loved by God, day 3

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

Opening Prayer:
I feel your love as you hold me to your sacred heart, my beloved Jesus, my God, my Master, but I feel, too, the need I have of your tenderness, and your caress because of my infinite weakness.
                                                                                ~Charles de Foucauld

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 36

Scripture for the Day: 1 John 4:7-21

Reading for Reflection:

Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within that whispers softly or declares loudly:  "You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests."  It certainly is not easy to hear that voice in a world filled with voices that shout:  "You are no good, you are ugly; you are worthless; you are despicable, you are nobody—unless you can demonstrate the opposite."
     These negative voices are so loud and so persistent that it's easy to believe them.  That's the great trap.  It is the trap of self-rejection.  (Life of the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen).

 

     We spend most of our lives trying to make things happen for ourselves and for people we love.  But life is not reduced to what you give or know or achieve.  Nor is it reduced to your mistakes, your failures, or your sin.  Life isn’t even defined by whom you love.  Rather, it is defined by the God who loves you.  In other words, you are not the central character—not even of your own life’s story.  This is not meant to demean you; it is meant to set you free. (Sacred Thirst by M. Craig Barnes)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Lover of My Soul

Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find;
raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
false and full of sin I am;
thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound,
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart;
rise to all eternity


Closing Prayer:
O Thou who ordered this wondrous world, and who knowest all things in earth and heaven:  So fill our hearts with trust in thee that by night and day, at all times and in all seasons, we may without fear commit all that we have and hope to be to thy never-failing love, for this life and the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. (The Book of Worship)