yes, wednesday

Wednesday, December 17

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

         

Opening Prayer: Yes, Father!  Yes!  And always Yes!

                                                                        ~Francis de Sales

Scripture Reading for the Day: Luke 1:57-80

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Hearing is an important step in saying yes to God’s call.  But once we hear, we must still decide whether we will go where invited or sent.  In other words, hearing may be the easy part of saying yes to God’s call.  Once we have heard and counted the cost the most difficult task remains.  However, with deep faith in the living God who calls us, the only reasonable response is to say yes.  For in our best moments, we know God will ask us, only us, to say yes to an invitation that is right and good for us.  Listen closely, think deeply, pray fervently, and you will be led to the right answer to God’s invitational call.  In my experience the right answer is always yes.  The good news is that even when I was unable to give the right answer, God was patient and gave me opportunity to grow in faith until I was able to say yes and to claim another part of my inheritance as a child of God (Rueben P. Job in A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God) 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                    

Closing Prayer: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free.  He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant, just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets: Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand; mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he’d do, what he swore to our father Abraham—a clean rescue from the enemy camp, so we can worship him without a care in the world, made holy before him as long as we live.  And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,” will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways, present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins.  Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. (Luke 1:67-79, The Message)