JLB)


Psalm for the Week: Psalm 147

Scripture for the Day: Isaiah 40:6-11

Reading for Reflection:

And yet, though we strain

against the deadening grip

of daily necessity,

I sense there is mystery:

All life is being lived.

Who is living it, then?

Is it the things themselves,

or something waiting inside them,

like an unplayed melody in a flute?

Is it the winds blowing over the waters?

Is it the branches that signal to each other?

Is it the flowers

interweaving their fragrances,

or streets, as they wind through time?

Is it the animals, warmly moving,

or the birds, that suddenly rise up?

Who lives it, then?  God, are you the one

who is living life?

            (The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I'll Find You There

When I needed love
When I needed peace
When I needed understanding
I’ll find you there

When I needed hope
When I needed strength
When I needed someone who cares
I’ll find you there

Lord, you made me laugh
Even when I felt like crying
Lord, you made me sing
Even when my heart was aching
Lord, you let me hide in you
When the sky was raging
I know the sun always shines
After the rain

I’ll find you there
I’ll find you there
I’ll find you there, O Lord


Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you that you are present in the midst of the broken pieces of this day. May we find you there as we gather them up and may it help us to trust both your provision for us, as well as the goodness of your heart. Amen. (JLB)