Due to an extreme lack of readers, I'm going to hold off on future updates.
If you're THE follower of this blog, please email me and let me know so I can thank you.
-George
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
PRAYER W2 D2 ... and There He Prayed (Mark 1:32-35)
Today we learn about "prayer as a holy rhythm" and how Jesus prayed, even at busy times, making His time with God a part of "His spiritual center". We are encouraged to think of our prayer life as the eye of a hurricane... the calm surrounded by the strong winds and destruction.
What does your hurricane look like? Mine has the swirling winds... problems with work, family concerns, grief, times when I feel I should do more in some areas and don't do enough in others... the winds come in all directions sometimes.
In the center is the eye... my prayer life. It's the period each morning when I come before God for solitude - and solace.
What does your hurricane look like? Mine has the swirling winds... problems with work, family concerns, grief, times when I feel I should do more in some areas and don't do enough in others... the winds come in all directions sometimes.
In the center is the eye... my prayer life. It's the period each morning when I come before God for solitude - and solace.
Monday, December 28, 2009
PRAYER W2 D1 God is Our Refuge and Strength (Psalm 46)
I needed today's lesson badly. You see, I've been dreading tomorrow for almost 10 years... really. I guess I should explain a bit. Ten years prior to tomorrow (Dec 29, 1999) my son died and ten years before that date (Dec 29, 1989), my father died. I will be really relieved when tomorrow is over and I still have all my close friends and family (which I fully expect to be the case whenever I think about this logically).
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. This whole psalm is about trusting God when everything is going wrong in your life. A lot of people feel it is easier to trust God when trouble brews (because we tend to forget Him when things are going well). But I guess I'm a bit different in this regard. It's easy to thank God for all my blessings (and I do), but I find that I want to blame God first in bad times rather than trust in Him.
That's where prayer comes in. Daily prayer is the only path I've found to keep God front and center in my thoughts during both the good times and the bad ones. It's sort of like keeping the communication open. Our book suggests on p.23 that we commit to ourselves to do this thing called prayer daily, and that we start now.
It's a good thing it's New Year's Day soon!
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. This whole psalm is about trusting God when everything is going wrong in your life. A lot of people feel it is easier to trust God when trouble brews (because we tend to forget Him when things are going well). But I guess I'm a bit different in this regard. It's easy to thank God for all my blessings (and I do), but I find that I want to blame God first in bad times rather than trust in Him.
That's where prayer comes in. Daily prayer is the only path I've found to keep God front and center in my thoughts during both the good times and the bad ones. It's sort of like keeping the communication open. Our book suggests on p.23 that we commit to ourselves to do this thing called prayer daily, and that we start now.
It's a good thing it's New Year's Day soon!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
PRAYER W1 D5 Teach Us How To Pray (Luke 11:1-4)
Today we read a slightly different version of The Lord's Prayer as found in Luke. We are then invited to rewrite the prayer, adding our own "real life stuff". I wrote...
Your Name is HOLY, O Father!
Bring your kingdom throughout the earth so that we may have justice for all people, but especially for those we meet in our lives.
Provide good nourishing food to us every day - food for our bodies, our minds, and our souls - so that we can go into our world and be your example before others.
Forgive us when we do wrong... and when we do it again... and again. Help us forgive those who wrong us - even when they do it again and again.
And do not surround us with temptations - all the bright shiny beautiful objects which distract us from you.
The "grey words" on the bottom of p.21 contain a nice summary of The Lord's Prayer. "With this simple prayer, Jesus teaches us adoration, integrity, trust, compassion and dependence on God."
Your Name is HOLY, O Father!
Bring your kingdom throughout the earth so that we may have justice for all people, but especially for those we meet in our lives.
Provide good nourishing food to us every day - food for our bodies, our minds, and our souls - so that we can go into our world and be your example before others.
Forgive us when we do wrong... and when we do it again... and again. Help us forgive those who wrong us - even when they do it again and again.
And do not surround us with temptations - all the bright shiny beautiful objects which distract us from you.
The "grey words" on the bottom of p.21 contain a nice summary of The Lord's Prayer. "With this simple prayer, Jesus teaches us adoration, integrity, trust, compassion and dependence on God."
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
PRAYER W1 D4 Your Will be Done (Matt 6:9-13)
After reading The Lord's Prayer in Matthew today, we are to spend 10 minutes praying "Your will be done, on ____________ as it is in heaven" while filling in the blank with an area of concern or a part of our life. As we do this we should be thinking about how we might be "carriers" of God's will during our journeys in our pilgrimage, thereby "infecting" His will on the earth.
"Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in Iraq, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done for our soldiers, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in America, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in Middletown, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in J2A/Confirmation, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in my home, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done on the internet, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in my mind, as it is in heaven."
You get the idea...
It's eye opening to realize that I have tasks (a to do list?) related to God carrying out His will here on earth for each of these areas of concern for me. A key part of my work on my journey is to so connect with God that my thoughts and desires express His will.
I still have a long path to go...
"Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in Iraq, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done for our soldiers, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in America, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in Middletown, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in J2A/Confirmation, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in my home, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done on the internet, as it is in heaven."
"Your will be done in my mind, as it is in heaven."
You get the idea...
It's eye opening to realize that I have tasks (a to do list?) related to God carrying out His will here on earth for each of these areas of concern for me. A key part of my work on my journey is to so connect with God that my thoughts and desires express His will.
I still have a long path to go...
Monday, December 21, 2009
PRAYER W1 D3 Confessions of St. Augustine (prayer)
Today's reading was not from the Bible, but was a prayer from The Confessions of St. Augustine. We are to read it twice and let it permeate our heart.
My favorite line in the prayer was "And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things you made." He goes on to say that those "lovely things" kept him from God.
I think I like these lines because it's an issue I have as well. I frequently get sidetracked in my journey by "lovely created things"... maybe it's photography, guitar practice, or heck even youth work... where I allow these "lovely things" (I'll call them wonderful distractions) to get in the way of my life and purpose. Now you could say that life is the journey (and you'd be right), but I think our lifetime journey is in the balancing... or maybe continuously putting the distractions aside and focusing on God.
I've done the exercise on the bottom of p.16 many times... stand outside under the stars and ponder what others who have done the same have thought. (Did I tell you that one of my distractions is astronomy?) So go outside tonight and look up at the stars for a bit (bundle up... it's cold). It's one of the few things we can see just as our ancestors saw it (well, except for light pollution).
Ponder... how is our life like that of St. Augustine's
My favorite line in the prayer was "And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things you made." He goes on to say that those "lovely things" kept him from God.
I think I like these lines because it's an issue I have as well. I frequently get sidetracked in my journey by "lovely created things"... maybe it's photography, guitar practice, or heck even youth work... where I allow these "lovely things" (I'll call them wonderful distractions) to get in the way of my life and purpose. Now you could say that life is the journey (and you'd be right), but I think our lifetime journey is in the balancing... or maybe continuously putting the distractions aside and focusing on God.
I've done the exercise on the bottom of p.16 many times... stand outside under the stars and ponder what others who have done the same have thought. (Did I tell you that one of my distractions is astronomy?) So go outside tonight and look up at the stars for a bit (bundle up... it's cold). It's one of the few things we can see just as our ancestors saw it (well, except for light pollution).
Ponder... how is our life like that of St. Augustine's
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
PRAYER W1 D2 Speak LORD, for Your Servant is Listening (1 Samuel 3:1-14)
Today's passage is a favorite of mine because it tells of hearing God's voice and being confused (something that happens to me from time to time). The boy, Samuel, is confused when God calls out his name, thinking it was Eli. Finally Eli helps him understand how to listen to God.
How to listen to God...
It's a powerful thought because it implies that when we talk to God through prayer, sometimes he talks back! What could the Creator of our universe possibly have to tell us individually? We have to learn to listen to find out.
OK, so I tried the prayer exercise... 5 minutes of meditation while repeatedly whispering "Speak LORD, for your servant is listening". While doing that I let my thoughts share with God an area of my life I would like to change. Interestingly, while I did that, I noticed some new thoughts enter my brain. They shifted to discussions I had with Dean and Brother Adam (from my monastery vacation) about how I need to fully involve other key people as I go about my discernment, and how I need to contemplate change in my life with a spirit of stability.
Was that subtle change in thinking a form of God speaking to me?
I think it might have been...
How to listen to God...
It's a powerful thought because it implies that when we talk to God through prayer, sometimes he talks back! What could the Creator of our universe possibly have to tell us individually? We have to learn to listen to find out.
OK, so I tried the prayer exercise... 5 minutes of meditation while repeatedly whispering "Speak LORD, for your servant is listening". While doing that I let my thoughts share with God an area of my life I would like to change. Interestingly, while I did that, I noticed some new thoughts enter my brain. They shifted to discussions I had with Dean and Brother Adam (from my monastery vacation) about how I need to fully involve other key people as I go about my discernment, and how I need to contemplate change in my life with a spirit of stability.
Was that subtle change in thinking a form of God speaking to me?
I think it might have been...
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