gathering, friday

Friday, February 27

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.

                     

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 35:1-10

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    

                    

Closing Prayer: O God, help me to see your glory and your splendor in the seemingly isolated and random pieces of this day.  Open my blinded eyes to see you, unstop my deaf ears to hear you, and allow my lame spirit to leap like a deer within me and shout for joy.  Amen.