chosen by God, day 3

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

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: Ephesians 1:3-14

Reading for Reflection:

When you lose touch with your chosenness, you expose yourself to the temptation of self-rejection, and that temptation undermines the possibility of ever growing as the Beloved….When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being chosen ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own chosenness. (Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

chosen by God, day 2

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

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: Matthew 22:1-14

Reading for Reflection:

To live a spiritual life, we have to claim for ourselves that we are “taken” or “chosen.”  Let me try to expand a bit on these words.  When I know that I am chosen, I know that I have been seen as a special person.  Someone has noticed me in my uniqueness and has expressed a desire to know me, to come closer to me, to love me.  When I write to you that, as the Beloved, we are God’s chosen ones, I mean that we have been seen by God from all eternity and seen as unique, special, precious beings.  It is very hard for me to express well the depth of the meaning of the word “chosen” has for me, but I hope you are willing to listen to me from within.  From all eternity, long before you were born and became a part of history, you existed in God’s heart.  Long before your parents admired you or your friends acknowledged your gifts or your teachers, colleagues and employers encouraged you, you were already “chosen.”  The eyes of love had seen you as precious, as of infinite beauty, as of eternal value.  When love chooses, it chooses with a perfect sensitivity for the unique beauty of the chosen one. (Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.
Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

chosen by God, day 1

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

Opening Prayer:
Almighty God, you have created us, called us, chosen us to be your people.  We wait now to receive your word of guidance and blessing.  Grant unto us ears to hear, eyes to see, and faith to respond to your love and leadership.  In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 135

Scripture for the Day: Matthew 20:1-16

Reading for Reflection:

     “Come here,” said the Lion.  And she had to.  She was almost between its front paws now, looking straight into its face.  But she couldn’t stand that for long; she dropped her eyes.

     “Human Child,” said the Lion.  “Where is the Boy?”

     “He fell over the cliff,” said Jill, and added, “Sir.”  She didn’t know what else to call him, and it sounded cheek to call him nothing.

     “How did he come to do that, Human Child?”

     “He was trying to stop me from falling, Sir.”

     “Why were you so near the edge, Human Child?”

     “I was showing off, Sir.”

     “That is a very good answer, Human Child.  Do so no more. And now” (here for the first time the Lion’s face became a little less stern) “the Boy is safe.”  I have blown him to Narnia.  But your task will be the harder because of what you have done.”

     “Please, what task, Sir?” said Jill

     “The task for which I called you and him here out of your own world.”

     This puzzled Jill very much.  “It’s mistaking me for someone else,” she thought.  She didn’t dare to tell the Lion this, though she felt things would get into a dreadful muddle unless she did.

     “Speak your thought, Human Child,” said the Lion.

     “I was wondering—I mean—could there be some mistake?  Because nobody called me and Scrubb, you know.  It was we who asked to come here.  Scrubb said we were to call to—to Somebody—it was a name I wouldn’t know—and perhaps the Somebody would let us in.  And we did, and then we found the door open.”

     “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.

     “Then you are Somebody, Sir?” said Jill

     “I am.”  (The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus You Are Lord

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

Jesus you are Lord.  Jesus you are holy.

And I praise your name

And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord
For you are Lord.  You are Lord

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit.

Jesus precious Lord, send your Holy Spirit

And I praise your name
And I praise your name
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.
For you are Lord.  You are Lord.


Closing Prayer:
You, O Lord, are the fountain of life, and the source of all goodness; You made all things and filled them with Your blessing.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. (Venite by Robert Benson)

listening to God, day 7

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

Opening Prayer:
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, to receive the food of Your holy word.  Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today, in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.  Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory. (Speak O Lord by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 19

Scripture for the Day: Mark 4:1-20

Reading for Reflection:

For though we begin the practice of secret prayer with a strong sense that we are the initiators and that by our wills we are establishing our habits, maturing experience brings an awareness of being met, and tutored, purged and disciplined, simplified and made pliant in His holy will by a power waiting within us.  For God Himself works in our souls, in their deepest depths, taking increasing control as we are progressively willing to be prepared for His wonder.  We cease trying to make ourselves the dictators and God the listener, and become the joyful listeners to Him, the Master who does all things well. (A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one lay down,
Your head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn and sad;
I found in Him my resting place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
From that life-giving stream
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
 
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
’Til pilgrim days are done. 

Closing Prayer:
Bless with your presence my life and ministry all this day long and when night comes grant your servant rest and peace.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)

listening to God, day 6

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

Opening Prayer:
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, to receive the food of Your holy word.  Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today, in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.  Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory. (Speak O Lord by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 19

Scripture for the Day: 2 Chronicles 7:11-22

Reading for Reflection:

Our waiting on God, then, requires ongoing attentiveness if it is to be more than an empty exercise in passivity.  When we pay attention, our awareness is sharpened.  Then we hear God speak, predictably in sacred settings, but also in wildly unlikely places and circumstances: the subway, the shower, and the messy garage.  After all, the Holy Spirit is blowing over us all the time, sometimes as gentle as a baby’s breath and sometimes roaring like a Kansas tornado. (My Soul in Silence Waits by Margaret Guenther)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one lay down,
Your head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn and sad;
I found in Him my resting place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
From that life-giving stream
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
 
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
’Til pilgrim days are done. 

Closing Prayer:
Bless with your presence my life and ministry all this day long and when night comes grant your servant rest and peace.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)

listening to God, day 5

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

Opening Prayer:
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, to receive the food of Your holy word.  Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today, in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.  Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory. (Speak O Lord by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 19

Scripture for the Day: Luke 10:38-42

Reading for Reflection:

You must adapt your word to my smallness, so that it can enter into the tiny dwelling of my finiteness—the only dwelling in which I can live—without destroying it.  Then I shall be able to understand; such a word I can take in without that agonizing bewilderment of mind and that cold fear clutching my heart.  If you would speak such an “abbreviated” word, which would not say everything but only something simple which I could grasp, then I could breathe freely again.

     O Infinite God, you have actually willed to speak such a word to me!  You have restrained the ocean of your infinity from flooding in over the poor little wall which protects my tiny life’s acre from your vastness.  Not the waters of your great sea, but only the dew of your gentleness is to spread itself over my poor little plot of earth.  You have come to me in a human word.  For you, the Infinite, are the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Encounters with Silence by Karl Rahner)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one lay down,
Your head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn and sad;
I found in Him my resting place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
From that life-giving stream
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
 
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
’Til pilgrim days are done. 

Closing Prayer:
Bless with your presence my life and ministry all this day long and when night comes grant your servant rest and peace.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)

listening to God, day 4

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

Opening Prayer:
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, to receive the food of Your holy word.  Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today, in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.  Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory. (Speak O Lord by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 19

Scripture for the Day: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Reading for Reflection:

In Jesus we have a master to whom we do not sufficiently listen.  He speaks to each heart the word of life, the only word, but we do not listen.  We want to know what he is saying to others, and do not listen to what he is saying to us.  We are not sufficiently attuned to that transcendental being imparted to all things by divine action. (The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre De Caussade)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one lay down,
Your head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn and sad;
I found in Him my resting place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
From that life-giving stream
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
 
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy days be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I’ll walk
’Til pilgrim days are done. 

Closing Prayer:
Bless with your presence my life and ministry all this day long and when night comes grant your servant rest and peace.  Amen. (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)