questions, day 6

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: Mark 8:1-30

Reading for Reflection:

A possibility I would like to suggest is this: live with the questions the Lord asks.  Take up a Bible and open to the Gospels.  Look for the questions Jesus asks of us: Who do you say that I am?  What do you want?  Are you not worth more than many sparrows?  Why do you not believe?  Living with these, one after the other—and there are many in the Gospels—can bring us to wholly other, much richer perspective on our lives, maybe to seeing our lives the way God sees them, shot through with light, the joy, the fullness of the risen life of Christ. (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)