Coffee & Conversation

From the website “Journey to the Cross”
Friday, March 5, 2010
http://www.d365.org/journeytothecross/

Dear God, at your earliest convenience, could you please send me a detailed list of your plans for my life and for the world? That would really help me out and I promise I won’t tell anyone. Thanks!

Oh, if only life were so easy and God were so clear! Sure, God is pretty evident when you see a beautiful sunset or a child born or when a stranger offers words of encouragement. But that day-to-day life thing – not so much.

A hallmark of our faith is that at the end of the day, we are claimed by God to be part of God’s unfolding of life and creation. We are not always going to know how we fit into that unfolding, but we believe that we are somehow part of its realization. While this could be daunting and overwhelming, it is also a chance for us to embrace the art and dance of faith. We struggle with God’s word to us through scripture to guide our lives. We navigate the nuances of communal discernment. We come to God in prayer, lifting our voices to God, seeking to know God’s will. What an amazing gift of faith we have, knowing God so deeply that we trust God without even knowing where God may be leading us!

Bruce Reyes-Chow

Amazing God, open my heart and mind to your presence during this season of Lent. Allow me the wisdom to trust in the unfolding of your hopes in my life and in the world. Amen.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58

check out this inspirational anecdote set to the music How Great Thou Art

http://wandascountryhome.com/pinetrees/index

Lent for me is a time when I make a conscious effort to get closer to God, through prayer, meditation, attending church services, reading, writing, and listening. I typically do not watch TV very much, and I usually find plenty of miscellaneous “busy” stuff to fill the time I would otherwise be stuck in front of that little box. But during the 40 days of Lent, I try to simplify even more, to give myself plenty of quiet time, when I do nothing except the basic things I listed above. Not only is this experience calming and relaxing, but I really do find that I can establish a peaceful and tranquil environment and let my mind be completely open to whatever thoughts and dialogue come to me. There are so many resources that I come in contact with to stimulate my thoughts and help to make my meditation time more meaningful. It might be something I read, something I see, something I hear, or a conversation with another person. I start to really think about it, and before long, I am understanding on a deeper level, listening for whatever God is trying to tell me through the particular resource. This year, a resource I have found particularly valuable is the Daily Lenten Devotional by members of the St. George Church Family. I am so thankful to all the contributors, for their thoughts and explanations, insights and the lessons learned. Reading a page each day gets me in the right frame of mind to start my quiet time where my own thoughts can flow freely. As suggested in the Devotional, I have also started a Lenten Journal which is helping me capture my thoughts, feelings and experiences during this contemplative time of year. One habit I have started this Lent is to start each day with some personal affirmations, to get the day started off the way I want to, and to remind myself of the actions and behaviors I choose to embrace and those that I choose to release. It is really working for me and I wanted to share the practice to help anyone else who would like to try it. Here are my affirmations – feel free to use these, or add your own personal ones that have the most meaning to you.

TODAY, WITH GOD’S HELP:

• I CHOOSE TO BE AT PEACE WITH MYSELF;
• I CHOOSE TO ACCEPT MYSELF AS I AM, AND OTHERS AS THEY ARE;
• I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY AND JOYFUL;
• I CHOOSE TO EMBRACE HOPE AND POSITIVE ENERGY;
• I CHOOSE TO FEEL CONFIDENT AND ABLE TO DEAL WITH ANYTHING CALMLY;
• I CHOOSE TO FORGIVE OTHERS AND ACCEPT FORGIVENESS FOR MYSELF;
• I CHOOSE TO EAT FOOD THAT NOURISHES AND STRENGTHENS MY BODY AND CONTRIBUTES TO MY HEALTH AND MY WELL BEING;
• I CHOOSE TO ENJOY EVERY EXPERIENCE THAT COMES ALONG;
• I CHOOSE TO CARE FOR MYSELF AND OTHERS WITH DEEP LOVE;
• I CHOOSE TO SEE ALL DIFFICULTIES AS OPPORTUNITIES TO MAKE ME STRONGER;
• I CHOOSE TO RELEASE ALL ANGER, FEAR AND GUILT COMPLETELY;
• I CHOOSE TO RELEASE ALL NEGATIVE EMOTIONS;
• I CHOOSE TO RELEASE ALL STRESS AND ANXIETY;
• I CAN ACCOMPLISH ANY TASK WITH EASE;
• I INTEND THAT MY ACTIONS HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT;

TODAY, I AM THANKFUL TO GOD AND I AM GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE.

- AMEN -

Here’s the link to a Veggie Tales clip for children of all ages.  It mixes humor with the greatest love story ever told.  Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOzhhzeaiv4

TAKE, LORD, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will — all that I have and call my own. You have given it all to me, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. This is enough for me.

- Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
- Luke 21:33, NIV

Sunset on Fort George Island

We sit on the porch alone together at twilight.
“Soon,” I whisper, “the sun will set and our sky will change.
The show will begin.”
“The eye of God will come and all His glory will perform just for us.”

We are like children filled and overflowing with anticipation,
as if running down the stairs on Christmas morning
to see what new shinnies the man in red has left behind.

Spellbound, first we see a soft blue, we point and say,
“Oh, that’s the color we should paint our bedroom.”

Then, with each inch the sun retreats below our marsh:
the pink, warm golds, deep blue – crimsons and orange.
We just gaze, almost a strange glare in silence engulfed and flooded
by the presence of God.

I don’t think either one of us is breathing….?

For a moment I remember back to the time when He and I started this journey together.
We had nothing – we were both children – both alone.
We had held each other and declared,
“We can do this!”

Yes, we are breathing.

Here we are now, engulfed and submerged in this Shangri-La.
We feel hidden as if we have been sitting here alone together for centuries,
taking in all knowledge of what we see.
In the silence of our shambhala
we become conscious of great noise filling our lull.

Can there be soft noise?

In our stillness we now see the other world,
we hear the other world also along with us at the closing of our day, their day.
They are lifting their voices, their essence, to their God, our God.

First a song from the wren, soft and sweet, calling earnestly.
Crickets using drums to communicate, a familiar cry of the marsh hen
and off to the left frogs begin to harmonize.
There is life all around us giving praise.

Not wanting to be left out,
the tall cedars begin to sway, dancing with the music from the breezes.
We close our eyes and feel their soft touch on our up turned faces
as they ask us to join them in their evening dance.

With one last gift to be given us on this memorable evening – just off to the northeast, slightly into our right ears,
we hear the peacocks offering up roaring cries, their last prayers for this night,
from high atop the massive oaks where they retreat and retire for protection.

Now He and I join hands as black silhouettes against a sea of color
slowly slipping away to become our night sky.
Our breath is good.
Our breathing in time.
“We are happy.”

He looks at me, deep, intensely – into all I am – we smile –
Is this what Paul meant when he said, “to be in constant prayer”?
I think so!

The phone rings.
My thoughts are yielded.
It’s Kammy.
I laugh out loud!

- Elizabeth Slover 2006

Liz & Dave celebrate 40 years of marriage on November 23, 2009

I just read the newly posted newsletter which opened with Father Marty’s always inspiring words.  I felt compelled to act right way, first to thank Marty for his loving work at St. George’s and all the work he does in God’s kingdom, things that we know about, and many that we do not.  Marty’s first day “on the job” at St. George’s was the first service I attended there, and I fell in love with him and the church right away.  Next, thank you to Kate, Hope, and all the office staff who work so hard and do such a beautiful job with the newsletter and keeping everyone informed.  One of the things that I am personally most thankful for is the ability to read and write.  I was thinking as I was reading the newsletter what a blessing it is to be able to share experiences even when we can’t actually participate by being present.  We all have such busy lives and there’s a limit to how many things we can actually go to, even if we want to.   But the next best thing to actually being in a place is to hear about it from someone who was there.  Reading about it and seeing pictures let’s your imagination drift into the experience.  Can you imagine what life would be like if there was nothing to read!  We wouldn’t know about anything!  As usual when I start thinking about things like this, my mind wanders into “space” and I wonder about the first words ever written, the first person to ever think about picking up a writing instrument and putting something down on paper.  About the creation of language, the alphabet, grammar and spelling.  Where and how did it all begin?  Fast forward a few thousand years, and look around us today with so many forms of media used for communicating with each other.  I have always loved to read and I’ve always enjoyed listening to stories, whether fact or fiction!  Some of my earliest childhood memories are filled with wonderful times spent with my father, reading my sister and me nightly bedtime stories.  No matter what kind of day it had been, he always made time for this special event, knowing how much we loved it.  He would read a chapter or two each night, just enough to fill our heads with visions of different worlds, different lives, places, people, adventures, laughter, suspense.  We would beg him to read longer each day, but part of the joy was drifting off to sleep, imagining being in that very place he had told us about in the midst of some adventure.  Some of my favorites were stories of the American South – Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  We  lived in such a different world – a large, bustling city with a large population, lots of roads, buildings and concrete!.  Hearing about Tom and Huck, their simple lives spent outside fishin’ and misbehavin’, was such a thrill.  Their adventures leading them through swamps filled with gators, snakes and all kinds of critters, not to mention suspicious sounding characters like “Injun Joe”.  Canoes and camping.  Fishing poles made of twigs and strings.  Family gatherings with fried chicken and home baked apple pie.   I think it is some kind of personal destiny that my path should bring me here to the place I dreamed about, and to find that it is just as awesome as I thought it would be.  (Although I try to stay out of the way of the snakes and gators!).  I love writing about experiences, but even more, I love reading about the experiences of other people, especially stories of travel and nature, as it adds to my own experience, giving me an idea of what it would be like to be in those places.  I’ve recently discovered a wonderful new source, another on-line blog, and I’ve asked the author for permission to share some of the accounts on the St. George blog space.  It is nature living at its finest, and takes me to places I wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to experience.  I think you’ll see what I mean when you read it.  Pictures too!  I will end here with this note of thanks to God – for our brains, our imagination, and the gift of the written word.  So keep writing and sharing all your stories.  You never know what a blessing it might be to someone who may not be able to experience it otherwise.

Sounds pretty simple, huh?

I thought this was a good reflection today.  This is from the website www.upperroom.org.  I subscribe to the daily e-mail reflections, which always give me food for thought

Monday’s Reflection

[THE STORY OF THE BLIND BEGGAR Bartimaeus has become] for me a wonderful metaphor of sincere and respectful depth listening. … Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) who sits by the roadside hopefully calling out to Jesus to pay attention to him and heal him. Some of the people in the crowd try to hush him up. (Probably they felt, as we so often do, that he should set his mind on “higher things.”) The more they try to silence him, the louder he shouts. Jesus turns to him instantly and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Within each of us is that which cries out, begging to be heard. Often the manner of its crying out is expressed through grumbling, negativity, irritability, anxiety. To shout down the cry, to put it out of the room, to breathe it away, or to shake it off is not the Christian, the incarnational way. Let us learn to pay attention, to listen, and to question that which cries out in us: Who are you? What are you trying to tell me? And then let us learn to listen and respond to Jesus’ question: “What do you want me to do for you?” It is both astonishing and revealing what will surface if we keep patiently asking and listening to our inner Bartimaeus!

- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Feed My Shepherds: Spiritual Healing and Renewal for Those in Christian Leadership

From pp. 67-68 of Feed My Shepherds: Spiritual Healing and Renewal for Those in Christian Leadership, by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 1998 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/.Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What is your inner Bartimaeus trying to say? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Jesus said to [Bartimaeus], “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”

- Mark 10:51, NRSV

This Week …

Special Need:

This Week: Pray for bountiful harvests everywhere. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.

Tips for Your Spirit:

Lectio Divina, or divine reading, is one of the most central and ancient practices of Christian prayer. Try lectio divina in your meditation time this week. Check it out.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Howard Thurman (October 22).

Lectionary Readings:

• Job 42:1-6, 10-17
• Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22
• Hebrews 7:23-28
• Mark 10:46-52

Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.

Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Our Inner Bartimaeus is a post from: Upper Room Daily Reflections

I was just sitting here looking at Angel’s post which has a link to a really great on-line resource for “children of all ages” (like me!) As I clicked on some of the different links to various stories in the bible, my mind drifted back to days of long ago sitting in my small neighborhood church, St. Peter’s in London, England. Ours was a very small parish, we typically had only a handful of children in our solitary bible class. Our Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Chapman, was also the wife of our very talented organist/music director, as well as the lead soprano in our choir of about ten, and I’m sure fulfilled many other roles as well. We sat in a small area in one corner of the church where we had a small alter with a statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched in front of him. Underneath, it said “Suffer not little children, come unto me”. It was the “Children’s Corner”, adorned with books, pictures, a few simple toys and some cushy pillows. The church was built in the 1700’s, and is a typical “Church of England” – large, stone walls, tall steeple, old wooden pews (certainly no carpet!) – very plain and quite austere. It was always cold in the church (even in the summer) as the parish could not afford to keep it heated, except for this one small area, which always seemed warm and cozy. As we sat and listened to the stories of Joseph and his dream coat, David and Goliath, Adam and Eve … it felt like such a safe and secure place to be, looking into the arms of Jesus, it was like he was right there with us, protecting us. As I sat tonight and looked through some of these lessons again, it evoked those same feelings. The stories are all the same, it’s just a different generation of children now, and a slightly different format! How wonderful it always seems to see things through the eyes of children. So simple, so pure.  With so many things in our lives constantly changing, it is comforting to read the same words that I remember from more than 40 years ago.  Here we are in the next century (I hate to say!) with instant access to everything on line, which is great for the most part – I have certainly enjoyed it this evening re-connecting so easily to these great memories. But it is sad in some ways too, as I wonder how many people these days are missing out on the human connection, the actual foundation of memories for the years ahead. The joy in knowing a Mrs. Chapman. The reassurance and comfort of that special safe place we can journey back to in our minds where the actual seeds of our faith were firmly planted. I wish that every child could begin their life journey with this same blanket of protection. It is sad to think that so many children are not given this opportunity as the church has become less and less important in all too many busy lives. Children are our future and there is no more precious gift than the one of faith. It is a gift we can give to a child and also to God who works through us. The time spent with a child, planting seeds of faith through the stories of the Bible, is such a privilege and honor, an act of love. So thank you to all the teachers, story-tellers, parents, grand-parents and everyone who takes the time to share faith with a child. If only we could reach every single one…  As for me, I’m brushing up on some of the old stories.  You never know when opportunity will knock.  :-)