Third Sunday in Advent : Rejoice!

image Our Advent watch comes closer and closer to the glorious day on which the Lord came to redeem His beloved by His sacrifice. Isaiah’s prophecy is often read during this celebration and the praise songs of chapter 12 give us the perfect words to exclaim our worship. The pair of psalms is a wonderful call and response to our hearts. First we rehearse the great gift of salvation we are given by our God alone,

Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. (v2)

With this promise and truth embedded in our hearts our attitudes turn to joy. We are freed from having to enable our own salvation. We do not have to work for it – we cannot work for it. God alone is the source of our salvation and Jesus alone is our Savior. This truth becomes a well from which we can draw living water into our lives on a moment by moment basis. Whenever we feel dry, the well is available. We can draw up the bucket of God’s strength and our joy will be revived.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done, and prolcaim that his name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. (vv 3-6)

Say it. Shout it. Tell the world, the Lord has Come!

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Advent Benediction of Rejoicing

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As Mary knew, may you also be blessed to know,

the joy of anticipation, the joy the change to come.

 

The prophets shouted God’s promise,

‘Be glad and rejoice with all your heart;

The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.’

 

You are blessed in knowing that the Bright Morning Star,

would come,

did come,

and will come.

 

Be blessed, community of faith,

rejoice and share the news and the light of the Star!

God’s greatest blessings on you.

Amen

 

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Day Thirteen in the School of Prayer: Fast!

WithChristInPrayer

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Matthew 17:19-21)

“Why couldn’t we…”; we must all share this thought of the disciples from time to time. Why do our prayers seem to bounce against the ceiling or seem impotent? Why do we claim faith in the light but question our beliefs in the night? Jesus proclaimed the answer to the disciples, then and now: we have so little faith. Our faith is not muscular but bony and frail, though we might try to portray it otherwise. Appearances have become paramount at the experience of a true sacrificial faith.

Strong faith requires prayer. Strong prayer requires forsaking other things that threaten to derail or weaken that faith. We must be people who fast in order to retrain our sights on that which forms our core. To abstain from food nourishment is to point our souls to the deep well of being nourished in prayer. We can so easily feed our sorrows, fears, and failures and then when satisfied, forget about them. Throwing that crutch aside we must rely on the only thing that will satisfy our deepest hungers for meaning and purpose. As Murray reminds us “Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible.”

Second Sunday in Advent : Love

imageWhen the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126:1-3)

Our anticipation of the coming of Christ the King should move us to reflection but the busyness of the cultural trappings of Christmas tends to deflect our meditation until Sunday. In the same fashion, the hustle and bustle can affect our joy and our feelings and actions toward others. Without our joy, our love for our neighbor becomes dry like the desert sands.

Take a few moments to reflect on Psalm 126 this week, a reading from the liturgical calendar. God through David knew that we would need to be reminded of our days in exile. The days we walked in a desert of our own making, winds of self-absorption swirling around our souls, sin directing our feet. At the moment we were redeemed by the Master, we knew a joy at being found, at being led from the desert but our Self was not willing to give in that easy. We often tread back out to the desert, sin a dangerous beast lurking in the shadows.

We must remind ourselves not just this week but every week that we are being led back home. We must allow our mouths to be filled with laughter and allow songs of joy to come from our tongues. When we observe that the Lord has done great things for us and know it, truly believe it in our deepest soul, we want others to know it as well. We will love and our steps will follow a new path.

Our anticipation looks forward to the entry of Pure Love into our world. He came for you and me, and He came for our neighbors. His love is our love and our love needs to be our neighbor’s. Help someone else find their way out of the desert and do it in love.

 

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Does God Laugh at Our Worship?

This announcement popped up at an institution I serve and as I started to let it just slide by, it occurred to me that perhaps God didn’t find our humor so funny.

MaryMass

Putting theology aside for a moment, does the mother of our Lord deserve a bit more respect? Are we guilty of treating worship too casually? Maybe it’s just me. What do you think?

Advent Benediction : The Blessing of Love

imageBlessed is the name of the Lord,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

He alone is your blessing,

He alone is worthy of receiving your blessing,

He alone blesses you.

 

Blessed is the one who watches and waits,

for the Son, sent of the Father, followed by the Holy Spirit.

He alone is our light.

He alone is our salvation.

Be blessed as you wait the night of His arrival.

 

Blessed is the one who loves,

the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

May God bless you with love,

to give Love as He has,

to be Love as He is,

to know Love as He does.

 

Blessed is the one who blesses.

Blessed is the one who waits.

Blessed is the one who loves.

May you be counted as blessed.

Amen.

 

 

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Day Twelve in the School of Prayer : Have Faith!

WithChristInPrayer

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.’  (Mark 11:22-23)

The last lesson of the Master taught us to believe as though we had already received the answer to our prayers, infusing our petitions with a fresh urgency and strength. Belief or trust in the response is predicated on something. It is not our natural attitude toward anything as adults and with ‘things unseen’, it becomes an even greater challenge. Jesus points our belief to its foundation in this lesson. Faith in God is the basis for our belief.

The Lord points us to the God who created all, permeates all, and who knows all in and out of our hearts. On the basis of what we know to be true about God and His consistency in upholding and delivering all He has ever promised we can place our faith. As our tenure as a friend of God lengthens He becomes more visible to us. We know His works in our lives and in the historical lives of others. We make connections between what His Word has told us and what we experience. Faith becomes more real and gradually solidified. Our faith is the core of our belief.

In this faith we pray. We approach the throne with our petitions and a mature trust. We yield and mountains move.