home, day 7

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: Revelation 2:17

Reading for Reflection:

Everything is designed to bring us home, if only we would work with it.

                                                         ~Max Pearse

                                         (quoted in A Traveler Toward the Dawn)

 

 

 

We need to be at home with ourselves, with others, with our God.  When we discover our center and our connectedness, we come closest to sharing in the creating and forgiving power of God.  Then we are always at home, no matter where we are, because God reveals his love by creating the home within me, within you, within all. (Gathering Fragments by Edward J. Farrell)

 Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 6

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Reading for Reflection:

There are two realities to which you must cling.  First, God has promised that you will receive the love you have been searching for.  And second, God is faithful to that promise. 
     So stop wandering around.  Instead, come home and trust that God will bring you what you need.  Your whole life you have been running about, seeking the love you desire.  Now it is time to end that search.  Trust that God will give you that all-fulfilling love…Just stop running and start trusting and receiving.
     Home is where you are truly safe.  It is where you can receive what you desire.  You often need human hands to hold you there so you don’t run away again.  But when you come home and stay home, you will find the love that will bring rest to your heart (The Inner Voice of Love by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

 

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 5

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: Revelation 21:9-27

Reading for Reflection:

There would be different pastors along the way [at our church], none of them exactly right for us until a few years ago when a tall African-American woman named Veronica came to lead us.  She has huge gentle doctor hands, with dimples where the knuckles should be, like baby’s fists.  She stepped into us, the wonderful old worn pair of pants that is St. Andrews, and they fit.  She sings to us sometimes from the pulpit and tells us stories of when she was a child.  She told us this story just the other day: When she was about seven, her best friend got lost one day.  The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark.  She was frightened.  Finally a policeman stopped to help her.  He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church.  She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, “You could let me out now.  This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.”
     And that is why I have stayed so close to mine—because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home. (Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott)

 

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 4

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: Luke 23:32-43

Reading for Reflection:

If our pictures of heaven are to move us, they must be moving pictures.  So go ahead—dream a little.  Use your imagination.  Picture the best possible ending to your story you can.  If that isn’t heaven, something better is.  When Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9), he simply means we cannot out-dream God.  What is the end of our personal journeys?  Something beyond our wildest imagination.  (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)
 

The longing for home is a dominant theme in Lewis’s writings (C. S. Lewis).  All art is about coming home.  All music, all drama, all literature is about coming home.  All psychology, too.  As well as theology. (The Divine Embrace by Ken Gire) 

 

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 3

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: Zephaniah 3:14-20

Reading for Reflection:

For now, our life is a journey of high stakes and frequent danger.  But we have turned the corner; the long years of exile are winding down as we are approaching home.  There is no longer any question as to whether we will make it and if it will be good when we get there.  “I am going to prepare a place for you,” Jesus promised.  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me” (John 14:2-3).

     One day soon we will round a bend in the road and our dreams will come true.  We really will live happily ever after.  The long years of exile will be swept away in the joyful tears of our arrival home.  Every day when we rise, we can tell ourselves, My journey today will bring me closer to home; it may be just around the bend.  All we long for we shall have; all we long to be, we will be.  All that has hurt us so deeply—the dragons and nits, the Arrows and false lovers, and Satan himself—they will all be swept away.

     Then real life begins.  (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 2

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: John 13:31-14:4

Reading for Reflection:

What will we do in heaven?  The Sunday comics picture saints lying about on clouds, strumming harps.  It hardly takes your breath away.  The fact that most Christians have a gut sense that earth is more exciting than heaven points to the deceptive powers of the enemy and our own failure of imagination. (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)

The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in.  The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world:  but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast.  We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy.  It is not hard to see why.  The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God:  a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a swim or a football match, have no such tendency.  Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home. (The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis)

 

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)

home, day 1

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

Opening Prayer:
Dear God, Help me to see my life here on earth is just the night before Christmas, and that when I awake in heaven, it will be Christmas morning.  The once-empty stockings now bulging.  The once-hidden presents now under the tree, waiting to be unwrapped.  The holiday meal once waiting to be cooked now on the table, waiting to be eaten.  Here, the dream of sugar plums.  There the awakening to wide-eyed wonder of all You have prepared for us…Amen. (Reflections on the Word by Ken Gire)  

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 126

Scripture for the Day: Revelation 21:1-7

Reading for Reflection:

John says someday God will wipe away your tears.  The same hands that stretched the heavens will touch your cheeks.  The same hands that formed the mountains will caress your face.  The same hands that curled in agony as the Roman spike cut through will someday cup your face and brush away your tears. Forever...I'll be home soon.  The plane will land.  I'll walk down the ramp and hear my name and see my children’s faces.  I'll be home soon. You'll be home soon, too.  You may not have noticed it, but you are closer to home than ever before.  Each moment is a step taken.  Each breath is a page turned.  Each day is a mile marked, a mountain climbed.  You are closer to home than you've ever been.  Before you know it, your appointed arrival time will come; you'll descend the ramp and enter the City.  You'll see the faces that are waiting for you.  And, maybe, just maybe—in the back, behind the crowds—the One who would rather die than live without you will remove his pierced hands from his heavenly robe and...applaud. (Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado)

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Jesus Let Us Come to Know You

 

Jesus let us come to know You,

Let us see you face to face

Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us;

only let us live in you

 

Jesus draw us ever nearer,

hold us in your loving arms

Wrap us in your gentle presence;

when the end comes, bring us home.  

 

 

Closing Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus,

     Thank you that here and there you have shown me glimpses of heaven, however briefly.  Now and then you have sent me echoes of it, however faintly.  And that once in a while you have allowed it to touch me, however gently.  Those glimpses, those echoes, those touches have awakened my longing for home, and for each one of those awakenings, I thank you.

     Thank you that I have a room in your Father’s house.  A place just for me.  Thank you for all you have done to ready it for my arrival.  For all the longings that lead me there and for all the reminders that let me know that this is not my home, I thank you, O Lord.  Remind me often, for so often I forget, that the very best of homes here on earth is just a shadow of the home waiting for me in heaven. (Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire)