between, day 2

Come to Stillness:

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

Opening Prayer:

O Lord, our God, so much of this life is lived in between; between the now and the not yet, between arriving and departing, between birth and death and rebirth, between growing up and growing old, between questions and answers. Help us not to live only for some distant day when the in between will be no more, but help us to step into the mystery of that sacred space here and now—knowing that it will be a place of genuine change and true transformation. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 46

Scripture for the Day: Psalm 73:1-28

Reading for Reflection:

     We keep praying that our illusions will fall away.  God erodes them from many sides, hoping they will fall.  But we often remain trapped in what we call normalcy, “the way things are.”  Life becomes problem-solving, fixing, explaining, and taking sides with winners and losers.  It can be a pretty circular and even nonsensical existence.

     Instead, we have to allow ourselves to be drawn into sacred space, into liminality.  All transformation takes place there.  We have to move out of “business as usual” and remain on the “threshold” (limen, in Latin) where we are betwixt and between.  There, the old world is left behind, but we’re not sure of the new one yet.  That’s a good space.  Get there often and stay there as long as you can by whatever means possible.  It’s the realm where God can best get at us because we are out of the way.  In sacred space the old world is able to fall apart, and the new world is able to be revealed.  If we don’t find liminal space in our lives, we start idolizing normalcy.  We end up believing it’s the only reality, and our lives shrivel. (Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr)
                                                                                     
Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Cleft of the Mountain

I will run to the cleft of the mountain and wait for You
Will you come and meet with me?
I will wait in the cleft of the mountain for You to pass by
Will you come and meet with me?

Oh, what a joy it would be
Just for a moment to lay at the feet of the Lord
Oh more than anything that’s what I long for
Oh, what a change it would bring
Just to look deep in the face of the King Who gave all
You gave everything so You could meet with me
Will You meet with me?

Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Help me to trust you fully in the midst of this life that seems so chaotic and unsure at times. Give me, this day, a firm place to set my feet as I walk toward you through this ever-changing world. Amen. (JLB)