Earth touches heaven – photo by Coe Hutchison
This week I have been working on a chapter for my book Return to Our Senses about use of social media and prayer. I have thought a lot about how we can integrate these technologies into our prayers without becoming distracted, or even obsessed with the media we use. Most of my prayers reflect my recognition that in the midst of our use of these tools we need to keep Jesus always in our sight.
Jesus you are the beginning and the end, the centre and circumference,
You are the word of God, the language of eternity,
Help me this day to begin every thought, every secret longing, every act and project with you,
Help me to keep you always in my sight.
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God you are like a tree that is always green,
All my fruit comes from you.
You heal my faithlessness,
You care for me and answer my prayers,
Your love knows no bounds,
Your salvation is eternal.
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Lord Jesus Christ may your truth burn bright within us,
May your ways ignite our hearts.
May we walk with confidence and passion,
With your light always before us.
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Lord Jesus Christ may we keep you always in our sight,
Standing up for justice in the ordinary and everyday,
Being present to the places to which you call us,
Creating a fabric of care in our neighbourhoods.
May we look and see and trust,
The small is breaking through again,
God is planting mustard seeds of the kingdom.
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Lord God almighty, you are God there is no other,
You are the one in whom I place my trust,
You are the one whose promises stand firm,
You are the one who gives the gracious gift of life.
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A couple of months ago Travis Reed from Work of the People interviewed me for a series of videos associated with my book Return to Our Senses: Reimagining How We Pray. I talked about this in a previous post: Creating Sacred Spaces: Do We Really Churches
Here is a sneak preview of the first video. You can watch it here
St Francis of Assisi via Dating God
I was sent this prayer by St Francis of Assisi a few days ago by Jamie Arpin Ricci. It was posted at Dating God: Franciscan Spirituality for 21st Century. It seemed a very appropriate prayer for me this morning as I have been meditating on what means to keep Jesus always in my sight and to enter into prayer with all my heart and soul and mind.
A couple of days ago in my post Can We see the Face of God and Live, I mentioned that I have been reading Lord, Teach Us To Pray by 19th century Scottish pastor Alexander Whyte. He reminded me that “prayer is the very highest energy of which the human heart is capable.; prayer, that is, with the total concentration of all our faculties. He goes on to say: Believe me, to pray with all your heart, and strength, that is the last, the greatest, achievement of the Christian’s warfare on this earth.
Therefore,
let us desire nothing else,
let us want nothing else,
let nothing else please us and cause us delight
except our Creator, Redeemer and Savior,
the only true God,
Who is the fullness of good,
all good, every good, the true and supreme good,
Who alone is good,
merciful, gentle, delightful, and sweet,
Who alone is holy,
just, true, holy, and upright,
Who alone is kind, innocent, clean,
from Whom, through Whom and in Whom
is all pardon, all grace, all glory
of all penitents and just ones,
of all the blessed rejoicing together in heaven.
Amen.
If you are wanting a challenging approach to prayer you may like to download a pdf of Whyte’s book here
MSA intern Chris Holcomb
MSA intern Chris Holcomb is starting a series of posts at the MSA blog on experiments in simplicity.
One of the questions that I’ve been grappling with over the last several years is this: what do people need? No, I’m not trying to think of a product to sell, or an innovation to change the world; I’m thinking in much more basic terms than those. What does a person need to survive, and what do they need to live a happy, fulfilling life?
Check out the first post here
Jesus enters Jerusalem
Over the last few weeks I have spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of God I believe in. This is a practice that I like to do regularly, affirming my faith and my trust in God in the process. Here is a beginning place in my ponderings.
- YAHWEH is a God of love and goodness – this is the foundation of my faith. I don’t always understand what God is doing but I am more than ever convinced that, as Paul says, nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:31-39)
- In Jesus Christ God took on flesh and dwelt amongst us. He is not the only revelation of God in this world but he is the fullest revelation of God that we have and through him we can come to understand God more fully (John 14:6)
- God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, an advocate who will never leave us but will lead us into the truths of God (John 14:15-21)
- God’s desire is the restoration and renewal of all things and this will be accomplished through the redeeming work of Christ our Saviour. (John 3:15-17)
- God is merciful and forgiving, desiring that all people will repent of the sins that distract and separate them from his presence and longing to draw all of us into a loving and intimate relationship with himself. God, the good shepherd lovingly pursues and “sheep” that strays and does everything possible to restore each of us to a loving relationship with himself.
- God is just and righteous and and is working to establish an eternal world of peace and wholeness in which justice and righteous reign forever.
- God is faithful and true and will always fulfill what he has promised, though sometimes the fulfillment of these promises may look very different from what we expect.
- God is a God of abundance wh wants to and is able to provide lavishly and generously for all our daily needs.
- God is compassionate and caring, with a heart that aches for every suffering person in our world.
- God is a creator and not a destroyer, bringing into being all that is good and true and just.
What are the truths that hold you strong in your faith?
Earth touches heaven – photo by Coe Hutchison
Here is my weekly round up of facebook prayers. I appreciate those of you who let me know when and how you use them in worship services and for your own daily prayers. Blessings and and enjoy!
Lord Jesus Christ may we come to you,
With grateful hearts and thankful spirits,
May we come willing to obey, to trust to serve,
Knowing you hold the whole world in your loving hands
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Lord Jesus Christ awaken us to who you are,
May we bathe ourselves in your redeeming power,
And sun ourselves in the glory of your radiance,
May we feast on the sweetness and the beauty of your love,
And see in you the revelation of God,
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God may we today keep your name holy in all we are and do,
May we trust you for provision without fret or worry,
May we be as concerned for the needs of others as for our own,
May we believe that in all things your ways are better than ours.
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God you have called us into freedom,
May we use it to follow you with our whole hearts,
May we use it to serve one another in love,
May we use it to grow your kingdom of peace and wholeness.
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Lord Jesus Christ may love of you bubble up from within us,
May gratitude overflow in ceaseless praise,
May our lives give thanks as a sacrifice that truly honours you.
May we follow this path and see the revelation of your salvation.
This prayer is inspired by Psalm 50: 23
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God you hide in our hearts,
Waiting for us to draw close.
May we seek you with teachable spirits,
Taking time for your quiet whispers,
Making space for your loving presence,
Giving thanks for your generous provision.
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Life is a gift from God,
Let us cherish it
Love is the language of God’s kingdom,
Let us practice it,
Jesus is the way to God’s heart,
Let us follow him.
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Held in God’s hand
A couple of days ago in my post Why Do We Hide From God I said:
You cannot meet God face to face and live the Old Testament prophets often proclaimed. God’s greatness passes all comprehension. God’s love and holiness is beyond our imagining.
So my question this morning is – Can we meet God face to face and live? In some ways the answer is no. The light of God’s radiance is so blind, the revelation of God’s character so mind boggling that we cannot see and hear it and live. Fortunately God knows that and does everything possible to reveal the divine presence in such a way that we can face this revelation and live.
It is Jesus Christ, Word made flesh, that enables us to see God. It is the birth, the whole life, the words, the works, the death, the resurrection, the ascension and the ongoing revelation through the Holy Spirit that reveals who God is to us. I love this quote from Lord, Teach Us to Pray by nineteenth century Scottish pastor Alexander Whyte:
There is nothing, in earth or in heaven, to our imagination now like the Word made flesh…. The truly Christian imagination never lets Jesus Christ out of her sight. And she keeps him in her sight and ever before her inward eyes in this way. (p249)
To meet God face to face we must constantly keep Jesus in our sight. We must lift our faces always to see the compassion and love in his face, to see the heartache and the suffering indelibly etched in his countenance, to see the grace and the forgiveness so lavishly expressed to us through it. Our hearts should ache with longing for this kind of revelation.
Perhaps however the God revealed through Jesus is still too radiant for us to look at face to face. Is it possible to read the Sermon on the Mount fully attentive to what Jesus is saying without looking away in shame because of how poorly we have followed these commands? Is it possible to gaze into Jesus face hearing him say “love your neighbour as yourself” and “love your enemies” without feeling we want to run away and hide?
If when we read the gospels we truly opened our eyes to see the God revealed in Jesus Christ, if we stopped to imagine that Jesus was actually standing in the room with us as we read these words what difference would it make? Or perhaps we need to imagine ourselves in the stories. Jesus healing the leper is our story. We feel the self-loathing, the despair, the uncleanness of our souls and hearts that separates us from God, but instead of crying to Jesus for cleansing we hide. Perhaps we feel like Lazarus in the grave or Mary Magdalene, or Peter disowning Christ, or Judas selling his saviour for a few coins. All of their stories are our stories and the true miracle is that each of these people had the opportunity to meet Jesus face to face. The unnamed leper, Lazarus, Mary and Peter were transformed. Judas could not face the revelation and turned away.
When was the last time you were fully attentive to God? When was the last time you felt God’s heart beating within you, sensed God’s upon you or heard God’s loving whispers? When was the last time you met God’s eye, repented of your sins and listened to the joy that rang through heaven at your renewal?
This morning I know these are questions I need to ask myself and I would encourage you to do the same.
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