Psalm 95, 88
Job 19: 21-27a
Hebrews 4: 1-16
Matthew 21: 12-17
The Observer by Rainer Maria Rilke
I can tell a storm by the way the trees are whipping, compared to when quiet, against my trembling windows, and I hear from afar things whispering I couldn't bear hearing without a friend or love without a sister close by. There moves the storm, the transforming one, and runs through the woods and through the age, changing it all to look ageless and young: the landscape appears like the verse of a psalm, so earnest, eternal, and strong. How small is what we contend with and fight; how great what contends with us; if only we mirrored the moves of the things and acquiesced to the force of the storm, we, too, could be ageless and strong. For what we can conquer is only the small, and winning itself turns us into dwarfs; but the everlasting and truly important will never be conquered by us. It is the angel who made himself known to the wrestlers of the Old Testament: for whenever he saw his opponents propose to test their iron-clad muscle strength, he touched them like strings of an instrument and played their low-sounding chords. Whoever submits to this angel, whoever refuses to fight the fight, comes out walking straight and great and upright, and the hand once rigid and hard shapes around as a gently curved guard. No longer is winning a tempting bait. One’s progress is to be conquered, instead, by the ever mightier one.
Source: “The Observer” from Pictures of God; Rilke’s Religious Poetry, trans-
lated by Annemarie Kidder. Livonia, MI: First Page Publications, 2005.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Psalm 95, 22
Genesis 22: 1-14
1 Peter 1: 10-20
John 13: 36-38
Prayer of One Who Feels Lost by Joyce Rupp
Dear God, why do I keep fighting you off? One part of me wants you desparately, another part of me unknowingly pushes you back and runs away. What is there in me that so contradicts my desire for you? These transition days, these passage ways, are calling me to let go of old securities, to give my-
self over into your hands. Like Jesus who struggled with the pain I, too, fight the “let it all be done.” Loneliness, lostness, non-belonging, all these hurts strike out at me, leaving me pained with this present goodbye. I want to be more but I fight the growing. I want to be new but I hang unto the old. I want to live but I won’t face the dying. I want to be whole but cannot bear to gather up the pieces into one. Is it that I refuse to be out of control, to let the tears take their humbling journey, to allow my spirit to feel its depression, to stay with the insecurity of “no home”? Now is the time. You call to me, begging me to let you have my life, inviting me to taste the darkness so I can be filled with the light, allowing me to lose my direction so that I will find my way home to you.
Source: “Prayer of One Who Feels Lost” from Praying Our Goodbyes, by
Joyce Rupp. South Bend, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1988.
Genesis 22: 1-14
1 Peter 1: 10-20
John 13: 36-38
Prayer of One Who Feels Lost by Joyce Rupp
Dear God, why do I keep fighting you off? One part of me wants you desparately, another part of me unknowingly pushes you back and runs away. What is there in me that so contradicts my desire for you? These transition days, these passage ways, are calling me to let go of old securities, to give my-
self over into your hands. Like Jesus who struggled with the pain I, too, fight the “let it all be done.” Loneliness, lostness, non-belonging, all these hurts strike out at me, leaving me pained with this present goodbye. I want to be more but I fight the growing. I want to be new but I hang unto the old. I want to live but I won’t face the dying. I want to be whole but cannot bear to gather up the pieces into one. Is it that I refuse to be out of control, to let the tears take their humbling journey, to allow my spirit to feel its depression, to stay with the insecurity of “no home”? Now is the time. You call to me, begging me to let you have my life, inviting me to taste the darkness so I can be filled with the light, allowing me to lose my direction so that I will find my way home to you.
Source: “Prayer of One Who Feels Lost” from Praying Our Goodbyes, by
Joyce Rupp. South Bend, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1988.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Psalm 102
Jeremiah 20: 7-11
1 Corinthians 10: 14-17, 11: 27-32
John 17
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Christ Has No Body
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
compassion on this world.
Born in Spain, Teresa entered a Carmelite convent when she was eighteen, and later earned a reputation as a mystic, reformer, and writer who experienced divine visions. She founded a convent, and wrote the book The Way of Perfection for her nuns. Other important books by her include
her Autobiography and The Interior Castle.
Jeremiah 20: 7-11
1 Corinthians 10: 14-17, 11: 27-32
John 17
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Christ Has No Body
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
compassion on this world.
Born in Spain, Teresa entered a Carmelite convent when she was eighteen, and later earned a reputation as a mystic, reformer, and writer who experienced divine visions. She founded a convent, and wrote the book The Way of Perfection for her nuns. Other important books by her include
her Autobiography and The Interior Castle.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Psalm 55
Jeremiah 17: 5-10, 14– 17
Philippians 4: 1-13
John 12: 27-36
In John's gospel today we find Jesus speaking about his own death. Telling people that he has a choice here - he could ask God to save him from death. And a voice answers him from the heavens saying, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." God it seems, wanted others to know where he stood on this . And yet the people questioned the voice - thunder, some said. Angels others suggested. All the while denying that it was God's voice.
Jesus goes on to remind us that he is the Light and that because of him we are called children of light. He encourages us to connect with him, so that the darkness will not overcome us. In the song, "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" by Randy Newman, a homeless man shares a bleak view of the human race. Lots of years of being ignored and forgotten have jaded this man's belief in kindness. Words on signs meant to encourage outreach are more mockery. And those words hurt more than heal.
Jesus life to us today is more than words on a page. His admonition to walk with the Light gives us our marching orders. We are the light of the word. We have a choice here we can chose cynicism or we can choose the light. If it rains, and we hear the thunder of the needy and feel big drops of the tears of others pain, we can trust that God does in fact call us to reach out and bear witness to the Light, as children of the Light!
Jeremiah 17: 5-10, 14– 17
Philippians 4: 1-13
John 12: 27-36
In John's gospel today we find Jesus speaking about his own death. Telling people that he has a choice here - he could ask God to save him from death. And a voice answers him from the heavens saying, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." God it seems, wanted others to know where he stood on this . And yet the people questioned the voice - thunder, some said. Angels others suggested. All the while denying that it was God's voice.
Jesus goes on to remind us that he is the Light and that because of him we are called children of light. He encourages us to connect with him, so that the darkness will not overcome us. In the song, "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" by Randy Newman, a homeless man shares a bleak view of the human race. Lots of years of being ignored and forgotten have jaded this man's belief in kindness. Words on signs meant to encourage outreach are more mockery. And those words hurt more than heal.
Jesus life to us today is more than words on a page. His admonition to walk with the Light gives us our marching orders. We are the light of the word. We have a choice here we can chose cynicism or we can choose the light. If it rains, and we hear the thunder of the needy and feel big drops of the tears of others pain, we can trust that God does in fact call us to reach out and bear witness to the Light, as children of the Light!
I Think It's Going to Rain Today
Song by Randy Newman
Broken windows and empty hallways
A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today
Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles
With frozen smiles to chase love away
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today
Lonely, lonely
Tin can at my feet
Think I'll kick it down the street
That's the way to treat a friend
Bright before me the signs implore me
To help the needy and show them the way
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today
Kari Ann Lessner
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