the way, saturday

Saturday, January 10

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

          

Opening Prayer: May those without hope take heart in you, O Christ.  May those with no home find shade at your right hand.  May those near the end see beginnings; may those at the last become first.  At the foot of your cross, O Christ, I come in prayer.  O Christ, be my help, O Christ, be my hope.  Amen. (Pamela Hawkins, Weavings Volume XXVI, Number 2)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 35:8-10

Reading for Reflection:

 

     But between them and the foot of the sky there was something so white on the green grass that even with their eagles’ eyes they could hardly look at it.  They came on and saw that it was a Lamb.

     “Come and have breakfast,” said the Lamb in its sweet milky voice.

     Then they noticed for the first time that there was a fire lit on the grass and fish roasting on it.  They sat down and ate the fish, hungry now for the first time for many days.  And it was the most delicious food they had ever tasted.

     “Please, Lamb,” said Lucy, “is this the way to Aslan’s country?”

     “Not for you,” said the Lamb.  “For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.”

     “What!” said Edmund.  “Is there a way into Aslan’s country from our world too?

     “There is a way into my country from all worlds,” said the Lamb; but as he spoke his snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane.

     “Oh, Aslan,” said Lucy.  “Will you tell us how to get into your country from our world?”

     “I shall be telling you all the time,” said Aslan.  “But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river.  But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder.  And now come; I will open the door in the sky and send you to your own land.”

     “Please, Aslan,” said Lucy.  “Before we go, will you tell us when we can come back to Narnia again?  Please.  And oh, do, do, do make it soon.”

     “Dearest,” said Aslan very gently, “you and your brother will never come back to Narnia.”

     “Oh, Aslan!!” said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.

     “You are too old children,” said Aslan, “and you must begin to come close to your own world now.”

     “It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy.  “It’s you.  We shan’t meet you there.  And how can we live, never meeting you?”

     “But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.

     “Are—are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.

     “I am,” said Aslan….”This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                       

Closing Prayer: O Father, let me think rather of Thee and rejoice that Thy love is great enough to blot out all my sins.  And, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, let me think of Thee, and lean upon Thy heavenly righteousness, taking no pleasure in what I am before Thee but only in what Thou art for me in my stead.  And, Holy Spirit, do Thou think within me, and so move within my mind and will that as the days go by I may be more and more conformed to the righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord; to whom be the glory for ever.  Amen. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)