Make Music is a free celebration of music around the world on June 21st. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 750 cities in 120 countries.
Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music is open to anyone who wants to take part. Every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion — pours onto streets, parks, plazas, and porches to share their music with friends, neighbors, and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public. For more information see http://www.makemusicday.org/. For participating locations, see http://www.makemusicday.org/cities/worldwide/
As well as such one-day events, much good can come from a longer cross-cultural commitment. ‘Musicians Without Borders’ is a group that “uses the power of music to bridge divides, connect communities, and heal the wounds of war.” They have programs in the Balkans, in the Middle East, Central-East Africa, and Northern Ireland. Learn more at
https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/
The Bible encourages us to “sing a new song to the Lord” multiple times. It’s also good to sing songs with our local communities, and to use music as a bridge to healing in war-torn places around the world.
By Britni D’Eliso,
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.
He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Psalm 37:3-7
For most of my adult life, I have journeyed through each season with the mindset that my current circumstances are specifically preparing me for what’s to come.
When I was granted leadership roles as an undergraduate in college, it was clearly for the purpose of equipping me for future leadership in the Church or in my career.
When my husband Mike and I encountered obstacles in our marriage, the task of overcoming them became about noting the tools we used, that will presumably be needed for the next major hurdle down the road.
When our family had the opportunity to help pastor two unique, messy and complex church bodies, the problem-solving and relationship-honing it required were all tucked away in my tool belt for inevitable conflicts to come.
While I truly think there is some wisdom in this approach, it does pose a bit of a problem: living with such a future-oriented mindset tends to rob someone of savoring the present moment. How much of those struggles and victories did I gloss over or not fully engage as I was distracted by how they might be preparing me for what’s next? What was there to gain in living fully immersed in the thick of those experiences, that I simply missed out on due to my preoccupation with “opportunity for growth?”
In this season, as in the last 5 days to be exact, I’ve been actively battling this tension of living in the moment while looking to the future. As of today, I am 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Statistics, my midwife, and my own hope/gut-feeling told me I’d have my baby early, and certainly before this point. At my appointment 5 days ago, my midwife assured me (though there’s “no guarantee”), that I would very likely have this baby before my next appointment. Well, my next appointment is tomorrow at 10:00 am… so here we are.
The past week has consisted of checking off every practical step of preparation for this child that one could think of, mostly within the span of my first two days of maternity leave, and then a whole lot of waiting.
In my head and in my heart, I know these are days to cherish–my last days ever with just my son, possibly the last time ever I’ll feel the magic of a baby kicking and moving around in my womb, and the bliss of days with no agenda and no nursing every two hours and no wiping a poopy butt.
But I can’t help but go into preparation mode. How can I navigate this time to best utilize it for arming up for this next crazy season, or a season to come that I don’t even know about yet? There must be some logical reason why this baby has not yet made her appearance…so it’s up to me to figure out what that reason is and take full advantage of it.
And do you know what Jesus is gently whispering in response to this flurry of type-A thoughts racing through my mind?
Rest, child. Relish in this moment, in each moment. Spend time with me, not to grow or to be equipped or to prepare, just to connect.
He invites us to the vulnerable state of immersing ourselves in His presence, with no other task or accomplishment to hide behind. And that can feel foreign to enter into, almost as though I need to tiptoe in. But it is certainly the safest, most satisfying and worthwhile place to spend our time. It’s there we claim his promise that those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. (Psalm 91:1-2)
…I have to imagine I’m not the only one with this tendency, right? Won’t you join me, in being still before our God, resting and waiting on Him to act?
by Christine Sine
Tom and I are getting ready to head overseas on Wednesday to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. As with my trip to Australia, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I my spiritual observances could look like during this time.
What could I do that would give God pleasure while I am away I am wondering? My number one spiritual practice for the trip is just to enjoy it and notice the presence of God in all I do and all I meet. I especially want to be attuned to enjoying Tom, the places we visit and the many friends we will reconnect to. This is not a time for intense scripture study or for feeling guilty about the lack of lengthy times of prayer. Delighting in revisiting places we first journeyed to 25 years ago, having dinner with friends and sailing through Holland, Germany Austria and Hungary on a river cruise will delight us and I think delight God as well.
I realize though, that this trip provides a unique opportunity to create a fun spiritual adventure. My focus is I choose to give God joy. A new journal and a couple of creative exercises that I think will strengthen my faith and draw me into God’s delight are in my luggage.
Just getting ready for the trip was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed looking for a new journal, browsing Pinterest for inspirational ideas on creative spiritual exercises and new ways to record my thoughts and reflections. I have thrown in some of my coloured gel pens and printed out some of my favourite prayers. I am looking forward to new ideas and expressions flowing from my time away.
I have already written on the front page of the journal with questions I hope to reflect on as we travel
The joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
- What gives God joy?
- What do I enjoy about God?
- What does God enjoy about me?
- What are the tensions that destroy my joy and how do I deal with them?
What is your response?
Sit quietly for a few minutes in an attitude of prayer and think about the next few months. Perhaps you would like to ask yourself the same questions I have written down. Are there ways that you could intentionally reshape your spiritual life over this season to bring greater joy to the heart of God and greater appreciation of the joy God takes in you?
By Mary Harwell Sayler —
Praise God the Creator
of all good!
Praise God the Father
of all pure love.
Praise God the Sower,
Who seeds our soiled selves
with Holy Spirit,
nurturing praise and all
blessed notions that
spring to our minds
like flowers.
Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2017, from the book PRAISE!
By Mary Harwell Sayler —
Praise God the Creator
of all good!
Praise God the Father
of all pure love.
Praise God the Sower,
Who seeds our soiled selves
with Holy Spirit,
nurturing praise and all
blessed notions that
spring to our minds
like flowers.
Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2017, from the book PRAISE!
By Lilly Lewin —-
This has been one of those weeks where the worries and cares of the world have pushed in and stolen my joy. If you are familiar with the Enneagram personality numbers, I am a 7: Think Mary Poppins and Tinker Bell or Peter Pan, always ready for an adventure and fun and avoiding pain and suffering at all costs! Thanks to the news and social media, I couldn’t escape the tragedies of shootings and fires and children being killed in their kindergarten.
With so much pain and suffering happening around the world and in the lives of people we know and love, our joy and peace can easily be stolen away. For Freerange Friday today, I would like to give us all permission to have some fun this week! We need to recapture the freedom and joy of innocent children and allow Jesus to love us as we seek to play and have fun. Jesus invited the children to come hang out with him, despite his follower’s objections. Jesus stood a child in their midst and said that we all must be like little children in order to receive the Kingdom.
So what makes you feel like a kid? What brings that sparkle of joy and mischief into your eyes?
How do you have fun? How did you have fun as child?
When was the last time you felt the freedom and joy of playing or laughed out loud with abandon?
For children, play is a serious business. Play is how children learn. Researchers are warning that we are corrupting the flow of learning by sitting younger and younger children in front of screens. In fact, we are now calling the generation from zero to 13 “screeners.”
I want to invite us this week to take time away from screens and rediscover PLAY and FUN.
I believe PLAY is holy and an act of worship. I believe that God is playful and created fun. One cannot look at the abundance of colors in nature, the beauty of a sunset or the creativity of the animals not to get God’s playful side. Giraffes, hippos, frogs in bright colors, monkeys that howl, laughing hyenas, whales with horns…. just to name a few!
So your mission is to embrace you inner five year old or that hidden eight year old!
What things made your much younger self smile? What did you do for fun?
What things do you wish you had done more of as a kid?
What things do you “put off” or not allow yourself to indulge in because you are a “grown up”?
Look through the list and circle a few to try. Add your own ideas!
I believe play and fun need to be a spiritual practice.
So let’s practice! I have outside and inside things to do.
Like all practices we need to be intentional and pay attention as we engage them.
What do you notice about yourself as you play?
Imagine Jesus sitting across from you or playing along side you in your activity.
See Jesus smile and feel his love shining through his eyes towards you!
Try something on your own and then invite others to play too! You might try this as a small group or with your community. Maybe you have kids at home who can help you play and have fun! As a mom I had to be reminded to stop and play because often I got too busy with the tasks of life to stop and play with my boys. The dishes and laundry will wait! The emails will be there tomorrow, so will facebook! Make an appointment to have fun!
Things to help you play and have fun:
- Go to a bookstore or the library and read books in the children’s section
- Buy your favorite ice cream at the store or go to an ice cream shop and get a cone!
- Stop at a drive through a buy a milkshake or make one at home!
- Go to a toy store and look around.
- Give yourself permission to play with the toys!
- Ride a Bike
- Skip rocks on a pond or lake
- Swing on a swing
- Investigate a stream, pond or even a puddle!
- Jump in the puddles and get wet!
- Go swimming or play in the water
- Walk barefoot in the grass
- Lay down in the grass and watch the clouds or look at the stars
- Build a fort with blankets in the living room
- Read with a flashlight under the covers!
- Fly a kite
- Blow bubbles!
- Hit a tennis ball or shoot hoops
- Search for frogs or fireflies
- Get some sidewalk chalk and draw on the sidewalk
- Find some crayons and color for fun
- Create a collage with magazine pictures
- Finger Paint
- Make some playdough or get some clay and make snakes or other creatures just for the fun of squishing them!
- Get a joke book and read them outloud!
- Find some friends and play kickball or kick the can or some other outdoor games from your childhood.
- Go to a museum and go to the children’s section and do the activities.
- Find a friend and play cards or checkers or a board game for fun not to win!
I’d love to hear what is on your FUN PLAY list and what you try!
Let’s make fun and play a practice in the days and weeks ahead. And watch God smile!
Some Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus, and they bring a woman to him. They caught her in the act of committing adultery. Jesus says that only the person who has committed no sin can condemn her, and the crowd of accusers slips away. Only Jesus and the woman are left. He says to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again” (John 8:11).
Jesus does not condemn a woman who has broken God’s law and human laws. Yet, at the same time, he calls her to be her best self in the future. Balancing these two components of his answer is part of how we get into trouble. Many of us were influenced by parents and teachers who tried to help us be our best selves by shaming us and criticizing us. So we think that in order to grow into the people we want to be and were meant to be, we need to shame and criticize ourselves.
We think that treating ourselves gently is a form of self-indulgence, and self-compassion can work that way if it is not coupled with a call to excellence, health and growth.
For the past four weeks I’ve been writing about my new spiritual practice: separating thoughts from feelings, feeling the feelings and letting the thoughts go if they are not healthy. In order to feel the feelings, I’ve been using a process with acronym, RAIN. Advocates for RAIN call it a form of self-compassion. Here I want to address the question of the appropriateness of this practice for Christians, using an illustration from my own life right now.
One of the major stressors in my life is our upcoming move from New Zealand, where we have lived for ten years, to Seattle, where we lived for 30 years. I have moments of fear about getting all the details done on time for the move. I have moments of anxiety related to new patterns of relationships after we arrive. I feel sad about leaving this beautiful place and the friends we have made. I tend to overeat when stressed, so I feel angry at myself when I eat too much.
God led us to plan this move, and I want to honor God in the process. Yet I have moments when I’m a mess of unruly thoughts and feelings.
I’m going to imagine that I hear the voice of Jesus saying, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” What would that look like in practice? Here are my ideas:
- I must not let the voice of condemnation overwhelm me. In fact, I must turn away from that voice as much as possible. Of course I’m feeling a mix of sadness, fear and anxiety. Of course I feel stressed, which always makes eating well hard for me. RAIN helps me feel those feelings but not wallow in them. RAIN helps me feel them but also let them go.
- I must allow Jesus to help me live in as healthy a manner as possible, as free from sin as possible.
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!