by Sue Duby,
by Sue Duby
Three-year old grandson Nate LOVES trucks. Any kind. Any size. The bigger the better. But amidst all the wheeled vehicles racing down the hallway, dump trucks top the list. Nate’s tiny fingers wiggle to grasp any small objects to stuff into the truck’s bin, then wheel the whole load across the room. At times, success! At times, screams and tears when the load tips over.
Load lifting is a lot like that. Skill required. A “loader” in good shape for the journey. Knowing it won’t always work out as anticipated. Willingness to try again when it all fails. Shuffling objects from one location to another. Lifting weights that are just too much for one person to handle alone. Even moving items to truly “dump” them.
As Chuck and I have enjoyed the luxury of time to reflect over the past few months, we’ve discovered a past life theme that’s birthed new dreams. Load lifting.
I’ve never bench pressed anything in the gym. Neither of us love exercising with heavy dumbbells. Though we’re not fashioned of metal, with crazy tread tires, screws and bolts like Nate’s prize dump truck, we’re recognizing more and more how He fashioned and wired us both. Not sure why it’s taken part of a lifetime to grab hold of understanding, but grateful it’s getting clearer. We love to lift loads!
Way back during our missions training school in snowy Montana, one leader unexpectedly thanked us for being “Aaron and Hur”. At first, that sounded crazy and confusing. Puzzled, we dug a bit deeper and discovered it’s actually very simple… just lift a hand!
In Exodus 17:8-13, Moses charges Joshua to go out to fight the Amalekites, promising to stand on the hill with God’s staff in hand. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites continued to win. When he grew weary, “…Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” (v. 12 NIV)
By John Everett Millais – Originally uploaded by Paul Barlow, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18811161
A battle raged. Lives were on the line. Moses was not tasked with joining the physical battle or shouting orders for hours. He had one seemingly unrelated job… to hold his hands high. Even with that small task, it became too burdensome. If you’ve ever tried to raise your arms for a long period of time, it’s hard! Aaron and Hur likewise were not required to rush into battle. Again, for them, one simple duty. Hold Moses’ hands high. Not even two … just a single hand each. Just enough to keep Moses’ stance steady. And victory followed.
Though I’ll likely never be on a battlefield, watching spears fly and armor clashing, I know daily there are people in my life who are weary. I also realize (after too many years to count of trying) that it’s not my job to “fix” anything for others, but rather to come alongside and “load lift” in ways God inspires. Maybe a quick text, “Thinking of you”. Perhaps a phone call to just listen. A note in the mail. A cup of coffee on the back porch. A warm loaf of sourdough bread (a newly discovered passion!). Simple acknowledgement that their struggle is real.
May be bold to step out to hold a hand up… to ask Him to show us our assignment (who, when, where, how)… and not measure how big or small it may seem. Sometimes, it’s simply asking a few questions along the way each day…
- Who is weighed down in my sphere? (Physically, emotionally or spiritually)
- Am I to help load lift? (never assuming I’m to jump in, but always asking Him)
- What role do you have for me, no matter how simple? (…and let me not quickly discount those!)
- For me alone or as a team? (sometimes it takes two!)
- When am I to step aside and know my job is done? (that’s as important as jumping in)
As we journey in to 2021, may He open our eyes to those around us who need load lifting. And may we enjoy the journey as He leads the way.
by Sue Duby
And sometimes even the best load lifters need a break!
Feature Photo by Aamir Suhail on unsplash.com
Our newest course, Time to Heal Online Course, is available now for purchase! This course provides 5 sessions with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser each with different approaches and practices to assist in processing grief and healing.
by Tom Sine
Christine & I are looking forward to our 1st Vaccine, however, our pup Goldie has decided to avoid all needles.
What we miss most in 2021 is celebrating with friends in these troubled 2020s.
What we pray for most is that followers of Jesus of all gens will join members of Gen Y and Z by creating new forms of neighborhood empowerment, racial justice & climate change and the just distribution of vaccine for all our neighbors on our struggling planet.
I am particularly grateful for an article in the PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK by Eric Peltz, an innovative young pastor, with kind words for 2020s Foresight… and for my good friend, Dwight Friesen, who took the time to join me in writing this, my final book.
Thank you for checking out Godspace and discovering why you and so many people appreciate Christine, who is a gift to so many friends all over our struggling world… particularly the 6 people who share life with us in the Mustard Seed House. We will save a piece of moist chocolate cake for you… We would value your prayers.
Tom Sine
Our newest course, Time to Heal Online Course, is available now for purchase! This course provides 5 sessions with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser each with different approaches and practices to assist in processing grief and healing.
by Carol Dixon,
Create in me a clean heart, God – a hymn for Ash Wednesday
Tune: Tallis’ Canon
Create in me a clean heart, God,
a heart that focuses on you,
that emulates your living Word
in everything I say and do;
A humble mindset centred on
your will for me in all my days,
a renewed spirit helping me
to live a life of constant praise.
Help me to work for justice, peace,
sharing the gifts you give with all,
to love with joy abundantly
and faithfully follow your call.
(Carol Dixon © United Reformed Church Handbook 2021, used with permission).
(736) Glory to Thee My God This Night, Tallis’s Canon (Instrumental Version) – YouTube
Picking stones
I pick up a stone
thinking it is bread
and then my sand-filled eyes
see that it is just a stone.
I’m disappointed, God,
I feel betrayed,
as if it is your fault, not mine.
Challenging God,
It’s the same
with our sins and sorrows:
we pick up a stone of disobedience
expecting it to give us what we desire most;
a stone of heart-ache
hoping it will bring happiness
instead of offering them to you
to be transformed by your redeeming love.
We pick up the stones
of the hurts of the world:
violence and poverty,
disaster and starvation,
wanting you to turn them into bread:
to solve every painful situation:
every sorrow:
the accidental,
those of our own making,
those caused by greed.
Loving Jesus,
your broken body became
fresh bread for us all;
feed us with your love, we pray,
so that we may nurture our famished world.
(Carol Dixon (© United Reformed Church Prayer Handbook 2017, used with permission)
The idea of the above prayer came to me after my son, a farm worker, came home after spending the afternoon removing unwanted stones from a field before ploughing and remarked that one of the stones he’d picked up looked like the bread bun he had for lunch. I also came across an article on the web which made an interesting analogy about picking stones (see below)
Picking stones
“Being raised on a farm has a few duties that no one is eager to do. One of them is picking stones. In the spring, when the dirt is turned over before planting, it seems that the first thing that sprouts is a new crop of stones. You cleared the fields the year before, but each year they return.
It’s important to get them out of the way. Young sprouts aren’t strong enough to move the heavy stones. It stunts their growth and sometimes kills them. So you bend over time after time, each stone getting heavier as you calculate the tonnage you must be moving and grumble about it under your breath.
One of the things I do is teach basic internet skills to seniors. The courage, commitment and perseverance of this group never stops impressing me. In the face of trifocals, small print, arthritic hands and lack of computer experience, they come in week after week, sometimes repeating the four week class three or four times, gaining a little more each time and somehow being encouraged by these small steps in what proves to be a stony field for them.” The full article can be found here.
Ash Wednesday Prayer – Encountering God in a secret place – our own ‘Poustinia’*
[Isaiah 58 1-12; Matt 6 1-6, 16-21]
LENT can be a season of refreshment and renewal – a healthy balance of work, rest, prayer as we give up time in busy lives to sort out our relationship with God, rediscovering God’s perspective on life and actively work at ways of turning world values around in sacrificial giving – of our time, our talents, our possessions and our service.
Sung Response: Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us
Lord have mercy upon us, grant us peace.
Longsuffering Lord,
We pay you lip service, not life service,
dabbling with our designer diets,
fussing over famine lunches,
we cut out the extras and give up
our daily ration of ‘goodies’ –
play acting at poverty.
In this sacrificial season
change us in mind and heart,
so that the discomfort of Jesus’ love
penetrates our comfortable lives
and instead of hoarding our riches
in straw-filled barns, grudgingly
sharing our surplus with those in need,
we learn the true meaning of living for others
as we journey with Jesus to the Cross.
Sung response: Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us
Lord have mercy upon us, grant us peace.
Words of Assurance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
To all those who turn to him, Jesus says:
“Your sins are forgiven”.
He also says: “Follow me”
Carol Dixon
*Poustinia
Lent is generally recognised as a season of spiritual renewal, when we look once again at our relationship with God and try to discover a healthy balance of work, rest and prayer. In so doing, we can rediscover God’s perspective on life, and find ways of forsaking worldly values, in order to live more sacrificially. In engaging on this spiritual quest, we could create our own ‘poustinia’. The word is Russian and it means ‘desert’. However it doesn’t mean a sandy waste. In Russian, it has the connotation of the 4th century Egyptian desert fathers who went our into the wilderness focus totally on God – much as some of the early Celtic monks did on bleak islands around Britain. To a Russian, a poustinia was a lonely place where salience 7 solitude could be found, where ‘heaven meets earth’. However it was not necessarily situated away from the village. Some people remained in their own homes and would go to a particular spot each day in order to pray and meditate and enter into a time of inner pilgrimage. It is a place of utter simplicity, free of distractions. The Russian poustinik would have no books or pictures, except possibly and icon and only the Bible to read. They would read it on their knees, unmindful of any academic questions of interpretation for tot them the Bible was the incarnation of the Word. In creating our poustinia, three things should be borne in mind: we must recognise that this is God’s place, a hallowed place, where we retreat specifically to seek God.
Information supplied by the Northumbria Community from Poustinia by Catherine de Hueck Doherty’, used with permission of Fr Robert Wild, Madonna House, Combermere, Ontario. (© United Reformed Church Prayer Handbook 2003, used with permission.)
Desert-ed by God
[Isaiah 55 1-9; Psalm 63 1-8; I Cor 10 1-13]
The desert is hot and arid,
it saps my strength,
my eyes burn for a glimpse of God;
Parched I pant for pools of living water;
I long to lounge again by the life-giving streams,
and let God’s provident love flood my life.
Bountiful God,
renewer of our strength in times of testing,
you provide bread for our journey,
and springs of water in the hard places
if only we know where to look;
Forgive our flagging faith,
turn our fasting to feasting,
remove our stone-filled sandals
and humbly wash our feet,
until restored, renewed and re-invigorated
we walk with those who stumble on stony paths,
and plant seeds of joyful hope
in the desert places of our world.
Pray for countries hit by frequent droughts, for those trying to scratch a living from desert land; Pray for people forced to travel miles to seek water and those whose water supplies are polluted and unsafe.
(Carol Dixon ©United Reformed Church Prayer Handbook 2003, used with permission)
The above post was used with permission by © 2021, URC Prayer Handbook; Conversations, The United Reformed Church.
Photo above by Ahna Ziegler on unsplash.com
Join Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin for a virtual Lenten Retreat!
I recently awoke from a dream – it was the briefest of scenes. I saw Jesus holding a vessel filled with the Balm of Gilead. He was looking so excited and I asked him, “Are you looking forward to using that when you come to earth?” And he responded, “Oh yes, I am!” It was shortly before he was going to be conceived in the womb of Mary and he was thinking about everyone he would heal when he came to earth. I had this dream about a week before Christmas.
This was a very special Advent for me. In fact, we began with our decorations and reflections, including the most beautiful music, in November and decided to keep up our decorations well into January. In fact, our Christmas tree is still sparkling in the lounge. Why would we decide to keep Christmas in our home for so long? Well, it’s been a time we need the story of Christmas so very much. I was also gifted with the Godspace Advent Retreat and used this time for journaling, lighting my candle and joining in creatively with Christine Sine’s suggestions, even with the recommended shawl around the shoulders, though it is summer here. We’ve been having a reasonably cool summer in Cape Town, South Africa. Hot days of course! But also the lovely coolth of a breeze, or an unusual cold front when we don’t usually have rain this time of year. I appreciate the rain and take time to watch it falling on the thirsty ground. I appreciate a recent sight of clouds spilling over from the ocean across the mountains into our valley and filling the valley with moisture, a phenomenon which usually only occurs in Autumn here.
Going back to the dream I had… what an unusual dream to have and such a vivid picture at that. For me to see the anticipation of Jesus as he imagined coming to earth in the womb of Mary, being born and growing up, spreading his healing love wherever he went. This made me think more about the Balm of Gilead, what is it exactly?
“In the Old Testament, Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River. This region was known for having skillful physicians and an ointment made from the gum of a tree particular to that area. Many believed that this balm had miraculous powers to heal the body. In the book of Jeremiah, God tells the people of Israel that though many believe in the mysterious healing power of this balm, they can’t trust in those powers for spiritual healing or as a relief of their oppression. He reminds them that He is ultimately in control, and only He can relieve their suffering. In the New Testament, God answers the suffering of His people by sending His own son to take our place. Jesus becomes our “balm in Gilead.” It is Him we are called to turn to in our times of trial for healing and comfort. We sing this song with that assurance: no matter our hardships or supposed shortcomings, Jesus loves us enough to take our suffering upon Himself.” (There Is a Balm in Gilead | Hymnary.org)
I remembered hearing a hymn about the Balm in Gilead, and looked it up. It is an African-American spiritual… here are the words:
“There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.
If you cannot preach like Peter,
If you cannot pray like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
And say He died for all.
Don’t ever feel discouraged,
‘Cause Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge,
He’ll not refuse to lend.”
For me, this dream showed me a perspective of Jesus I had never thought about from this particular vantage point. What was it like for Jesus as he left the harmony and love of Heaven, to be transformed into a tiny baby growing in Mary’s womb? To transition from his heavenly body to his earthly body, all for the glory set before him? And for me to see Jesus looking so intently at this balm, which was a sign of his ultimate redemptive power as our Healer? There is no balm anywhere on earth that is able to completely heal us the way that Jesus can. He is the culmination of our every hope, and our true Healer.
The world around us is in desperate need of his healing power. Some of you may have experienced the pandemic more close to home in that you may have contracted the illness, or may have family and friends who were ill and even passed away. Just this past week, my husband’s close friend passed away from Covid and left so many disorientated with grief, thinking about this larger than life caring and loving human being who passed away a few days short of his 50th birthday.
You may also be in need of healing. For we have all gone through a tremendous disorientating change. We have been under lockdowns, and restrictions. People have lost their jobs and their sense of security. We are in need of the healing power of Christ.
A few nights ago, we watched a movie about Mr. Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. He was one of my childhood favourites. I grew up for part of my childhood in North Vancouver, British Columbia. And when we watched this film, I sometimes found myself in floods of tears. It must have triggered a memory of the calming love Mr. Rogers used to share with his viewers. Of the compassion and acceptance that came through the screen in such a tangible way. But it was also observing him in this film, on his knees praying for people by name, and mentioning them in the presence of the Father.
Let us take time to pray for the people in hospitals… and hospices, and in homes who are struggling with illness and those who are caring for them. Let us take time to intercede on behalf of those who are struggling to take a breath, or who are feeling that life is being taken from them too soon. Let us pray for Jesus, the true Balm of Gilead, to anoint each one.
Prayer practice:
Take some olive oil, coconut oil or any other base oil you may have in your home. If you have some lavender essential oil, or an essential oil blend, you may use this as well. Place some drops of oil in the palms of your hands and as you rub your palms together, you can say this prayer:
Jesus, you are the Balm of Gilead,
You anoint my wounds.
You are the Great Healer,
I invite you into my wounds.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
I anoint myself with the healing of Christ,
I anoint myself with the healing of Spirit,
I anoint myself with the healing of Father.
I pray for my needs and the needs of my family,
I pray for my needs and the needs of my friends,
I pray for my needs and the needs of the world.
Be anointed with Shalom Peace,
Be anointed by Yaweh-Rapha, the God who heals,
Be anointed with the Breath of Spirit,
Be anointed by the embrace of the Father.
Jesus, you are the Balm of Gilead
You anoint my wounds,
You are the Great Healer,
I invite you into my wounds.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
Make the bitter waters sweet,
Carry my exhaustion and fatigue,
Heal the worries of my mind.
Enliven my body and my soul,
Carry my grief and my tears,
Pour your balm over the whole world.
Heal the broken-hearted
and bind up our wounds.
Heal the weary
and carry our sins.
Heal the sick
and raise us to life again.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
Holy Spirit, your presence is here.
Amen.
Listen to this healing music while you pray, from Abide:
Listen to Balm in Gilead by Debra Liv Johnson:
Listen to ‘There is a Balm in Gilead’, sung unaccompanied by The Adventist Vocal Ensemble:
Photo from Pexels by Mareefe
Our newest course, Time to Heal Online Course, is available now for purchase! This course provides 5 sessions with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser each with different approaches and practices to assist in processing grief and healing.
by Christine Sine
Today, I sacrificed a one of my precious masks for the sake of Ash Wednesday. Normally I burn a stack of palm crosses and fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration just as many churches do. This year, there are no crosses or fronds because we had just begun our COVID lockdown. So this year, one of my masks that had passed their use by date seemed like a fitting substitute.
Ready to burn the masks
This year’s ritual has had a profound impact on me that I wanted to share with you. As I look back to the beginning of the lockdown last year, I am reminded of how grateful we all were for our masks. They protected us and our loved ones and brought us life, just as Christ’s death on the Cross still protects us from the consequences of our brokenness and brings us into the life of the kingdom of God.
Enjoying the burn
However, as I burn my masks, I am also reminded of the fickleness that the palm fronds and crosses and masks represent. Like many who shouted joyously as they followed Jesus into Jerusalem, I would probably have been ready to crucify him by the end of the week. Human nature is so fickle and we don’t have to look back 2,000 years to see that. We are sick of our masks and would like to burn them, might I say, to crucify them.
The deed is done – mask is burned
As I prepared for my little ritual, it was not hard to imagine that the little pile of ashes I end up with symbolized death as we have certainly seen a lot of death this year. We prepare for Lent with a symbol of death. We literally rub it on our faces. We end Lent preparing for a death – the death of Christ on the Cross. Lent surrounds us with a circle of death, but that same circle is a circle of life, life of the kingdom of God that the season of Lent is preparing us for. Maybe we should be rubbing that on our faces, too, because our journey will not end when Lent ends. In fact, it will just be beginning. We are preparing for life not for death, we are preparing for the kingdom not for the Cross.
You may not want to burn some of your masks on Wednesday. You might prefer, as our church, St Andrews Episcopal church in Seattle encouraged us to do, to build an Ash Wednesday Bonfire at Home with a time of confession but ending with roasting of marshmallows. I have decided to incorporate this as well and as you can see in the photos, I am burning a few post-it notes with my “confessions” on them as well. This is a process I always find very therapeutic, so with the two practices combined I feel I am well prepared for the beginning of Lent on Wednesday.
What Is Your Response?
Whatever you decide to do, as you begin Lent this year, take time to reflect on your focus. Are you thinking about the sacrifices you will need to make and the things you will give up, or are you focused on the new life those sacrifices make possible? What practices will do you plan to institute to keep your focus on life rather than death?
Prayers for the Season of Lent and Easter are now available as a download for only $6.99!
It’s the last Sunday after Epiphany and once again I am posting the beautiful contemplative service from St Andrew’s Episcopal church in Seattle.
A contemplative service with music in the style-of-Taize for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below.
“Down in the River to Pray” – traditional American spiritual, public domain. Arrangement by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
“La Ténèbre (Our Darkness),” “O You are Beyond All Things (O Toi L’au-dela de Tout),” and “Surrexit Christus” — are songs from the Taize Community. Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Lord, Be with Us” – text and music by Kester Limner, shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
Thank you for praying with us! www.saintandrewsseattle.org
by Joy Lenton
We feel raw and vulnerable when we encounter a need for healing in ourselves, whether it concerns our physical or mental health. The healing process has as many variations as any dis-ease we might suffer from. Thankfully, our unlimited God isn’t limited in what He will heal in us.
by Wokandapix @pixabay.com
He expects us to exercise our faith and pray for healing for ourselves and for others. We will be heard and answered even if it might not look like it sometimes, because the extent and timing are very much in God’s hands.
God impressed the words below on me in prayer. I’m sharing them to offer you hope from the sense of bleakness, hopelessness and despair which delayed healing can engender.
Prayer Whisper: A place of healing
“The centre of My Presence is a Place of Healing. It is where you are energised, equipped, rested, restored, renewed, and guided into My Truth. The more you seek My face and spend time with Me, the better enabled you are to face the challenges in your life. As I saturate you with My grace, you will receive the fruit of the Spirit to gradually transform you more and more into My image.
It is a place of refuge from the pain, struggle and strain which living in this world brings. A place of healing is also found as you share your personal journey with others and encourage them with the work I am doing in your life. Then, as they share their stories, you can learn and grow together in celebration of all I am doing to help and bless you.
Wounded souls can find refuge and hope in learning about My work in the lives of others, so they will be strengthened for their own walk of faith. Healing is a process. No two people will experience it in exactly the same way or measure. It requires something from the person needing it as well as the touch of The Healer Himself.
You must believe I am the One who heals you. You must come without prejudice, resentment or unbelief, and with hands wide open in child-like faith to receive. For only those who sense their need of healing are able to see Who provides it for them.”
Sensing the healing process
If we look hard enough, we can trace degrees of physical, emotional or spiritual healing from God in our own lives. It might be incomplete but it still makes a great difference to how we think and live.
Healing
it’s a mystery
all I had to offer you
was broken shards
you made it a thing of beauty
a shimmering stained glass
now it reflects
the light of your presence
hidden deep within
this life of mine is hid in Christ
because I trust in him
sometimes I sense
a pricking of the pieces
in my heart
where your healing takes place
though incomplete in parts
at times like that
I am apt to hurt, forget
this mending process
is ongoing and prolonged
it can take years and years
but if I stay calm
and trust in change itself
the rest will come
trailing your peace and joy
just as darkness yields to sun
© joylenton
When we don’t get healed
And if we or our loved ones, friends and family are not healed? There’s a holy purpose in that too. Because when we are weak, we can better appreciate the inner resilience and strength which Christ provides. When adversity hits, we discover how spiritual fruit develops out of our greater dependence on God.
Being physically or emotionally healed is a glorious gift, but sometimes the greater gift lies in the inner healing we receive as we’re equipped to live with the challenges we face. All of us are broken, only some more obviously than others. Each wound is a potential entry point for the healing, life affirming presence of Christ.
The ‘Healing’ poem was originally shared at poetryjoy.com
PS: If you’re still looking for a helpful resource for Lent, then Joy’s latest book ‘Experiencing Lent: Sensing the Sacred in our Midst’ could fit the bill. As an eclectic mix of poetry, devotional reflections and prayers, it will aid you in sensing the sacred in your midst. Here’s a quote from the introduction:
During Lent, we gradually move from fasting to feasting. From ashes to beauty. From confession to celebration. From sorrow to joy. From darkness to light. How might it look to experience Lent in a new way through the lens and immediacy of poetry?
I would like to take you on a poetic journey of the heart that honours the tradition of Lent and expands on it. One that you can follow sequentially, use periodically for a personal retreat, or dip into whenever you need. Here you will find a mix of the personal and universal, as well as biblical stories being shared.”
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!