Prayer Moment

I have now written these brief thoughts for prayer for two weeks  but will be away - out of range of the internet - for the next two weeks.
It would be good to know if you find them helpful or have any comments?
David HB
1 June 2013

By what authority..

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 1 June 2013

BY WHAT AUTHORITY

Pause. Be in touch with the stillness within you.

Reading. “What authority have you for acting like this? Or who gave you authority to do these things? “ (Mark 1:27-33)          

Reflection. The Jewish leaders ask these questions not because they genuinely are seeking to know Jesus but because they have developed a mind-set that wants to trap him. They have already decided to reject him and his message and they use their energy on trying to destroy his influence.   

Prayer. I consider I am one of yours, Lord, but I guess there are many times when I jump to conclusions that are out of step with you. Teach me a calm openness to your coming in the people and events of my day. Amen..

MY COUSIN ELIZABETH

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 31 May 2013

MY COUSIN ELIZABETH

Pause. Be in the presence of God.

Reading. “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:39-55)           

Reflection. Elizabeth recognised a faith in Mary that went beyond the “yes, we can” version which we so much admire, for instance, in sports people and politicians. Mary silently believed in the impossible..   

Prayer. Lead me, Lord, to believe that you are at work in my life and that of others. Teach me to hope beyond the securities our age trusts in. Broaden my heart to welcome what we cannot even dream of. Amen.

HE JUMPED UP AND WENT

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 30 May 2013

HE JUMPED UP AND WENT

Pause. Allow yourself to be still.

Reading. “Courage,” they said, “he is calling up.” So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus.” (Mark 10:46-52)         

Reflection. The story of Bartimaeus is a summary of the whole gospel. Jesus comes. People notice. A few respond. You can sense the enthusiasm of Bartimaeus. “The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light.” He follows Jesus along the way.   

Prayer. Help us, Lord, to know what we want like Bartimaeus. Give us the courage to brush aside objections and discouragement as he did. Teach us to follow you along “the way.”

HE JUMPED UP AND WENT

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 30 May 2013

HE JUMPED UP AND WENT

Pause. Allow yourself to be still.

Reading. “Courage,” they said, “he is calling up.” So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus.” (Mark 10:46-52)         

Reflection. The story of Bartimaeus is a summary of the whole gospel. Jesus comes. People notice. A few respond. You can sense the enthusiasm of Bartimaeus. “The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light.” He follows Jesus along the way.   

Prayer. Help us, Lord, to know what we want like Bartimaeus. Give us the courage to brush aside objections and discouragement as he did. Teach us to follow you along “the way.”

THEY WERE IN A DAZE

Wednesday 29 May 2013

THEY WERE IN A DAZE

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

Reading. “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive.” (Mark 10:32-43)        

Reflection. This is a uniquely dramatic passage. Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem intent on fulfilling his destiny. His followers have a sense of foreboding but they don’t know what to expect. We would prefer not to have high tension but it can be the threshold of new life..    

Prayer. Lord, help me not to panic in times of tension and uncertainty. Help me to see that you are present in every fragile moment. Amen

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday 28 May 2013

THE LAST WILL BE FIRST

Pause. Be still in the presence of God.

Reading. “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:28-31)      

Reflection. Jesus jolts us into looking again at the person we may quickly pass by. Here is Innocente, a girl disabled physically and intellectually from birth. She lies on a West African floor for 16 years. She has a smile that makes you pause and wonder; it is a window into another world.  .   

Prayer. Teach us to see each person with rinsed eyes. Help us to go beyond appearances. Lead us to rejoice in each of your people.Amen

THE EYE OF A NEEDLE

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 27 May 2013

THE EYE OF A NEEDLE

Pause. Let the world be. Be quiet within.

Reading. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:17-27)          

Reflection. We know this saying so well. Surely Jesus is exaggerating. No wonder the disciples were astonished. But perhaps Jesus is simply saying, “where is your heart?”. “What do you rely on? Your qualifications? Your money? Your security? Or at the root of your being do you really rely on God? Can you truly say you are “poor in spirit”? If so, you are blessed.”.   

Prayer. Father, lead me not into the temptation of standing now on one leg (money), now on another (You). Help me at my deepest level to trust in you no matter what my circumstances. Amen..

The journey in

The journey in

The mounting traffic on our roads has the potential to annoy us. At its worst the congestion prompts us to ‘road rage’, hot tempers and loud hooting. Once behind a wheel people are in a hurry. But all this hurry is in the same country (Zimbabwe) where people wait for hours for buses, medical attention or passports. We seem to have the ability to rush one moment and to be still the next.

But the hope is our stillness is not emptiness; that we sit idly letting any thoughts float by like clouds in the sky. The hope is that we are in charge of our stillness and trying deliberately to enter within when we cannot be engaged in our normal activities. They are moments when we can switch off the twitter of life and simply enjoy the stillness of being; being aware of what is happening around us, being aware of our own depths.

We find this hard. We look for someone to chat to and often it is idle chatter, or, more frequently today, we reach for the mobile phone and chat to friends or play games or whatever. We run away from stillness. It is too awkward to handle. And yet stillness is a gateway to depth and the deeper we go the nearer we come to who we really are. The first time I visited the Chinhoyi caves I was struck by their stillness and their depth. And the water was blue, the blue of a clear sky.

The Church’s year progresses from the known to the unknown. The infant child grows and works. We know what that is all about. It is our experience. He is rejected and executed. Few of us experience that but we know what it must be like. He rises from the dead and “ascends” to the Father. We have no experience to tell us what this means and just construct our own ideas about it. He sends his Spirit to be with us. At least up to now we have been dealing with a body. Now we do not even have that. Finally we celebrate a mystery: that God is three in one, that he is ‘Trinity’. Now we are really out of our depth and off the map.  This we cannot even grasp in our thoughts.

St Augustine once said, if we think we understand God it is not God that we understand. But we can know God and relate to God both as the “ground of our being” and as a person like us. The more we enter into our own being, our own depths, the more we come in contact with “Being”, that is, with God. Here is Augustine again, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! For behold you were within me, and I outside; and I sought you outside and in my ugliness fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me and I was not with you. I was kept from you by those things.”

26 May 2013 Trinity Sunday C

Proverbs 8:22-31         Romans 5:1-5              John 16:12-15   

HE PUT HIS ARMS AROUND THEM

Saturday 25 May 2013

HE PUT HIS ARMS AROUND THEM

Pause. Be still and in the presence.

Reading. “He put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.” (Mark 10:13-16)     

Reflection. The word ‘God’ triggers different meanings and messages to different people. Some see him as a distant managing director; others as a demanding boss. Jesus came to reveal who God really is. He is a God of tenderness and compassion longing to gather his people into his father’s house. And all that is needed to enter that house is to have the simplicity and uncomplicatedness of a child.   

Prayer. I pray for the openness to life that a child shows; that simple expectancy and wonder, that trust and uncalculating readiness to relate, that desire to love and be loved. Amen..

Marriage

Friday 24 May 2013

MARRIAGE

Pause. Be silent within and wait for the Lord.

Reading. “They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.” (Mark 10:1-12)

Reflection. When you hold a bird in your hand do not hold it too tightly, you will crush it. But not to loosely either, it will fly away. While we rejoice to live in a tolerant age and have learnt to accept each other’s choices, let us still revere the ideal  and know its blessings.

Prayer. Lord, teach me to live gently in the tension between the fullness of life that you desire to give me and the reality of my life which is often messy. Amen.

Receiving the gift

Thursday, 23 May 2013

RECEIVING THE GIFT

Pause. Be still and wait for God..

Reading.         In vain is your earlier rising,

your going later to rest,

you who toil for the bread you eat:

when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber. (Psalm 127)

Reflection. The songs of ancient Israel are timeless. Here the psalmist says, work hard but do not think that your efforts alone will bring you success. Learn too to be still in the midst of your activity and receive what God is offering. They are free gifts independent of all your striving.

Prayer. Lord, help me to work as though everything depends on me, but let my heart tell me that in truth it is you who are at work in me and in others. After I have done all that I can, teach me to welcome the outcome whatever it may be. Amen.

Discovering others

PRAYER MOMENT

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Discovering others

Pause. Be still and enter into the stillness within you.

Reading. “Anyone who is not against us is with us.” (Mark 9:38-40)

Reflection. Jesus’ companions complain that someone who is not “one of us” is acting in his name. He is stealing our brand and claiming the credit for it when he is not one of “our” people. Jesus is fairly blunt. Let him be. If he is doing something good - whoever he or she is – rejoice. How easily and unconsciously we identify with “our group”, “our nation”, people who are “one of us.” Jesus opens his arms wide and welcomes anyone who is trying to do what is right and who is open to other people who are also trying.

Prayer.  Lord, teach us to have a universal heart, open to all who seek justice and search for truth; all who are men and women of peace. Help people everywhere who struggle against evil in themselves and in the world. Amen. 

The child in you

PRAYER MOMENT

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

The Child in you

Pause. Be still!.

Reading. “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:30-37)

Reflection. Look at the image of a child in poor and war torn countries. There is wonder and expectancy in their faces. They do not know where all the hatred and violence comes from. They kick a ball about instead. Welcome that child in yourself. We are all “children of the universe.”

Prayer.  “Restore again our life that your peole may rejoice in you.” (Psalm 85). 

PRAYER MOMENT

Monday 20 May 2013

Pause. Stop! And be still for a moment..

Reading. “The moment they saw Jesus the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him.” (Mark 9:14-29)

Reflection. Jesus is attractive and beautiful. People are drawn to him. Our lives get cluttered with many things. It is good to see beyond these things to the one thing necessary.

Prayer.  Jesus, help me to be still for a moment; to see your beauty and how you draw me to your heart. I have many things to do and there is much noise all round. But give me your Spirit that I can see my way clearly. Amen.

Pentecost

The Harare International Festival of the Arts, was an explosion of joy. The dance, music, song and drama lifted up all those who could take part. In just five days an injection of energy raised the weary spirits of citizens and visitors alike. The army of organisers, stretching from committed individuals to companies and embassies, have done a marvellous job.

I hope it does not take from the spontaneity and joy of the moment to stand back and review what has happened. I am reading historian Terrence Ranger’s book, Writing Revolt, about the time in the late 1950s and early 60s when it was hoped that removing the “colour bar” in restaurants and bars, cinemas and swimming pools, would cascade into removing the same bar in parliament. As we know, it didn’t. While minor victories were won, those in power preferred – on the big issue – to turn their back on celebrating diversity and retreat into the familiar comfort of their own culture.

HIFA is many things. But one thing for sure is that it is a celebration of diversity. It included string quartets and wild dance, sombre drama and massed choirs. In biblical terms you could say ‘everyone was bewildered to hear these Galileans speaking something meaningful to each of them - be they Medes or Elamites, people from Judea and Asia, Egypt and Libya – “we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God”’ (Acts 2:11).

The question is how do we carry these peak experiences into our daily life? Are such experiences as HIFA – or Pentecost – just a tonic for a moment? Or are they something that deeply grounds us in the reality they celebrate? Do we dance together one moment and in the next return to our indifference, or even hostility, to one another? Do we want experiences for a moment only or do we want lasting relationships?

Nearly everyone has had indescribable moments in which they have felt their mother’s love. They may not put it into words. They may not even think about it. But their lives show that they were transformed and built up by experiences such as the nurturing they received in their earliest years. Experiences blossom into abiding relationships but for this to happen there has to be a regular affirming of the relationship. It cannot be taken for granted.

So it is with God. Sometimes we have an experience of God’s presence. And sometimes we think that the important thing is to go on having these experiences. But relationships are not based on unending experiences any more than we need constant HIFAs to keep us happy. It is beautiful to see old couples sitting in a room together without a word passing between them. The relationship is deep; they have passed the stage of wanting endless experiences of it

19 May 2013               Pentecost .   

Acts 2:1-11                  Rom 8:8-17                  John 14:15-16, 23-26

Stay till I come

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 17 May 2013

Pause. Be still. Your life is a gift. Whether you are sick or well, rich or poor, in prison or out of it, you are alive. Give thanks.

Reading. “If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.” (John 21:20-25)

Reflection. You worry, perhaps, about many things: family, relationships, work, health and the like? These are all important but you can do nothing about them by worrying. Once you have done what you can in such matters, leave them be. Open your door to life as it is now. Go deeper than your worries. Rejoice in your being. Trust life. All will be well.

Prayer.  Thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for the people I know, who are part of my life. Thank you too for all the people alive, rich and poor, young and old, healthy and sick, near and far. Help me to trust life. Help me to engage in the world with all my heart, intelligence and strength. But let me not worry too much about success or failure, fame or misunderstanding, comfort or hardship. Grant me a peaceful heart.