FIVE TALENTS

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 31 August 2013

FIVE TALENTS

Reading. You have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater.” (Matt 25:14-30)

Reflection. Seamus Haeney, the Irish poet, died yesterday at the same age as I am now. He was an immensely talented artist who wrote a shelf of books and was acclaimed worldwide. For a moment a feeling of envy came over me! But I was able to brush it aside and remember that each of us is given his or her unique talents (gifts) and the challenge is to know them and use them to the full. Today’s reading is the story of the talents and how the one who received less got exactly the same words of congratulations as the one who received more. The beauty of life is where everyone uses what they have to their best ability, straining like an athlete to run their course.

Prayer. Lord, teach me to know, and the thank you for, the gifts you have given me. And help me to use them together with others so that your reign may be seen everywhere on earth as it is in heaven. Amen 

FIVE ALERT GIRLS

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 30 August 2013

FIVE ALERT GIRLS

Pause. Recall that you are in the presence of God. .

Reading. “Lord, Lord, open the door for us.” He replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” (Matt 25:1-13)

Reflection. This is the story of the five foolish and five wise bridesmaids. Traditionally it got filed away as a parable to do with the end of time or the end of our lives: “Be ready when the Lord comes.” But it also has a wider lesson for us reaching into every moment of our day. I had a visitor recently and it struck me how alert she was to everyone she met and every situation. She seemed tirelessly adaptable and poured out a stream of questions. No doubt that level of attentiveness is hard to sustain when you are in your own country among your own people but it is still an image of the alertness we are called to. Another word for it, becoming popular by the day, is consciousness: being aware of everything around me in the present moment and not spending my time regretting the past or dreaming about the future.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, help me to be alert to the people and events of my day. Help me to notice! Life is not a matter of years but of moments. Teach me to be deeply conscious of what is happening around me and within me. Amen.

HE LIKED TO LISTEN

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 29 August 2013

HE LIKED TO LISTEN

Pause. You are in the presence of God. Be still.

Reading. “When Herod heard John the Baptist speak, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” (Mark 6:17-29)

Reflection. Herod was a raw politician who knew what he wanted and was used to getting his way, even if it extended to his brother’s wife, Herodias. John spoke out against this and found himself arrested. Herodias wanted him got rid of him but Herod dithered. He liked listening to John. He was attracted by the man and his message. But in the end he could not bring himself to act on the good feelings he had about John. He allowed himself to be pushed by his wife into the killing of an innocent man. It is so obvious in the story who comes out of it with integrity. There is something of that dithering in us. We know what is the right thing to do, as Paul says in Romans Ch. 7, but we find it hard to bring ourselves to do it.      

Prayer. Lord Jesus, as we celebrate this day of John the Baptist, give us the wisdom to see what we ought to do and the courage to do it. Amen.

DEAD MEN’S BONES

PRAYER MOMENT

Wednesday 28 August 2013

DEAD MEN’S BONES

Pause. Be still.

Reading. “You are like the whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones.” (Matt 23:27-32)

Reflection. Jesus is really angry, and it is all due to the obstinacy and hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They live by appearances and show on the outside but within they are hollow and rotten. His final throwaway line is, “you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets! Very well the, finish off the work that your fathers began.” It is a cry of deep anger, but it is also a challenge; do what you have to do but you will find that it leads nowhere. God will overcome all this evil and build a new people. The capacity for people to renew themselves in every age, to rise up from frustration and humiliation, is ever present. The earth itself – and, we are now told, the universe – renews itself constantly. Evil cannot win. It can only harass.    

Prayer. Lord, I want to be awake to the evil in myself and in the world. Give me a passion to fight against it. But also teach me to believe deeply that evil cannot triumph. You have overcome it and given us hope that all will be well in the end. Amen

LIKE A MOTHER

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 27 August 2013

LIKE A MOTHER

Pause. Be still in God’s presence

Reading. “Like a mother feeding and looking after her children, we felt so devoted and protective towards you, and had come to love you so much…” (I Thess 2:1-8)

Reflection. This is probably the earliest of the New Testament writings and Paul is expressing his love and concern for the church in Thessalonica. Today is the feast of St Monica who felt this same concern and love for her son, Augustine. It is a moment to think of the many mothers and fathers you wait lovingly while their teenage or young adult children work through sometimes horrendous challenges thrown at them by the modern world. Young people can feel a sense of hopelessness and frustration and they can look for compensations for their pain in alcohol and drugs. It is hard for parents to watch especially as they, the parents , cannot force a change. They have to wait and accompany their son or daughter with tenderness, as Monica did.

Prayer. Lord, teach me to be compassionate with my children when they are in difficulty and with all parents who accompany their sons and daughters with patience and love. I believe that you walk with us in our pain as you did with the two on their way to Emmaus. Amen

BLIND GUIDES

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 26 August 2013

BLIND GUIDES

Pause. Be still in the presence of God

Reading. “You shut up the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves now allowing others to go in who want to.” (Matt 23:13-22)

Reflection. These devastating words of Jesus are addressed to the Jewish religious leaders. No wonder they were after him to disconcert him and even “do away with him.” His complaint against them was that they blocked his message not only for themselves but – because they had such a control on the people, a control based on fear – for others as well. His words point us in the direction of the role of being a leader in any situation - family, school, office or nation. A leader, or shepherd to use the image of John chap. 10, has the wonderful opportunity of opening doors for others and leading them into “fresh pastures,” but he or she also has the possibility of blocking the way for others and simply concentrating on controlling them by fear.

Prayer. Teach me, Lord, to enable others to discover you are in all the ways of life. Let me always be willing to do what I can to open doors for them to find their way.. Amen

Sunday 25 August 2013

You’re late

Trains run on time in Italy and last year I had the experience of catching a train with only seconds to go before the doors closed. An hour of tension and frustration had preceded this final triumph as we lost our way and later got held up in traffic. My ticket was for that train only and if I had missed it heaven knows what palaver I would have had to endure.

From our schooldays on many of us, I suppose, have heard those dreaded words, “you’re late!” They announce we are cut off from what we expected and unforeseen and sometimes unpleasant consequences follow. Mutemwa, a settlement near Mutoko originally for people suffering from leprosy and – while still that - now also a  community that welcomes other chronically ill or destitute people, literally means “a place cut off.”

There are many ways in which we can be excluded and though our world is a more tolerant one than that of our forebears the experience is still very real. Migrants driven from their homes by persecution or poverty often find they are not wanted in the countries they try to reach for security and a better life. The host nation closes its doors and they find themselves on the outside in frightening conditions.

What if this experience of exclusion was to reach beyond the grave and we find we are not known or wanted on “the other side?” How would we feel then? Jesus seems to point to this when he warns his hearers in the parable of the master locking his door (Luke 13:22-30). The people knocking hear the words, “you’re late. I do not know you or where you come from.” They plead, “don’t you know me? You walked in our streets and ate in our house.”

It is a frightening story about presumption. In the first instance it is about those in Israel who thought, “we are God’s people. He is on our side no matter what we do.” No, they had to show the “works of God” (John 6:29) which was “to believe in the one whom he has sent.” Otherwise they would be excluded.

But it goes further: the message is also addressed to anyone who presumes that God is on their side and no matter how they live their life they will never be excluded. Well, I hope they are right but the words on the gospel give little support of this view. On the contrary they suggest that we cut ourselves off, we shut ourselves out, by the bad choices we make. “Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you find yourselves outside. And others will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places in the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is “making his way to Jerusalem”, the city of the climax of his mission. The whole passage is charged with promise and threat. It mirrors our own time and experience.

25 August 2013          Sunday 21 C

Isaiah 66:18-21           Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13           Luke 13:22-30       

GREATER THINGS

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 24 August 2013

GREATER THINGS

Pause. Enter into the depths of your own stillness

Reading. “You believe just because I said, I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” (John 1:45-51)

Reflection. Nathaniel, aka Bartholomew (Bart) was astonished when Jesus showed he already knew him before he called him. And when he expressed his belief Jesus said the words quoted above to him, “You believe because I said, I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” Traditional physics says that the whole is the sum of its parts. A bicycle is no more than all its parts put together. But quantum physics now says, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Nature has an energy that is always building and creating. It is not a machine but a living whole, always evolving. Our Christian faith and our scientific research are no longer hostile to each other. They walk together.    

Prayer. Lord, you are ever active in our world and in my life. I praise you and thank you this day. Lead me to a deep sense of the energy in all things and to see in them your presence and reflection. Amen

YOUR PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 23 August 2013

YOUR PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE

Pause. Enter into your own stillness

Reading. “Wherever you go I will go, wherever you live I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:1-22)

Reflection. This often quoted commitment by the bereaved Ruth to her even more bereaved mother in law, Naomi, goes against the cultural expectations of the people of antiquity - or even those of modern times. To freely commit oneself to one’s husband’s family after the husband has died is no easy thing. With Ruth, of course, in the biblical story, it was a commitment to the people of Israel and she ends up on gospel lists of the ancestors of Jesus. Ruth must have had a great love for Naomi, a love so strong that, like Abraham, she was prepared to go on a journey “without knowing where she was going.” She was prepared to get up and go whatever the consequences might be.  

Prayer. Lord, give me a courageous heart to set out even if it is not clear how things will turn out. Help us tobe open to the unknown and to give our lives for our brothers and sisters. Amen

SHE BELIEVE IN THE PROMISE

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 22 August 2013

SHE BELIEVE IN THE PROMISE

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made to her by the Lot5d would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:39-47)

Reflection. Ever since the Church found herself able to say formally that Mary was the “Mother of God”, in Ephesus (today SW Turkey) in 431, and so she took 400 years to do it, she, the Church, has welcomed ways  - in music, art and liturgy – of honouring Mary. Five years ago I visited the ruined site of the Council of Ephesus and our group of pilgrims celebrated the Eucharist tere, thanks to the leniency of our Muslim guide who bent the rules and kept calling her “Mother Mary.” That title, mother, so familiar to us in our own families, points to the power of her leap of faith when she uttered that little word “yes” to God’s plan for his people. The Church has scrambled to find other fitting titles, adding “Queen” and “Glory of our race” and a whole litany of praises. One comes from Southern German and is immensely popular  in Argentina, the pope’s country: “She who unties knots.”   

Prayer. Lord, we honour your mother, Mary, today as queen and mother; the one who untied the knot in which our race was bound, Help us to grow in that faith she showed. Help me to say “yes” to the challenges I face today   Amen

WHY BE ENVIOUS?

PRAYER MOMENT

Wednesday 21 August 2013

WHY BE ENVIOUS?

Pause. Be still.

Reading. “Why be envious because I am generous?” (Matt 0:1-16)

Reflection. This is the story of the labourers in the vineyard. The landowner gives equal reward to the workers whatever hour of the day they came. The ones who worked longest complained. Envy is one of the oldest sins. The drama of the garden of Eden was hardly over before Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. Some people are immensely gifted and feelings of envy arise within us from our earliest days. God seems to give his gifts in such unequal ways. If we think about it what an unattractive world it would be if everyone had similar gifts. The rich variety that we know makes the world pulsate with interrelatedness as each one uses his or her gifts to build up the whole. Variety is the spice of life. “Those who are last shall be first” but the first too play their part.

Prayer. Lord, we are all so different and you have given your gifts in such a variety of ways. When thoughts of jealousy arise help me to broaden my view to see something of the rich purpose of your creation. Some of us are blades of grass, some of us are roses. Teach us to know our need for each other.. Amen

MY CLAN IS THE WEAKEST

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 20 August 2013

MY CLAN IS THE WEAKEST

Pause. Enter within into your own stillness.

Reading. “My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least important of my father’s family.” (Judges 6:11-24)

Reflection. At a times of disaster, when the people of Israel are harassed by the Midianites, Gideon is called by God to deliver them. He protests that he is weak and junior in his father’s house but “God chooses those who by human standards are weak to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27). We often hear ourselves saying, ‘there is nothing I can do’ and generations have accepted oppression feeling helpless to do anything. Yet he Bible’s message is clear: God is on the side of the weak and He gives power to those who stir themselves to do act trusting in him.

Prayer. Almighty Father, source of energy and life, we often share Gideon’s feeling – who am I? What can I do? Teach us to take courage and trust in you. There is always something that we can do and you bless our few loaves and fishes to abundance. Amen

SELL WHAT YOU OWN

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 19 August 2013

SELL WHAT YOU OWN

Pause. Enter into your own stillness.

Reading. “If you wish to be perfect go sell what you own and give the money to the poor … then come, follow me.” (Matt 19:16-22)

Reflection. Some people have taken these words literally, like Anthony of Egypt, and done just what Jesus says. And others who join religious congregations forego the chance of making money to give. But the words have a message for all as they point to the basic call of the gospel and indeed of life itself, to give in order to find: to let go of the false self we cling to in order to find the true self. Ruth Burrows says that despite all our expressed desires to do the will of God and surrender to him we “keep a deathly hold on ourselves.” In other words when the chips are down we seek our own interests first.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, teach me what it is to let go of myself and give myself to you as you did constantly in your prayer to the Father. I know I always say, “your will be done,” but when suffering comes I backtrack a bit. Help me to do what I say. Amen

Things unseen

Things unseen

Scott Fitzgerald opens his novel, The Great Gatsby, with the narrator recalling his father’s advice not to jump to conclusions about people. It is all about reserving judgement and coming to know people slowly. I suppose most people, from time to time, fall into the trap of putting others in categories; this one is clever and amusing; that one is dull and too serious; a third person is just someone to ignore. And so we go on weaving our way through life, accepting and dismissing people as we go. Sometimes it gets more serious and people are simply used by others as bricks to build the house of their ambitions.

Faith is the knowledge of things unseen, St Paul says somewhere, and certainly when dealing with people there is an awful lot unseen. It is easy to deal with people who are friendly, outgoing, interesting and amusing. It is harder to meet people who are complex, serious, quiet and awkward. And yet we know each one has their own story, their own journey, hopes and fears. I often meet people who are intellectually disabled and who do not speak and do not even look at you.

How do we welcome this wide spectrum of other people without coming to hasty judgements? We live in a more tolerant age than our ancestors. We are learning how to accept people who are different by race, religion, culture, intellectual ability or sexual orientation. But we still don’t get too close to those we consider different and difficult. Toleration is one thing, welcome is another. If we are to move out of our default mode of instantly judging people we need help. Jesus saw through the outward image of people, whether they were self- righteous religious leaders, outcast lepers, oppressive tax-collectors or condemned prostitutes. He had a way of going to the heart of a person that touched that person and those who noticed.

The religious feast of the Ascension of Christ and the subsidiary feast of the Assumption of Mary are reminders of the transcendent (beyond nature as we touch it) destiny of every human being. Each person is charged with a potential that we do not see and cannot measure. The ancient belief in the “resurrection of the body” makes absolutely no sense unless it is seen as pointing to the final triumph of each person whom we take now just as they are with all their gifts and limitations.    

18 August 2013                      The Assumption of Mary

Rev. 11:19, 12:1-6,10             I Cor 15:20-26                                    Lk 1:39-56

LET THE CHILDREN COME

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 17 August 2013

LET THE CHILDREN COME

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (Matt 19:13-15)

Reflection. A former Irish president had a daughter aged five who asked her, “Mammy, is it true we are divided into Protestants and Catholics?” “Yes,” her mother replied and the child said, “and which are we, I forget?” The child had not yet learnt division, judgement and hatred between people. For her everyone was a person to look at and maybe to stare and wonder at. She probably wouldn’t say it but she might soon come to the view that “adults are silly. They don’t see properly.” Jesus reminds us of that time in our life when all was wonder. We were full of questions and openness. We had not yet learnt to settle into secure boxes where “we” are inside and “they” are outside.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, I pray for the heart of child, for that openness to people and your creation which is full of wonder. Help me to be an explorer no matter what my age. Amen

HE MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 16 August 2013

HE MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

Pause. Be in the presence of God.

Reading. “The creator from the beginning made them male and female. … They are no longer two, but one” (Matt 19:3-12)

Reflection. The Pharisees want to discuss and argue so as “to get the better of Jesus.” But his aim is always to raise their minds and hearts to the great plan God was revealing for his people. Jesus wants to put before them the ideal life and the relationships that would express that life. So he gives them no second best. The Church puts before us these same ideals. Yet Jesus was full of compassion for those who failed. He knows the human heart. Sometimes we are not so compassionate ourselves and we lay heavy burdens on people whose marriages fail.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, teach us to strive for the ideal, to stretch ourselves to be generous in our relationships, especially our marriages. We often fail and we believe you love us equally in our success and in our failures. Amen

WERE YOU NOT BOUND/?

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 15 August 2013

WERE YOU NOT BOUND/?

Pause. Place yourself in the presence of God.

Reading. “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” (Matt 18:21-19:1)

Reflection. This is the story of the man who had huge debts and, when he appealed to his master, had them written off. He then meets a fellow servant who owes him a small sum and who also appeals to him but he demands repayment. Why can’t he see, we ask, that he should treat his fellow servant as he was treated? What blinds him from making the connection? Does he feel no shame? It is a story that highlights the cruelty and hardness of heart we often see today. People can lack all compassion in their dealings with others. God is a God of compassion but for some reason we find it so hard to learn from him.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, I know that you are a God of tenderness and compassion, ready to reach out to the oppressed and the lost. Teach me to have a heart like yours and to lighten the burdens of my fellow pilgrims. Amen

I SHALL BE THERE

PRAYER MOMENT

Wednesday 14 August 2013

I SHALL BE THERE

Pause. Remember you are in the presence of God.

Reading. “For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there wit them.” (Matt 18:15-20)

Reflection. These words were foundational when 2500 leaders of the Catholic Church met in Rome for the Council 1962-65, and they apply whenever Christians meet in large numbers or in small – just two or three. God revealed himself to Abraham and the patriarchs, then to Moses and the whole people in the desert but today he reveals himself to anyone who meets with others in his name. The recognition of this dimension can help us to be focused in our meetings, which so often stay on the level of thinking out our own solutions without listening to the Spirit of Jesus who is among us.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, help us to pay attention to your presence when we gather in your name. Let it not just be words  but a real sense that you are with us in our discussions and decisions. Amen

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 13 August 2013

BE STRONG, STAND FIRM

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Be strong, stand firm: you are going with this people into the land the Lord swore to their fathers he would give them. … The Lord himself will lead you; he will be with you; he will not fail you or desert you.” (Deut 31:1-8)

Reflection. Leadership, any kind of leadership – of a family, a business, a school or a country – is an exciting and a frightening thing. Just imagine being Joshua, called to lead the people across the Jordan! To be a leader, according to John chapter 10, is to lead the people into green pastures and to lay down one’s life that they have security, A leader is tempted to be a maintenance manager, just keeping things going, where as his/her true calling is to lead the way into growth. Deng Xiaopeng, the Chinese leader who followed Mao, was asked how he had succeeded in transforming China: “Well, I did not know whether we would succeed or not. I just crossed the river by feeling the stones.”

Prayer. Lord Jesus, teach me to set out across the river, to be awake to opportunities to to stretch myself and help others to do the same. You desire that we increase our capacity for the life you want to share with us. Amen

LOVE THE STRANGER

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 12 August 2013

LOVE THE STRANGER

Pause. Be still and enter into your own centre.

Reading. “It is the Lord who sees justice done to the orphan and the widow. who loves the stranger and gives him food and clothing.”  (Deut10:12-22)

Reflection. God is teaching his people in the desert through the mouth of Moses. Here he is developing the core teaching of love for God and love for others. The true Israelite is to open his/her heart to the other person who may enter my life unexpectedly (the stranger). The teaching challenges the comfort we like to have when with “our own” people. Mrs Thatcher was said to have asked of new people “is he one of us?” “New” people can be of a different group or tribe, or social status – the poor person at out gate – or they may be disabled in body or intellect. The come and disturb our comfort. The Lord invites us to welcome them and we, like Abraham who welcomed the strangers at the Oak of Mamre, will be blessed.   

Prayer. Lord Jesus, teach me to welcome the unexpected, the disturbance, the unforeseen alteration to my plans. Help me to let go of myself so as to welcome your coming. Amen

Fully alive

Fully alive

I have just watched a DVD on the assassination of President Lincoln. There was a guard close by but he was either dozing, distracted or in some other way “off guard.” Mind you, the attitude of being “on guard” all the time is quite demanding. The mouse waiting for the cat to move off, or the thief waiting for the family to go to sleep, has the initiative.

What does it mean to be alert and awake? The night of the exodus from Egypt “had been foretold to our ancestors … this was the expectation of your people” (Wis 18:6). They were waiting, “dressed for action” (Luke 12:35). This message – “stay awake” – is repeated several times in the gospels. I do not think we should presume we know what it means. It can be seen as being ready for the end, for our death, but this seems to “file it away” for later.

It is a quality to practice all the time. I was called to a meeting recently which I thought would be about routine business. In fact it was about a major decision and I was caught quite “off guard.” How does one develop a habit of alertness like the cat watching the mouse hole?

I have referred before in this column to the work of Echkart Tolle. He has written a book entitled simply, The Power of Now. He freely admits he is saying nothing new that has not been taught by all the religions of East and West. But page after page he has a simply way of encouraging us to be aware all the time, to be conscious, and this means getting out of our thoughts and into our life..

Let’s say you are waiting for a bus or a kombi. What do you do? Your mind is active thinking about the past and all the things that have recently happened: the problems, the hurts, the worries, etc. Or you dream about the future; what you plan to do, your hopes, etc. Meanwhile there are people or nature around you and you don’t notice them. You do not have the past. You do not have the future. All you have is the present moment and you are not living it. Watch the bird, pecking for food but constantly alert to the slightest threat. It is constantly “dressed for action.”

Awakeness, alertness, adoration, enlightenment – they all convey the same message. And they all tell us that I can be free at any moment. I do not have to be enslaved by the past. I do not know whether I will have a future. All I have is his moment and if I dream it away I am, in a real sense, not living.

11 August 2013          Sunday 19 C

Wis 18:6-9       Heb 11:1-2, 8-19         Lk 12:31-48

        

NO LIMIT TO THE BLESSINGS

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 10 August 2013

NO LIMIT TO THE BLESSINGS

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Each one should give …There is no limit to the blessings which God can send you – he will make sure that you will have all you need for yourselves in every possible circumstance, and still have something to spare for all sorts of good works.”  (2 Cor. 9: 6-10)

Reflection. The context for choosing this reading is the feast of the best known of the martyrs who suffered in the persecutions of the early church: St Laurence, who died in 258, was renowned for caring for the poor in Rome. Paul wrote these words two hundred years earlier to the Christians of Corinth who probably struggled to survive just as much as the Christians of Glen Norah or Highfield today. Yet he makes this astonishing claim: even if you are poor you should give to others and you will find that you are never short yourself. It is a bold statement of practical Christian faith and in our calculating world it seems to go against all common sense.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, teach me to be generous: to give and not to count the cost. In that way I will learn what it is to trust. Draw me closer to you that I may have a heart like yours. Amen. 

WAS THERE EVER A WORD SO MAJESTIC?

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 9 August 2013

WAS THERE EVER A WORD SO MAJESTIC?

Pause. You are in the presence of the Eternal God.

Reading. “Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you, from the time God crested man on earth: was there ever a word so majestic?” (Deut 4:32-40)

Reflection. As Moses’ life drew to a close the scriptures pause to reflect on the incredible events that the people of Israel have witnessed: God, hidden from all the ages, has suddenly revealed himself. He has suddenly become known to the people. For a moment they are in awe. Their subsequent history is not impressive. They drift away and abandon God and pursue their own interests. We are invited to place ourselves there and remember the moments of awe we have experienced. We are called by God to hold steady to the vision he gives us in his word and in his Word.

Prayer. God, our Father, “so ancient and so new,” you know how easily my heart moves from excitement at your revelation to forgetfulness. How easily I am drawn away when challenges come. Centre my being in you and as gravity pulls me down to earth so may your word always draw me to you. Amen

YOU ARE PETER

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 8 August 2013

YOU ARE PETER

Pause. Enter deep into your own heart.

Reading. “You are Peter. … You are an obstacle in my path.” (Matt 16:13-23)

Reflection. A high point and a low point in Peter’s career come painfully close together. His answer to Jesus’ question, “whom do you say I am,” is full and correct. You are Jesus of Nazareth and you are also the Messiah we have longed for, and what is more you are the “Son of the living God.” Jesus calls Peter a “rock” in response and goes on to outline how the Messiah would achieve his goal. At this point he loses Peter who spontaneously rejects the programme proposed, “to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously.” Jesus turns on him and calls him an “obstacle,” a road block. The whole passage calls us to a wholesome response to Jesus: a deep faith in his divine humanity and a willingness to accept the cross as the only way to reach our goal.

Prayer. God, our Father, I am so like Peter. I say “I believe” but when trials and sorrows come I quickly rebel. I find it so difficult to accept “the road to Jerusalem.” Teach me to have a heart like yours  that is constantly tuned to the prayer, “Thy will be done.” Amen

SCRAPS FOR THE HOUSE DOGS

PRAYER MOMENT

Wednesday 7 August 2013

SCRAPS FOR THE HOUSE DOGS

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading. “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs” (Matt 15:21-28)

Reflection. Jesus meets a pagan woman who shouts out her prayer for help, irritating his disciples. Anything to keep her quiet they ask Jesus to help her but he says, “it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs,” which sounds to us an offensive way of saying he had come only for the lost sheep of the House of Israel. But it is clear that he delights in the woman’s faith, that she “takes the kingdom of heaven by storm,” that she shows a vigorous urgent will to break through her painful situation to the healing compassion of God..

Prayer. God, our Father, you rejoice when you see us stretching our hearts to you and longing for your healing touch. You want to heal us, but so often we don’t want to be healed. Teach me to really desire the life that you offer here and always. Amen

THE ASPECT OF HIS FACE WAS CHANGED

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 6 August 2013

THE ASPECT OF HIS FACE WAS CHANGED

Pause. Be still on the mountain of God.

Reading. “As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightening.” (Luke9:28-36)

Reflection. The only even in the heart of the gospel that has its own special day of celebration is the Transfiguration. It is an awkward ‘heavy’ word but it challenges us to think what it might mean. For a moment the disciples glimpse who Jesus really is. They later recalled that they heard the words, “this is my beloved Son” spoken from heaven “when we were with him on the holy mountain.” They were being introduced to God in a way that recalled Moses meeting him “face to face “ on Mount Sinai. This is a revelation waiting for all of us. We are in a relationship with him that is mostly hidden from us. But we are on the threshold of our own  - not just transfiguration – but transformation.

Prayer. Lord, you drew the veil aside for a moment on the holy mountain and showed yourself to us. Help me to know that it is only veil that separates you from me. Teach me your closeness day by day that I always remember your presence in my joys and sorrows. Amen

FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 5 August 2013

FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds.” (Matt 1413-21)

Reflection. What we read in the gospels is charged with a meaning that it is not immediately apparent in the words. There is an “extra” meaning that emerges from meditation and prayer on the text. There are six verbs in the quotation given above – each of them capable of stretching our imagination far beyond their immediate meaning. He “took” the little that they had and added so much to it that it fed five thousand. He receives into his hands all the offerings we make each day, be they ever so small, and – maybe without our noticing it – he adds to them and ripples go out and touch people we will never know

Prayer. Lord, I want to be so united with you that all my actions become your actions and then they are blessed and broken and given to your people so that they may have life to the full. Amen.