Author: dw

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light and darkness Scripture

Light and darkness

Person standing before window in dark room looking at bright light.

…the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

John 3:19-21, NRSV Bible with Apocrypha

We are so torn.

We reach for what we think gives life.

It entices us, fools us, and warps our very ability to perceive the difference between death-dealing and life-giving.

And the light is too bright, life-giving decisions and actions too hard, the freedom outside our familiar prisons too risky.

When we get to this place…and all of us get there…Lord, light of the world, have mercy on us.

  • Have you been in this place? Are you now?
  • If you are, what about the darkness is enticing you, holding you? What frightens you about coming into the light? Try to name these things, write them down. I think God will help you; in fact, God has promised to help you.
  • If you once were, what is it like looking back now? How do you feel about the darkness you were in? What was your experience transitioning to the Light?
  • Take some time to write down what is coming to mind. It might come back to save you someday.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by Isai Ramos on Unsplash
Categories
prayer Prayers

A Prayer when parting

Two young boys walking away arm-in-arm

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.

Claiborne, Shane. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (p. 50). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

My better half gave me this book for Christmas a few years back –

Common Prayer

Working through it for a year was a profound experience for me. It introduced me to new perspectives on community, compassion, even church history. It’s where I first encountered the “become all flame” quote from the writings of the Desert Fathers; in that sense, it inspired this very blog (though I didn’t know it then).

I particularly like this prayer from the daily Morning Prayer devotion. It sparks my imagination of what family or community could be – a daily “sending off” with blessing and the longing to be together again, rejoicing in all that God has done.

  • Is being sent off with such prayer and blessing a part of your experience?
  • What does this prayer bring up for you, personally?
  • I encourage you to write out what you are thinking. It makes you pause and opens up space for new, fresh thoughts to spark.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by juan pablo rodriguez on Unsplash
Categories
attention

Mary Oliver on ‘Attention’

Water splashing over rocks in stream.

Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity.

…

Attention is the beginning of devotion.

Mary Oliver, Upstream

I love Mary Oliver’s poetry and now am coming to love her prose as I read her book of essays Upstream.  In these two sentences from the first chapter, she seems to focus on at least part of the antidote for the problem posed by the quote from Thomas Merton last week.

  • I think what we pay attention to is what seems most important to us at any given moment.  What do we find ourselves paying attention to and what does that tell us about the things we value most?
  • How do we cope with keeping ourselves focused? How do we avoid constant distraction?
  • Are we as perceptive as Mary Oliver, knowing something is wrong when our attention strays from eternity?
  • Write down the things that you pay attention to. Which ones are ‘keepers’, things you definitely want to keep front and center? Which are definitely distractions? Are there some that are in between? What are they?

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by dw

Categories
Scripture

Life and light

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and is own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

— John 1:1-12, NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha

Continue reading “Life and light”
Categories
Bible reading Prayers Scripture

A prayer when reading scripture

Child reading tattered Bible in bed.
Child reading Bible

May your word fall on me and cover me;
May it root deeply in me and grow in me;
May it fill me full and bear fruit in me,
Overflowing for you.

dw

For context, look at the parable of the sower and it’s explanation in Luke 8:4-15.

I say this prayer pretty much every time I read the Bible. Why, especially now that I seem to be able to recite it without even thinking about it? What’s the point?

This prayer, even when I’m in a hurry and hardly think about it, expresses my true desire. This is what I want the reading of scripture to do to me, within me, and through me…even when I’m hurried or distracted or skeptical or depressed. No matter what is going on in me, I want God’s word to have this effect, long-term, in my life.

So I ask for it…because I know God hears and answers more faithfully than I pray or read. For this I am grateful.

  • What is your experience with reading scripture?
  • If you find it challenging, what sorts of things would help you?
  • Though I have specifically mentioned scripture, I believe God’s word can be sown in our lives at any moment of any day through the prompting and counsel of the Holy Spirit: how open are we to receiving God’s word in that form and letting it root in our lives and bear fruit?
  • I see a clear parallel between the thorns in the Luke passage and the ashes in the quote from Thomas Merton in the last post. I think these thorns and ashes, the distractions and anxieties of my life, are what hold me back, choke out the fire of God’s Spirit in me. What is your experience like?

Again, I encourage you to write down your thoughts. Why? It makes space for you to think them, decide if you believe them or not, revise them, and remember them later.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash