Saint Francis prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Tuning In to God

When we set out to hear God's voice, we do not listen as though it will come from somewhere above us or in the room around us. It comes to us from within, from the heart, the dwelling place of God. Now, most of us haven't been trained in this, and it's going to take a little practice "tuning in" to all that's going on in there. And there's a lot going on in there, by the way. Many things are trying to play upon the beautiful instrument of the heart. Advertisers are constantly trying to pull on your heartstrings. The devil is a master at manipulating the heart. So are many people-though they would never admit that is what they are doing. How will you know what is compelling you? "Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul?" asked Augustine, a man who was the first to write out the story of listening to his heart. "Man is a great depth, O Lord . . . but the hairs of his head are easier by far to count than . . . the movements of his heart."

Take time this season to "tune out" the noise and "tune in" to God.

From www.RansomedHeart.com

A Prayer of Abandonment

Are you able to pray this prayer?

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you;
I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need
to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands
without reserve and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father. Amen. - Charles de Foucauld

For a great reading on allowing God to reorder your world, check this out: http://www.transformingcenter.org/2011/12/advent-4-mary-and-the-prayer-of-indifference/

Advent Credo - What is True

It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—
This is true: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, That whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction—
This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly.

It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and destruction rule forever—
This is true: For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of Peace.

It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world—
This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, And lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.

It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the church, before we can be peacemakers.
This is true: I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, And your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young shall see visions, and your old shall have dreams.

It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity, of peace
are not meant for this earth and for this history—
This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ—the Life of the world.


This poem is often attributed to Daniel Berrigan, S.J., Testimony: The Word Made Fresh, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2004), p. 211

Preparing for the Coming of Christ

This week’s Advent readings are about sin– of all things!– and confession of sin as the necessary preparation for the coming of Christ

Mark 1:2-5: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from [all over] were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Sin is not a popular topic these days. And yet, the Advent message is clear: there are obstacles in our lives and in our communities that hinder Christ’s coming—rough spots that need to be smoothed over with understanding, crooked places that need to be straightened out with truth-telling, molehills that have become mountains among us, valleys of misunderstanding and bad behavior that need to be raised up, acknowledged and confessed.

May God give us the grace to name these obstacles as the sins they are. May Christ give us the courage to make our confession—to him and to each other—so we can find comfort and healing. And may the Spirit enable us to grow in love so that the glory of the Lord can be revealed among us.

(excerpt from Ruth Haley Barton's eReflections)

The "Wildness" of God

Since my sabbatical, I think I've gotten better at not being such a control freak. I have been diligently trying to trust God and allow Him to lead, provide, direct, guide...all of that stuff. But I still haven't mastered it - and I'm not alone. Here is an excerpt I read this morning from the Daily Office (quoted from Richard Rohr):

"Believe it or not, we are threatened by such a free God because it takes away all of our ability to control or engineer the process. It leaves us powerless, and changes the language from any language of performance or achievement to that of surrender, trust and vulnerability...that is the so-called "wildness" of God. We cannot control God by any means whatsoever, not even by our good behavior, which tends to be our natural instinct...That utter and absolute freedom of God is fortunately used totally in our favor, even though we are still afraid of it...It is called providence, forgiveness, free election or mercy...But to us, it feels like wildness - precisely because we cannot control it, manipulate it, direct it, earn it or lose it. Anyone into controlling God by his or her actions will feel very useless, impotent and ineffective."

We have to believe that by surrendering and trusting God, it is totally in our favor. God desires good things for us. He can be trusted. He has proven Himself to be faithful. Lord, forgive us for times we doubt and want to take control of the reins again.

Seeing Ourselves in the Story

I have about 6 books I am reading at the same time...well, not exactly at the same time but you know what I mean. One of those is called, Velvet Elvis written by Rob Bell. As you may know, I started a new series this past Sunday on Baptism and why it is important to our faith. We asked a few questions such as "What is God like? What is sin and where does it come from?" We looked at the creation story and the fall of Adam and Eve because they chose poorly and ate from the wrong tree.

We know the story well, sometimes too well - meaning that we forget to apply it to ourselves; that we are not that much different from Adam and Eve. Here is what Rob Bell says: "Is the greatest truth about Adam and Eve that it happened or that it happens? This story is true for us because it is our story. We have all taken the fruit. We have all crossed boundaries. We have all made decisions to do things our way and then looked back and said to ourselves, What was I thinking? The fruit looked so good to Adam and Eve for those brief moments, but the consequences were with them for the rest of their lives. Their story is our story. We see ourselves in them. The story is true for us because it happened and because it happens. It is an accurate description of how life is."

I hope that we can begin to see ourselves as we listen again to the story of the Bible. It will be a fast series (only 4 weeks), but maybe God is preparing our hearts to enter more fully into the story since I will preach a year-long series on the Bible starting January 1, 2012.