our identity in Christ, sunday

Sunday, September 14

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

Opening Prayer: O God, our Heavenly Father, who created us beautifully and wonderfully, may we always look to You for our value and worth, remembering that we are a unique expression of your infinite love, care, and creativity.  Help us, O Lord, to see ourselves as you see us in Christ—objects of your extravagant love and tender affection.  Amen.

          

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 62:1-12

Reading for reflection:

 

You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. (Isaiah 62:2)

     Israel had forgotten her name (Isaiah 62), forgotten who she truly was, so God comes to her.  It is almost as if he could not stay away.  His heart would not allow him to be silent any longer, so he speaks to his people and reminds them of who they are and calls them by their true name. 

     “Your name is not Desolate, the name of your land is not Deserted.  You are not worthless and unloved, you are mine.  You are My Delight and have immeasurable value to me.  You are like a crown of splendor in my hand, something worthy of adorning the head of the King of Kings.  I look at you with a heart more full of love than you will ever know.  In fact, I look at you with more love and desire than that of a bridegroom as he looks at his new bride coming down the aisle. You are so beautiful to me, and I love you more than you could hope for in your wildest dreams.  You mean so much to me that I have a special name picked out for you; one that I will give you when we are together forever in Paradise.  But for now, know that I call you Holy People, Redeemed of the Lord.  I call you Sought After.” 

     And so it is for each of us.  Our world has made us forget who we really are (in Christ) and has made us believe we are something far less than we were intended to be.  Therefore, God comes to us and speaks, and reminds us of our true value, our true identity.  We must be very careful to listen to his voice, for he is offering us an incredible gift; one that we must take hold of and make our own; one that we must receive.  It is the gift of a new name. 

     Isn’t that amazing!  The God of all creation has a name that he has picked out especially for you.  God has a pet name for you.  And when he whispers it in your ear, it will make your soul stand on tiptoe as never before.  It will cause your insides—and most likely your outsides too—to leap for joy in a way that you never have before.  When you hear that name it will cause a “Yes!” to well up from deep within you.  So, by all means, wait in eager expectation, pay careful attention, watch and listen attentively, and receive the incredible name God bestows on each of his children. (Becoming by Jim Branch)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                     

Closing Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

     Who am I really?  What do you see in me that you would move heaven and earth to capture my heart?  My life feels like a collection of other people’s expectations and disappointments.  I do not even know anymore who I truly am.  Reveal to me my true identity, my true place in Your story.  Give me grace to hear your voice; shut out all other voices, and let me hear from you alone.  I ask this in your name.  Amen. (The Sacred Romance Workbook by John Eldredge)

made in his image, saturday

Saturday, September 13

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

         

Scripture Reading for the Day: Colossians 1:15-23

Reading for Reflection:

 

God created out of the overflow and fullness of his love.  There was so much delight within God himself that he wanted others to be drawn into the circle of love that was enjoyed in the original family.  The German mystic, Meister Eckhart, once said that God created us out of “the laughter of the Trinity.”  There is a sense in which God could not contain himself, he wanted others to be drawn into the life enjoyed in the Godhead. (Dr. Greg Ogden, Christ Church of Oakbrook)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                       

Closing Prayer: We who are made in your image and sustained by your hand give you thanks, Almighty God.  May we always live lives that reflect that high calling.  Amen.

made in his image, friday

Friday, September 12

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

                                    

Scripture Reading for the Day: 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Reading for Reflection:

 

In reality, however, the image of Christ is the fulfillment of the deepest hungers of the human heart for wholeness.  The greatest thirst of our being is for fulfillment in Christ’s image.  The most profound yearning of the human spirit, which we try to fill with all sorts of inadequate substitutes, is the yearning for our completeness in the image of Christ. (Invitation to a Journey by M Robert Mulholland Jr.)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, continue, this day, to transform me into your image and likeness.  As the moon reflects the light of the sun, may my face reflect your glory this day.  Amen.

made in his image, thrusday

Thursday, September 11

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Ephesians 2:8-10

Reading for Reflection:

 

You are a special and sacred word-of-God-made-flesh.  He loves you as you are.  He spoke your name and created you as a unique person.  So be who you are as created by God.  In prayer say your own word, sing your own song and be true to it.  (A Traveler Toward the Dawn by John Eagan)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      

Closing Prayer: To the one who is three; to the three who are one.  I know of only one way to make sense of my senseless life: disappear into the love flowing from your words.  Your story tells me all that needs to be said, fills all that needs to be filled, restores all that has fallen apart, and heals all that has been infected with selfishness and greed.  The world is confusing and even though my questions pester me, I see that everything will make final, perfect sense, but only when I look into the laughing, illuminating light of your eyes.  Mystery. (A Heart Exposed by Steven James)

made in his image, wednesday

Wednesday, September 10

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Psalm 139:13-18

Reading for Reflection:

 

The story that is the Sacred Romance begins not with God alone, the Author at his desk, but with God in relationship, intimacy beyond our wildest imagination, heroic intimacy.  The Trinity is at the center of the universe; perfect relationship is the heart of reality.  Think of your best moments of love or friendship or creative partnership, the best times with family or friends around the dinner table, your richest conversations, the acts of simple kindness that sometimes seem like the only things that make life worth living.  Like the shimmer of sunlight on a lake, these are reflections of the love that flows from among the Trinity.  We long for intimacy because we are made in the image of perfect intimacy. (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      

Closing Prayer: Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us holy.  Through them we come to know the mystery of your life.  Help us to worship you, one God in three persons, you reveal yourself in the depths of our being, by proclaiming and living our faith in you.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. (The Liturgy of the Hours)

made in his image, tuesday

Tuesday, September 9

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Colossians 3:1-12

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Our very existence is one of the never-to-be-repeated ways God has chosen to express himself in space and time.  Because we are made in God’s image and likeness, you and I are yet another promise that he has made to the universe that He will continue to love it and care for it.

     Yet even if we grasp the fact that we are a word uttered by God, we may not grasp what he is trying to say through us.  In Seeds of Contemplation Merton writes, “God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of himself.  A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it.  But if I am true to the concept God utters in me, if I am true to the thought in him I was meant to embody, I shall be full of his actuality and find him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere.  I shall be lost in him.” (Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      

Closing Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love: hold us firm in this faith, that we may know you in all your ways and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory, who are three Persons in one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  (Oremus)

made in his image, monday

Monday, September 8

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

Opening Prayer: Loving Creator, I have no quarrel with the way you have so carefully designed me in your image.  Truly I am your work of art.  Take me deeper today.  Show me my virtues—the wonders of your design for my life.  Help me not to be afraid to look into the depths of myself and believe in what I see—for I am the work of your hands.  If I can believe in what I see, then I can rejoice in what I see.  Precious in your sight, I am your work of art. Continue to create me in your image.  Amen. (Behold Your Life by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Romans 8:18-27

Reading for Reflection:

 

     I am not sure exactly what all I think we mean when we say that we are made in the image of God.  But part of it, I believe, is that the calling voice of God is sounding out in the caves and caverns deep beneath the soil of our souls.  And it is by obeying this call we learn who we truly are and what we can become.

     So if I do not seem to hear him speak from outside, and if there does not seem to be any message from the sky, then I must listen to the voice that is within me.  For that voice, too, is the purposeful, calling voice of God to us.

     Not many of us have enough confidence in ourselves to listen to that whispering voice that comes from within.  Most of the time, we do not even hear it.  But it doesn’t matter because we wouldn’t trust it.  We cannot believe that this inner voice is capable of leading us due north.

     We seek advice from friends and professionals, disc jockeys and Dear Abbys.  We put out a fleece.  We flip coins.  We take aptitude tests.  We do everything but believe that we could possibly have the answers deep within.

     The message of Paul in this place is that the calling indeed comes in the lives of the unlikely and the “foolish.”  You think you are unlikely; well you’re not.  You have difficulty believing that God could do great things in you; well, he wouldn’t.

     Now if God can take a tiny seed and, in the process of giving it his life, endow it with a knowledge of what it is supposed to be; if he can give it the purpose and strength and fruitfulness to not only accomplish it all, but to perpetuate itself as well; and if he can give it an inner calendar to tell it when all of this is supposed to be done, why is it so hard to believe he has done the same for our hearts?

     Since he has done this for tomatoes and thistles and beans and dandelions, it shouldn’t stretch our credibility so much to believe that his image in us, the image inherent in the life he gives to each of us, is calling us to be.

     The trick is to hear the voice, to believe it, and to trust it. (See You at the House by Bob Benson)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                      

Closing Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (The Book of Common Worship)