By Catherine Lawton —
Look at Me!
“Look at me, Cathy.”
Downcast, ashamed,
I shrank from seeing
my father’s disappointment,
his sadness, maybe anger.
I was little; he was big.
I was guilty; he was right.
I was fearful’ he was waiting.
I was stubborn; he persisted.
“Look at me, Cathy.”
The Father waits.
I avert my eyes,
not wanting to see
disappointment in His.
But He’s persuasive;
I’m learning to turn,
to trust those eyes
of Love …
Today is Father’s Day in the U.S and I thought I would repost this litany and this prayer from a few years ago that I thought some of you would enjoy revisiting too.
God our eternal father,
Who made our earth and all it contains,
Today we thank you for the gift of fathers
And for the men who have fathered us as mentors and guides.
For us, there is one God, the Father who is the ultimate source of all things and the goal of our lives. (1 Cor 8:6 The Voice)
Generous and providing God,
We thank you for the good gifts you provide through fathers,
Guide them to be good role models and loving to all their children.
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.[a] He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. (James 1:17 NLT)
Blessing and just God,
We thank you for fathers who teach justice and uphold your truth,
Strengthen them to handle difficult situations in a loving way.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Eph 1: 3 NLT)
Protecting and kind God,
We thank you for those who father alone,
Support and guide them, help them to be a father like you.
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. (Ps 68:5)
Comforting and merciful God,
We thank you for good memories of fathers we have lost,
Continue to nurture and surround us with their love.
God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. (2 Cor 1:3-4,)
Inclusive and embracing God,
We thank you for welcoming us as a father into your eternal family,
May we cherish all your children as if they were our own.
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! (1 Jn 3:1)
Eternal, and home keeping God,
We thank you for preparing an eternal home,
Where all peoples will find a place of belonging and abundance.
There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? (Jn 14:2)
God our Father,
We thank you for your Father’s heart,
Bless through it all fathers, mothers, children and creatures of the earth,
Strengthen us all with your fathering love,
Enable us to become the loving, caring persons we are meant to be.
Amen.
This is the last of my series on God as Father. You may like to check out the full series:
Meditation Monday: The Father heart of God
Let’s Get Creative for Father’s Day
And for those who want to balance this with maternal images of God check out my posts from the week before Mother’s day:
Meditation Monday – Connecting to the Mother heart of God
Biblical Maternal Images of God by Shiao Chong
Maternal Images of God – a video and a prayer
Let’s Get Creative – Honouring Our Mothers
Next Sunday is Trinity Sunday a celebration that is not well known in the Protestant side of the church in spite of the fact that what this day celebrates is a doctrine at the very centre of our faith – our belief in the Triune nature of God.
The theme this week is clear – the nature of God as Triune. This “difficult” doctrine of the Church is a tough one to address in a sermon or in worship, which tempts us either to treat it as an academic exercise, or to skip over it completely. However, the very mystery of this doctrine – and of the texts that are wrapped around it this week – provide a wonderful array of options. There is the opportunity to acknowledge again the limitations of our language and thinking about God, and to embrace God’s glorious, infinite mystery. There is the chance to recognise how God has chosen to reveal God’s self to humanity in flesh and Spirit, and how Jesus and the Spirit really do show us what God is like. There is also the chance to recognise the work of all three Persons in the life of every woman and man. There is also the opportunity to explore God’s nature as community, as Love, as relationship, and what this means for us. Ultimately, though it is wise to bear in mind Richard Rohr’s words: “Trinity leads you into the world of mystery and humility where you can not understand, you can only experience.” And perhaps the heart of that experience is ‘mutuality’ – of God within God, and, miraculously, of God with humanity. Read more on Sacredise
This theme was particularly important for Celtic Christians who embraced the Trinity as a family, and each human family unit (be it family, clan or tribe) was seen as an icon of the Trinity. The Trinity was a very real presence in all aspects of life and creation, and an almost tangible Comforter and Protector who could ward off evil forces. We see this theological perspective reflected in the simple prayer above.
The Celts can teach us a lot about the trinitarian nature of God. Here are a couple of my favorite trinitarian prayers and my favourite images to use for Trinity Sunday tomorrow.
celtic knot
My walk this day with God,
My walk this day with Christ,
My walk this day with Spirit.
The threefold all-kindly;
Ho! Ho! Ho! The Threefold all-kindly
My shielding this day from ill,
My shielding this night from harm
Ho! Ho! Both my soul and my body,
Be by Father, by Son, by Holy Spirit:
By Father, by Son, by Holy Spirit.
Be the Father shielding me,
Be the Son shielding me,
Be the Spirit shielding me,
As Three and as One:
Ho! Ho! Ho! As Three and as One.
In liturgical churches, it is Trinity Sunday this weekend.
The Trinity… The Three in One, The One in Three.
Father
Son
Holy Spirit
As a Celtic Christian, I value the unique persons of the Trinity, but I haven’t always thought this way. As I said last week, in the church of my childhood, we never talked about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the Holy Ghost, you never saw or heard about. In college, I experienced the gifts of the Spirit for the first time. This was to the chagrin of my high school Bible Study teacher who told our group “the Gifts” weren’t for today. In my 20’s, I worked on staff at a pentecostal church where the Holy Spirit was alive and exciting, but sometimes too much for some of us. I later worked at a liturgical church where started my prayers with “Father God,” and got in trouble with the senior pastor. He didn’t like it that I prayed that way. I told him that it had taken me a long time and a great deal of therapy on my dad issues to get to Father God, so he would have to deal with it.
What about you? What’s been your experience with the Trinity?
Do you tend to pray in a certain way?
Do you have a hard time with one of the members of the Trinity?
We often focus on Jesus and forget about God the Father because God is too scary, or too old, or we’ve seen God as too male. Maybe like me, it’s taken you awhile to get to Father God. Or perhaps you’ve had a bad experience at a church because of the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, or you’ve felt shame or inferior because you haven’t experienced gifts like tongues or healing. Take time to give these concerns and this “trinity baggage” to Jesus so carry and heal.
Since it’s Trinity Sunday this weekend, I’d like to invite us to embrace the mystery of the Trinity. And be open to looking at all three persons in the coming days.
Richard Rohr says that God is Mystery. “Mystery doesn’t mean something you cannot understand. Mystery means something you can endlessly understand, you can never say,
“I got it”, there is always more, there’s always more!”
What does it look like for you embrace all three? Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Which person of the Trinity would you like to begin to learn more about?
I listened to Father Rohr’s homily this past week, and he has a Litany of the Holy Spirit where he lists 65 names for the Holy Spirit. It’s a beautiful prayer reflection where Rohr invites us to consider which name/attribute speaks to us. You can listen to this podcast here.
You can also listen to an earlier version of this sermon here.
I invite you to pick one or two of the names of the Holy Spirit and sit with them. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Write them down, journal from them. or create a sketch or take a photo to represent this name or attribute. (this list is a few from Richard Rohr’s homily)
Eternal Praise
Reminder of the Mystery
Implanted Pacemaker
Compassionate Observer
God Compass
Inner Breath
Hidden Love of God
Implanted Hope
Nonviolence of God
Father and Mother of Orphans
Great Bridge Builder
What images speak to you of the Trinity?
As I was thinking about this post, I opened a book called, Space for God by Don Postema
This is a study on prayer with art and poetry. The page I opened to was
Rembrandt’s Three Trees!
Perfect! It spoke loudly to me of The Trinity…life, growing, breathing, beauty!
Google “The Trinity” and use an image that speaks to you to consider the three persons of the Trinity. I found this great mural created by students at a school in Nottingham England. Learn more here.
Taste and See the Trinity
I once had a senior high student give the sermon on Trinity Sunday and she invited us to consider WATER as our image of the Trinity. WATER: H20 being God the Father, Boiling water, making Steam representing the Holy Spirit, and freezing it into ice cubes, representing the touchable, tangible person of Jesus. She suggested that we use all ice water that summer to remind us of the Trinity!
I love this! and I love that you can talk about this easily with kids! You could even make ice tea together! Boiling the water and adding the teabag for the Holy Spirit. And Adding the Ice to the Tea to represent Jesus. And talking about God the Father being the Living Water.
Finally, I’ve always loved this Icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev. It’s my reminder that The Trinity is all about community!
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit created the universe together and invite us to live and love and create in community too! The Trinity reminds us that we are created for community, and we need to learn to live and love more intentionally as one in three and three in one! Embrace the Mystery of God this weekend! Ask the Trinity to help you!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
Tell me a bit about yourself and your life journey.
Sure, Christine – and thanks for having me on your blog. I’m a writer and speaker from the greater San Francisco Bay Area, although I recently spent a good twenty months in the Pacific Northwest, where I was so grateful to have crossed paths with you, Christine. As per the intersection of my professional journey and life story, I was a high school English and leadership teacher for four years out of college before spending another eight years in the non-profit ministry sector. To be totally honest, I thought I’d spend the rest of my life in that arena, but when the perfect storm of finishing seminary and becoming a parent seemingly happened in the same breath, I knew it was time for me to leave. So, I left to follow a long-held dream of pursuing writing and speaking professionally, as well as being the primary caregiver for our infant son. Six and a half years later, my first book, The Color of Life, made its way onto bookshelves across the country and I couldn’t be more delighted or surprised, for that matter.
Tell me a bit about your book – In a nutshell what is the main theme?
The book is a spiritual memoir about my journey as a white woman into issues of justice, race and privilege. In a sense it’s also about what not to do when it comes to engaging in and with the greater conversation, and hopefully serves as an invitation for all of us to enter into dialogue and start talking about the things we need to be talking about that we’re not always talking about. In a nutshell, though, it’s a love story about how the power of love helped me see color – a love of interracial marriage, raising mixed-race sons, identifying my own privilege, and marrying into the son of civil rights activist, James Meredith.
What inspired you to write the book?
I’ve oftentimes said that this is the book I never thought I’d write …but the book God intended for me to write. Case in point, a couple of years after I left ministry, I’d finished writing a (different) spiritual memoir all about being a woman in ministry, leaving ministry, becoming a mother, going through a crisis of faith – the list goes on. I’d just queried my 35th agent, trying to find someone who might want to pick up my Very Great Idea up so I could become a famous (cough, cough) author. Just as I received my 35th rejection, a longform essay about my journey as a white woman into issues of justice, race and privilege ran and went viral. Within 24 hours, the first agent I’d ever queried – the one I’d wanted to represent me all along – sent me an email, effectively saying, “Cara, put that book you’ve been trying to sell on the back burner. This is the book you’re supposed to write.” A year or so later, we secured a book contract; and nearly two years after said book contract, the book went to print.
What is the main “take away” that readers will gain from your book? How do you hope they will be changed?
Like I’ve said, more than anything, I hope it serves as an invitation to enter into conversations of justice, race and privilege. I hope they wrestle with their own racial identities, no matter the other of their skin; I hope white readers especially heed the exhortation to listen, learn and listen some more to our brothers and sisters of color. And I hope every reader will be changed when he or she realizes that justice and wholeness and peace is for every single one of us – for this realization alone changes the way we interact with the world around us.
Writing a book often changes our own perspectives. How have you been changed by writing this book and what do you continue to learn about the topic?
I’ll be the first to say that mine is a lived and not a learned experience; I may experience first hand the effects of racism on my husband, my sons and my dear friends of color, but I will never fully experience that for myself because of the color of my skin. In that way, I’ve been changed by realizing that there’s a whole lot more to the story than I ever realized; like I said in my previous answer, the greatest thing I can do is continue to listen, learn and listen some more. I hope and trust I’ll always take the stance of learner when it comes to issues of justice, race and privilege. As such, right now I’m digging into listening to the stories and wisdom of the past, particularly from leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, James Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston – we’re all just reliving many of their insights sixty, seventy, eighty years later.
Where can readers connect to you on the internet and what is the best way for them to purchase your book?
You can connect with on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as on my website and my Patheos blog. The Color of Life is available everywhere books are sold, so pick it up at your local bookseller or head to your favorite online purchasing spot!
Cara Meredith is a writer, speaker and sought-after conversationalist. A former high school English teacher and non-profit outreach director, her writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications. The Color of Life, a spiritual memoir about her journey as a white woman into issues of justice, race, and privilege, released in February. She holds a Masters of Theology from Fuller Seminary and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family. You can connect with her on her website, as well as on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
By Barbie Perks —
Reading life differently. I was excited to see that this would be a theme for the next season in Godspace. I am in a place where I have to begin a different life to what I have been living. At the age of 61, my husband and I have relocated in order for him to begin a new phase in his career. We moved from Port Elizabeth, a large city on the coast of South Africa, inland to the small town of Iringa in the mountainous southern highlands of Tanzania.
The words of St Brendan’s Prayer, “Help me to journey beyond the familiar, and into the unknown. Give me the faith to leave old ways, and break fresh ground with You” have been resonating deeply in my heart because that is just what I have done – I have left home and country, family, friends and familiar faces, and moved to another country. I’m beginning to set up a new home, learn a new language and culture, encountering different faces whom I hope will in time become new friends.
I’m beginning to have a fresh appreciation for the women in the Bible who left all that was familiar to go live in a strange land; like Sara who moved with Abram when God called him to leave Ur for Canaan. Like Rebecca, who went away to marry a stranger in Isaac. Or Leah and Rachel, who returned to Canaan with Jacob. Or Mary, who was forced to go live in Egypt when Herod threatened the life of her Child.
Here in Iringa I have been meeting people in the Christian community who also have left home and country to come and serve the Lord in various ways. I am hoping to learn more of their lives and missions as time goes on.
On a spiritual level, there are times when God calls me to leave behind the familiar places and practices of faith to journey to a deeper place with Him, to go into the unknown, to place myself in His hands, trusting Him to see me through to the end. This is scary to someone who likes to be in control of her own life. I always find it disturbing when God calls me to examine myself. These calls which have come at various times in my life, are not generally convenient, nor are they particularly welcome, but when I am obedient to go on the journeys, such richness results. New insights into old problems come, sometimes new life is breathed into difficult relationships or circumstances, and always a new appreciation and thankfulness for the kindness and mercy of the Lord.
I am filled with anticipation to see how God will lead me in this different season of life, and how He will use me in this community. It might be just a period of rest, it might be a period of preparation for a fresh and exciting ministry opportunity. Life will be read differently and whatever it may be, “Christ of the mysteries, I trust You to be stronger than each storm within me. I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hand. Tune my spirit to the music of heaven, and somehow, make my obedience count for You.”
Bio: My name is Barbie Perks, I have been married to Mike for 35 years, and we have 2 adult sons. My oldest son is married, and we are blessed with a grandson and a granddaughter who will be arriving in July. My youngest son is engaged to be married next year. I have been teaching Bible study for over 25 years, using the Precept Ministries inductive study material. Mike is a local preacher in the Methodist church, and I have been involved in various ways over the years both at church and with Scripture Union.
As we begin our new theme this summer, Reading Life Differently, Check out this great post by Jeannie Kendall —
I always enjoy writing for Godspace, but I confess that a phrase in the latest update for writers sent a shiver down my spine. Or, perhaps more accurately, a slump to my shoulders.
It was this: “What has helped change your perspective on life, faith and the world in which we live so that your cup is half full rather than half empty, full of love not burdened by hate?” – and very specifically the phrase in italics and bold.
Why, you might ask, should this familiar and innocuous phrase cause such despair in me? Let me explain. You see, I have always (or at least as far back as I can remember, which is a lot of decades) been a glass half empty person. Various losses and traumas in early years, and a slightly peculiar upbringing in a remote hospital where my father was a doctor on staff, have left a certain underlying awareness of the fragility of life and my own frailty. Grief feels familiar. This is not to say my life is unhappy – there is much joy, in particular from my family. Yet still, perhaps I feel safer with the glass not too full, springing from that shadowy awareness from the early years how swiftly life can change.
So when I hear that glass half empty phrase, my initial response is guilt – that I shouldn’t feel like that, especially as (when here) it is linked with other qualities, like love, which I have tried to cultivate from the unpromising soil of my early years. I feel my half empty glass is yet another mark of my inherent failure. As a Christian, this is exacerbated by sometimes superficial teaching about God making everything come good – surely not the experiences of the Psalmist, to name just one group. Lament, they teach us, is godly.
So after reading that phrase, and immediately excusing myself from writing this time, I thought again. Because if a glass is half empty, there is room for new things to go in. It was my half empty glass that drove me in the first place to search for God, or more accurately recognise that he was searching for me. It was my half empty glass that meant that over the years I could sit with others in pain in companionable silence. It was my half empty glass that led to an identification with the struggles of various unnamed bible characters which in turn is about to lead to the publication of my first book, “Finding Our Voice”.
The half that is full is wonderful. But I will, without shame, leave a little space for anything that God, in his unlimited grace, might still want to pour in.
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