listening, wednesday

Wednesday, January 28

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)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Reading for Reflection:

 

Prayer is not a matter of my calling in an attempt to get God’s attention, but of my finally listening to the call of God, which has been constant, patient, and insistent in my inner being.  In relationship with God, I am not the seeker, the initiator, the one who loves more greatly.  In prayer, as in the whole salvation story unfolded by Scripture, God is reaching out to me, speaking to me, and it’s up to me to learn to be polite enough to pay attention.  When I do have something to say to God, I am rendering a response to the divine initiative.  So the questions of whether or not and how God answers prayer now seem to me bogus questions.  God speaks, all right.  The big question is do I answer, do I respond, to an invitation that is always open.  (Speech, Silence, Action! by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself    

                      

Closing Prayer: God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  This very day the Lord has acted, may God’s name be praised.  Come, let us raise a joyful song, a shout of triumph to the rock of our salvation.  Let us come into Your presence with thanksgiving, singing songs of triumph.  For You are a great God, a great king over all gods.  The depths of the earth are in Your hands; and the mountains belong to You.  The sea is Yours for You made it; and the dry land Your hands fashioned.  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the One who made us.  For You are our God, and we are the flock that You shepherd.  We will know Your power and presence this day if we will but listen for Your voice. (Venite by Robert Benson)