by Lilly Lewin
In this Sunday’s Lectionary Gospel reading, Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 10:9-14.
It’s a story you’ve probably heard before, so to help us process the passage, I am choosing four paintings of the scene.
Take a look at each painting and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you.
Pharisee and Tax Collector James Tissot
Pharisee and the tax collector by Jesus Mafa
Pharisee and the Tax Collector Barent Fabititus
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector by Bryn Gillette
You can see a slide show with close ups and a few others HERE.
This process is called VISIO DIVINA, you can read more about this process HERE.
As you look at the Paintings….
Put yourself, imagine yourself, in each painting.
What do you notice?
What speaks to you? What bothers you?
Does anything scream loudly? Does anything resonate?
Talk to Jesus about what you notice.
I was struck by the Pharisee as skeleton. It is a powerful painting by an artist and art teacher who lives in Charlotte, NC, Bryn Gillet. The Pharisee enters the temple dead, just dry bones, not knowing that he’s dead and in need of resurrection. He is dressed in all his finery yet without any self awareness, just bones. The tax collector on the other hand, is on his knees, humble and self aware and he wears a halo. How often am I just a skeleton of who I want to be? Do I realize when I am just giving God a list of my accomplishments rather than listening ? How often do I judge my neighbor or criticize those who think and act differently than I do rather than praying for them and myself to see God in them?
NOW READ and Listen to the passage from LUKE 18: 9-14.
LUKE 18:9-14 NLT
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer[a]: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
LUKE 18:9-14 THE MESSAGE
He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
What questions come up for you from this passage?
What part of this story do you relate to in your life right now?
Are you personally feeling more like the tax collector or the Pharisee today?
Who are the tax collectors in our society today? Who are the Pharisees?
What do you need to ask forgiveness for today? Where have you played Pharisee lately? Ask Jesus for forgiveness.
The MESSAGE version ends with “if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” What things do you really like about yourself and make you content? What things make you…you? How does contentment help you stay humble and help you become more than yourself?
CLOSING PRAYER:
LORD Give us Grace Today,
To Love as You Love. Help us to Love with Extravagance.
Give us Hope today for ourselves and others.
Heal our hurts and our hearts today
So we can serve and help those around us.
Help us to know that you are enough.
And help us live today and everyday in Thankfulness.
For all you’ve done, and for all you bless us with!
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
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by Melissa Taft
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are gearing up for the last bits of plentiful garden goodies and getting ready for celebrations of thanksgiving and harvest. As you head into seasons of thanksgiving or harvest (whether a spring harvest of overwintered vegetables or a late autumn harvest), you might enjoy the many resources Godspace has available on our Seasons and Blessings Resource Page!
Perhaps you are looking for ways to share a harvest bounty or give back in gratitude. You’ll find plenty of reflections and practical suggestions on Godspace. Christine Sine shares 10 Tips For Expressing Gratitude, and Lilly Lewin offers some gratitude tips in Good News and Gratitude.
You may be looking for ways to celebrate or incorporate harvest and gratitude and thanksgiving into your church service or private devotions. Christine Sine has created a gratitude scavenger hunt, based on her book The Gift of Wonder – though it is certainly adaptable! You can find some wonderful Harvest Prayers and Resources, as well as Thanksgiving Prayers, on our resource page as well. For example, this table talk by Laurie Klein is a wonderful Thanksgiving service you can hold in your home.
If you’re really longing for a comprehensive and nourishing retreat, you can sign up for our online course Gearing Up For A Season of Gratitude with Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin. You can enjoy at your own pace through inspiring discussions and fun activities.
Find everything from uplifting gratitude and harvest reflections to advice on greening your Halloween – on our Seasons and Blessings Resource Page!
Featured photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash; other photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash
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Photos and writings by June Friesen. Scripture from The Message Translation.
Recently my husband and I were at a riparian area where there are hiking trails as well as several water areas. Various forms of wildlife make this area their home and on any given day the variety will be different as well as the same. There were a couple of very notable phenomena on this particular day – the beautiful clarity of the skies with various clouds and then the sheer quiet stillness of the water. There was so much to observe, to embrace and also to listen to. You will find a few poses of this girl here and there throughout this post. It seemed she was trying to communicate something with me, very likely “How many more photos are you going to take of me?”
First of all let us consider that it was God who indeed created the birds – every kind, every species – some in water and some that were on land and also many of them to fly.
God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
God saw that it was good.God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning— Day Five.
When I read the creation story it always says God saw it, He looked at His work of the day and in each observation of His creation He said ‘it was good.’ Whether in nature being plant or animal, He did not necessarily create each thing to live forever but He did create them to reproduce, and to reproduce their own kind. While I have photos of ducks here, there are many birds that inhabit the waters, each one being unique.
I have a couple more passages of Scripture, one from the book of Matthew and one from the Psalms.
“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about
what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion.
There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer
appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and
unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you countfar more to him than birds.
Now some verses from Psalm 104 –
You set earth on a firm foundation
so that nothing can shake it, ever.
You blanketed earth with ocean,
covered the mountains with deep waters;
Then you roared and the water ran away—your thunder crash put it to flight.
Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out
in the places you assigned them.
You set boundaries between earth and sea;
never again will earth be flooded.
You started the springs and rivers,
sent them flowing among the hills.
All the wild animals now drink their fill,
wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Along the riverbanks the birds build nests,
ravens make their voices heard.
You water the mountains from your heavenly reservoirs;
earth is supplied with plenty of water.
You make grass grow for the livestock,
hay for the animals that plow the ground.
Oh yes, God brings grain from the land,
wine to make people happy,
Their faces glowing with health,
a people well-fed and hearty.
GOD’s trees are well-watered.
As we read these verses, we see the value of water in all things. It is something that is necessary for anything that is living, whether it is a living organism or a creature that lives and moves upon the earth and that includes you and I.
In today’s world there is great concern about the availability of water, not just water but I might add clean water that is okay for us to drink for hydration. Over the past twelve months in Arizona where I live there has been great concern about the availability of water as the reservoirs are getting very low due to the lack of rain in so much of the country. In some countries/continents water has been a very precious commodity for many, many years, but our nation has been very blessed with water for the most part. In most areas we have had adequate rainfall until recent months.
In the beginning I mentioned that we were hiking when I took these photos. Since covid began my husband and I have made it a priority to go out in nature and hike at least once a week; often our hike takes us to a lake or an area where there is some kind of water feature. Water does not only provide for the birds, animals and plants in nature but it also provides opportunity for sports such as boating, kayaking, sailing, fishing etc. So my friends, gratitude for water covers a wide variety of opportunities for which we need to be grateful.
I invite you to join with me in the following prayer:
GOD, THANK YOU FOR THE WATER
God, I thank you for the water that provides for the living things in this world –
First there are the many, many trees that stand so strong and tall
That give shelter to birds, bugs, animals and even to humans at times;
Thank you for the many, many grasses that blanket the grounds in so many places,
In so many ways, in so many varieties
Creatively providing shelter for some creatures as well as foods for a variety of animals,
birds and bugs;
Thank you for the many, many flowers that dot our pathways here and there with
beautiful shapes, sizes and colors –
Some seem to be but for beauty, others hold medicinal qualities, while others also provide
seeds for food and pollen for the insects to gather –
God, we know that water is a number one necessity for all of these wonderful plants to
grow –
We are so thankful for the rainfall and the snow that comes to bless our earth with
moisture so needed.
God, I thank you for the water that You have provided in the underground springs
That bubbles up with fresh, clean, sparkling water to wet our parched tongues,
That trickles from our faucets and showerheads, bathing our bodies, bringing a freshness
so clean –
Thank you for the many wells that also yield water –
There are so many places that share this resource so valuable.
God, I thank you for the engineering of dams and turbines –
That collect the waters and use it to bring us a commodity called electricity
That many of us feel we could never live without.
Our hearts are repentant for the many times we take our water for granted,
We grumble if the water is hot, if the water is not,
We grumble if the electricity is not, we take it for granted when it is on –
God forgive us for our selfish thoughts,
Forgive us for our grumbling hearts,
Please put within us now a fresh ‘thank you’
As we take a fresh drink of water just now.
Amen.
Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin inspire ways to get geared up for the coming season of gratitude in this popular online course! Sign up for 180 days to enjoy this retreat at your own pace – including craft tutorials and print-outs plus much more. Check it out in our shop!
by Laurie Klein
“He was looking at the clay. He had his ear to it. He was listening.
‘It is breathing,’ he said; and then he filled it with air.”
Guest potter Robert Turner was demonstrating his craft; Professor M.C. Richards was observing his actions.
We are invited into the scene. Does it remind you of God forming Adam from the dust of the earth? Picture that perfectly balanced—yet inert—body of clay.
Now, see it enlivened. With divine breath.
Have you ever bowed over a potter’s wheel, your overlapped palms a wet cradle for one spinning mound of clay? My repeated attempts, in a college class, repeatedly failed. Talk about ungainly.
The skilled potter makes it look easy. Natural. However, the secret of shaping and filling a readied vessel eluded me.
Centering
In pottery, as in spiritual practice, the art of centering precedes responsive creating. One aspect of centering requires marrying effort with bodily rhythms.
“You can experience relatedness at the most elementary level,” my fervent professor said. “Remain conscious, present to the moment. Align each exertion with your inhale and exhale.”
Sounds so zen. So holistic. Harrumph.
Show me the rookie who can simultaneously monitor her breathing while handling gloppy mud—seemingly bent on resisting human control.
Today, recalling those early lessons, I glimpse something new . . .
About creation
I imagine being a rookie guest, once again, at the potter’s wheel. I think about acts of creation and the cyclical world of the creation that surrounds us. I remember my next inhale is linguistically linked with the verb “inspire.” Go on, I tell myself: take a deep one, right now, alert to the wonder of oxygenating muscles, tissues, cells.
Sel-ah-h-h!
Do I pause often enough these days to exult in the pulse that makes me kin with all other life-serving entities?
No. So, why not?
Post-pandemic
Trouble is, we’ve taught ourselves to ration breath. We’ve trained ourselves to preserve physical distance from others to safeguard health.
It might take deliberate effort to again marvel that the air we breathe was recently used by another being and will soon be taken in, yet again, by someone else.
Shared air has taken on the taint of fear.
Yet God sustains our precious atmosphere. Call to mind the generosity of oxygen’s availability. Let’s once again choose to trust—and feast on—this miracle.
Breath can be more than a mechanical endeavor, invisibly ghosting below our level of awareness.
Our next breath can be an intentional ingesting of essential Life: a presence, a guesting, a gift.
A Practice
Will we open anew to the in-and-out ways breathing cocoons and empowers body, spirit, and psyche?
How will we re-enter the body’s natural gateway to healing stillness via lungs and the ever- pumping heart?
St. Hesychios the Priest, from the Eastern Christian tradition, advises one means to accomplish
this. “Let the name of Jesus adhere to your breath, and then you will know the blessings of stillness.”
In response, I created a breath prayer, set to my personal rhythm of inhale and exhale. Each phrase takes two full measures of a 3-count beat—1, 2, 3 / 4, 5, 6 / 1, 2, 3 / 4, 5, 6—like a slow waltz. You might try keeping time with your fingers, at first.
(inhale) Holy One . . . (exhale) commune with me
Perfect Love . . . suffuse me
Light of Life . . . illumine me
Three-in-one . . . I, in Thee
Here am I . . . use me.
Prayerfully syncing words like these with my breath becomes triply intimate.
Dear fellow vessels of clay, let’s remain supple in the Potter’s hands, given to the cadence of life thrumming within and around us. This is union. A sacred communion.
And as we rest into this practice, breath by breath, may we better serve our Creator. Amen.
Photos by Quino Al on Unsplash
Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening
Are you yearning to Dig Deeper? Perhaps you are looking for refreshment in your contemplative practices or for creativity in prayer. Christine Sine’s latest book is packed full of contemplative wisdom and inspiration for creating your own meditative focus. Click for more details!
A couple of weeks ago I introduced you to my new contemplative garden which I created in response to our October and November theme Gratitude as Guests of the World . Each morning I sit in the dark for a few minutes, reciting the first few verses from John’s gospel. I particularly love The Voice translation.
Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking.
The Voice was and is God.
2 This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator;
3 His speech shaped the entire cosmos.
Immersed in the practice of creating,
all things that exist were birthed in Him.
4 His breath filled all things
with a living, breathing light—
5 A light that thrives in the depths of darkness,
blazes through murky bottoms.
It cannot and will not be quenched. (John 1:1-5)
It is good, this sitting in the dark, alone with God, in the moments before the light of dawn brings everything into focus. My eyes must attune themselves to see and in that seeing the true splendour of God is often revealed.
Next, sitting with a heightened sense of the presence of God around me, I light the candles in my circle of light that surrounds my sacred space. I image that the living, breathing light of Christ lights them with me. Then I focus on my garden for a time of meditation. It too glows with light, a light that shines in, through and around the gifts and blessings of the garden.
Each morning it seems God inspires me with new thoughts, ideas and images, many of which I express in short prayers that I post on Instagram and Facebook. This is a very special time for me and I cherish the thoughts and prayers that result so I brought some of them together in this short meditation video. I hope you enjoy it too.
Perhaps you are also inspired to spend time meditating on scripture in the dark. Start with the verses above. Read them in several translations. Which words or phrases catch your attention? Sit and savour them for a few minutes. Now turn on the lights and read the scripture again. How does your perception change? What is God saying to you through these scriptures today?
As I did this today, I became very aware of the light shining from the candle in the small votive holder into and through the crystal polar bear. It took my breath away. It’s like the living, breathing light of Christ that fills all things and and radiates through all things, I thought. Not surprisingly, another prayer which I have not yet incorporated into a video came to mind:
I start my day in the dark,
Aware that alone I cannot see,
A single step ahead.
All is mystery.
All is hidden and unknown.
Only God’s light illumines the path.
Only Christ’s light shines before me,
Only the Spirit’s light guides me when I stumble.
The darkness is not dark to God.
It glows with the living, breathing light.
That shapes all things,
Surrounds all things,
Shines through all things.
It cannot and will not be quenched.
(c) Christine Sine 2022
We all need the Wholeness of God…this resource includes reflections and activities for coping and thriving during the COVID-19 challenges in search of shalom as well as hope for restoration during and after this period of social distancing.
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
by Carol Dixon
I was first introduced to St Teresa of Avila (whose saint’s day falls on 15 October) in the 1990s when our church got a new hymnbook ‘Rejoice and Sing’ and one of the new hymns in it had the words attributed to her which I really loved. It began ‘Nothing distress you, nothing affright you, everything passes, God will abide.’ I didn’t realise at the time that it was an English version of the beautiful Taize chant ‘Nada de turbe’.
The thing I really like about the hymn is that the writer Colin Thompson cleverly weaves the words of the first verse into each of the following verses – for example verse 2 says: ‘Lift your mind upward, fair are his mansions, nothing distress you, cast fear away’ and the other verses do the same with the rest of the words. The tune ‘Many mansions’ by Peter Cutt is lovely too and is a reminder of the wonderful reassuring words of Jesus from John’s Gospel Ch 14 verse 2 – ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.’ (You can listen to it on YouTube by typing in ‘Nothing Distress you‘ – played by the organist of St James’s URC, Newcastle, the church I used to work in as Moderator’s Secretary in Northern Synod)
I then discovered that Teresa also wrote the prayer “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours”. I have wrestled with these words for many years, feeling the great weight of responsibility of actively working for Christ in the world. So who was this interesting woman who wrote such comforting and challenging prayers?
According to a Roman Catholic website for young people, Teresa was born in 1515 near Avila in northern Spain, the third of nine children. When she was thirteen, her mother died and her father decided to send her to be educated at the Augustinian convent but after two years she became ill and was sent home. Later she expressed a wish to become a nun but her father refused permission so she secretly left home to join the local Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation, a community of 140 nuns who prayed together and privately each day. Each nun had a set of rooms (a bedroom, a small kitchen, and a guest room), guests could come and go freely and nuns could leave the convent to visit friends and relatives. Some of them even had maids! Teresa made her solemn profession as a Carmelite nun, and for the next twenty years she lived at the convent. But in the busy convent, she found meditation and prayer difficult.
View from the Convent of St Teresa, Avila [ Photo by Wei Hunag on Unsplash]
Her attitude towards God changed in 1555, when she was meditating on the gospels and Christ’s sufferings and wanted to return the love shown by Jesus in her own life, realising that the environment of the convent kept her from a serious life of prayer. She began to dream of a small, poor, and fervent Carmelite monastery where the nuns could support one another in their common love of God. “We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to look upon Him present within us,” she wrote. With four companions who shared her views, Teresa founded the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Discalced means “shoeless”). Teresa founded 16 monasteries for women, travelling long journeys by donkey through every kind of terrain and weather. She became known to the people of Spain as “the roving nun.” Teresa had always enjoyed people, and many came to her or wrote to her for her advice. On feast days, she played the tambourine so that the nuns could sing and dance. Teresa wrote several books including The Interior Castle, an imaginary journey into the soul via different ‘rooms’ in a castle, The Way of Perfection, and an autobiography. Her teachings were based on her own lived experience, and were rooted in the Scriptures, especially the Gospels.
St Teresa with her book
My own favourite writings of hers are her prayers. Here are a few of them:
Lord, grant that I may always allow myself to be guided by You,
always follow Your plans, and perfectly accomplish Your Holy Will.
Grant that in all things, great and small,
today and all the days of my life,
I may do whatever You require of me.
Help me respond to the slightest prompting of Your Grace,
so that I may be Your trustworthy instrument for Your honour.
May Your Will be done in time and in eternity by me, in me, and through me.
Lord, you are closer to me than my own breath, nearer to me than my hands and feet.
And a wonderful prayer for those of us growing older:
Lord, You know better than I myself
that I am growing older and will someday be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking
I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.
Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy.
With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all;
but You know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;
give me wings to get to the point.
Seal my lips on my aches and pains;
they are increasing, and love of rehearsing them
is becoming sweeter as the years go by.
I dare not ask for improved memory,
but for a growing humility and a lessening cock-sureness
when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet, for a sour old person
is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places
and talents in unexpected people;
and give, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.
As I meditated on her wise words I was inspired to write a poem reflecting on what getting older means to me.
Contemplation
Old lady in a garden, resting,
walking stick at her feet,
watching the ripples
On the tiny waterfall
Glinting in the sun;
gentle breeze wafting the bushes,
delicate as filigree;
fuchsias dancing, roses beaming,
and a small bird rooting on
the gravelled path.
Watching at a distance
as a youngster looking on,
I never thought,
one day it would be me.
The prayer for 15 October in my devotional guide ‘28 days with St Teresa of Avila’ says:
‘What wonders we shall see
If we keep before our eyes our frailty and folly,
And recognise
How unworthy we are
To be the servants of so great a Lord,
Whose marvels are beyond our comprehension’’
St Teresa’s greatest prayer ‘Nada de Turbe’ is said to have arisen after she was meditating on the words of St Paul in Philippians 4: 8 ‘Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.’
My friend Revd. Sheila Hamil wrote a beautiful song based on that Bible passage during lockdown and posted it on YouTube. She also shared her thoughts on how it came to be written in the comments.
Here it is with her blessing.
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