Discerning….

Determined to seek your washing over us, O Lord, we have come to seek your face today.

Introspective, we are, as we examine our lives and know that we are far from what you created us to become, O God.

Seeking your forgiveness of our sins, we bow, humbly bow, in your presence just now.

Concern for others is also a motive for our praying, O God.  We would be asking for others to be lifted up, those who are ill, those who are grieving and need your comfort today.

Enter into our hearts again this day, O God, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and renew right spirits within us.

Remember our sins no more; return us to your way with your Holy Spirit’s leading.

Nearer, still nearer, O God, we want to be nearer to you; we confess we have been too near the world this week.

Instill in us, O God, the faith that calms our fears, the hope that gives us  encouragement and the awareness of your love and presence that gives us peace.

Never allow us to be overcome with evil, O God; draw us back from our arrogant self-confidence to your humble ways.

Grant your Spirit to wash over us to clean, to renew, to remake us, O Lord, in your image today as we come to you in spirit and in truth.  Help us to allow your Spirit to guide our discernment of your will for our lives each day, O God.  Amen!

The Path Continues…

A Prayer In Hope…

Dear Father, in the beauty of holiness and in the hope that only You can give, we come to you in a time of prayer and supplication.

We acknowledge our utter dependence on you through your Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of your Holy Spirit.

We come with adoration and sacrifices of praise as we worship.  We lift up our voices in song and in praise, such as we can.

We come in intercession for your children everywhere.  Some have, seemingly, the weight of the world on their shoulders.  Some have illnesses.  Some have deep heartaches that only you know.  Some are full of your joy and presence. We ask that your tender mercy, your healing, both physical and spiritual, and your grace be made manifest in us just now.

We come with petitions for ourselves to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly as we wait in your presence and live in the world where you have called us to serve.

May we join the psalmist as he said, “O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty; I do not busy myself with great matters or things too marvelous for me.  But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.  O…hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.”  (Psalm 131).

In the hopeful name of Jesus Christ our Lord, I Pray.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

Brand New…

 

The Gospel is handed down from generation to generation but it must reach each one of us brand new, or not at all.

If it is merely “tradition” and not news, it has not been preached or not heard–it is not Gospel….

If there is no risk in revelation, if there is no fear in it, if there is no challenge in it, if it is not a word which creates whole new worlds, and new beings, if it does not call into existence a new creature, our new self,

then religion is dead and God is dead.

Thomas Merton

Source: Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

The Path Continues…

Legacy Living…

 

Living in this world of too much stuff and not enough real character, commitment and convictions,

Easy it is to become extremely selfish and not care or be concerned with the legacy that we are leaving for the generations that will follow our footsteps.

Getting the most toys, in any way and in every way, seems to be the main thrust of our living these days.

Abject selfishness occupies many of our waking hours. Imagine what that says to those who will come behind. We don’t care!

Calculating, cunning efforts to get for me and mine, I am afraid, will be a large part of the legacy we leave.

You have to wonder what the next generations will look like if this is the legacy we leave for them.

Looking at this world as to what it owes us is no way to live if we want to leave a different legacy than most.

Instant gratification, as a way of life, will foreshadow that a selfish generation will follow. Our behavior has an enormous impact on the generation to follow. Yes, it does and you know it!

Visions of “sugar plums” will not enable those who follow us to grasp the height, depth and width of what it takes to live in a different legacy-leaving way.

Imaginary, conjured up integrity will go “poof” as the next generation puts our legacies under the microscope of everyday living.

Necessary transparency in how we talk, and then how we live that talk, is needed in order that those who follow will have a legacy from us that will prove useful in everyday life.

God has instructed us: “tell your children in the years to come and let them tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation.”  What story, what legacy, will they tell?

The Path Continues…

In The Meantime…

In the meantime is a way of speaking about the present time we live in, as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow.

New “stuff” appears daily for us to deal with while we live in this meantime space of life.

There exists a need for a helper as we live in this “in between time” or “meantime” to get us through today.

Help is a difficult thing to accept for those of us who think we can handle everything that comes our way by ourselves. Something tells me there is a little pride in that statement.

Eternity awaits and yesterday is gone, so what do we do in the meantime?  We have all proven that we can’t do “it” on our own in days past, so where do we turn to find that “helper?”

Meantime living needs to recognize that it needs a helper beyond that friend or even family member that suggests that they will help. I suggest an eternal Helper, the same one Jesus Christ promised to His disciples.

Eternity waits, but for those who have asked Jesus Christ into their lives as Lord and Savior, there is the “Helper” that He promised to help us live in this meantime.

Always there, or here, to provide the necessary help to do whatever God has asked us to do, He is the enabling agent of God. God never asks a child of His to do anything that He doesn’t provide the necessary wherewithal to accomplish it.

Never forgetting to be in us, with us, and act through us: this helper is the very Spirit of God, the essence of Jesus, Himself.

This helper is a person with whom we have a personal relationship. This Helper is not an “it.” He is not a “thing.” He is a personal helper to all who believe in Jesus Christ.

In this meantime, we search for all kinds of things to help us. Maybe what we should look for is a relationship with this person of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe, just maybe, we would find living in this meantime to be a rewarding experience if we live it in relationship with Him.

Eternity is waiting, and yesterday is not coming again. In this meantime space, who is your Helper? Wouldn’t you ask Jesus to send His Spirit to live in and through you to make this “meantime” a preview of eternal time? Living in the meantime can be an exciting time. The question is: “how are you living in the meantime?”

The Path Continues…

Never Give Up…

Nearer to you, O God, we seek to come nearer to you today as we worship.

Even as we come, Father, we ask for cleansing and forgiveness.

Venturing in from the world in which we live, we acknowledge our need of you.

Enable us to see you anew today, open our eyes, Lord, remove the worldly shades that block your view.

Return us to your path and help us to remember that you have walked it before us and will walk it again with us.

Grant us courage to continue in the call you have given to each of us as your children.

Initiate in us a spirit of stick-to-it-tiveness that helps us to never give up our walk with you.

Vision us, Lord, with your eyes that we may see you and our neighbor, and our family, and our friends as you see them.

Enlighten us, Lord, through your Holy Spirit, to see and know your will for our lives.

Use us, Lord, yes, even us, to bring about your kingdom here in this place.

Prepare us for your glory that the world may know You through us.

                        Even so, Lord, come quickly.  In Jesus’ name and in your will we pray. Amen.

The Path Continues…

Patience…

 

Precious Father, you who call and seek us, you who would show us love and mercy and grace and pardon,

Accept our praise, our adoration and our confession this morning as we come to worship you in spirit and truth.

Tender us your patience, O God, as we seek you and long to be in your presence.

Instruct us, your children, dear God, in the ways of righteousness and kindness and compassion and gentleness and humility.

Enlarge our capacity to show patience in our relationships to one another as you show your love to us.

Never allow us to forget to give our forgiveness to others as your Son has forgiven us.

Cleanse us, dear Father, when we sin, when we forget your gracious kindness and sin against others and against you.  Cleanse us today.

Evoke in us your love, O Father.  Help us to see your will for us is to shower your love over all we meet and to share your peace with this angry world in which we live.

In Jesus’ Name, we pray.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

To Reach for Your Hand, O God…

(a prayer)

Dear Jesus, we desire to meet, this day, with you.  And yet, our minds keep flitting to so many things, the projects we want to accomplish, the people we want to talk to, the people we wish we didn’t have to talk to.  We are distracted, O Lord.  I wonder if these things are distractions to spiritual concentration or invitations to see you in the ordinary things of life.  I wonder.

Dear Jesus, we know that you are the Center who knows no distraction.  We offer up our mental fragmentation to you, O Lord our God.  May our scattered-ness become your gathered-ness.  As we contemplate a thousand things, Jesus, may we somehow contemplate You.

Dear Lord, we want to place our hand in your hand and walk and talk and listen.  We long to sit at your feet and learn of You from You. We place ourselves under your bidding this hour.  May we sense your presence in the structure of this hour.  May what we do lift up Jesus here, at this time, and in the world where we will go after this hour.

To reach out to your hand, O God, is our desire. To realize that you are always reaching for our hand is to know your grace in our lives. Thank you for that realization, in heart, mind and soul.

We love you Lord.  We want to worship You in spirit and in truth today.

In the name of Jesus Christ and through the power of Your Holy Spirit, we pray, with thanksgiving.  Amen.

The Path Continues…

Alpha and Omega…

(an acrostic prayer)

Almighty, merciful, loving and eternal Father, who was and is and is to come, we worship You today.

Lacking sufficient language to express our worship, we come seeking to understand You as the Alpha and Omega.

Presenting our confusion over You as “I AM,” we seek clarity of mind and heart in order that we may worship You in spirit and truth today.

Hearing Your words as You tell us who You are, Father, we hope to be more like You for having been in Your presence today.

Allow us to share the comfort of You being the Alpha and the Omega of all that was and is and will be with those we meet today.

Armor us with Your word today, O God, so that we may stand against the false ones who say: “There is no God.”

Nest us in Your care today, Father. We feel, at times, like we have no place to rest and feel secure. Yet, You call to our memory that You are the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, and we know Your rest.

Dynamic is Your presence in our lives and in this world You’ve created for us.  You are always active and moving to begin and to end things in our lives.  Thank You, Father.

Over all and in all, we acknowledge You as “I AM” of our lives as we struggle to live in and through You each day.

Move in us today, Father, that we may come closer to being the people you created us to be and want us to become.

Enthuse us with the promise of Your being our Omega.  Help us to share the hope of that claim and promise with this world.

Gather us from our scattered condition and sweep us under Your wing of beginning and ending, dear Father.

Array us with Your love and joy as we seek to show You, the Alpha and Omega, to this world in which we live and breathe and have our being.

The Path Continues…

To Be A Saint…

Maybe more than anything else, to be a saint is to know joy.

Not happiness that comes and goes with the moments that occasion it, but joy that is always there like an underground spring no matter how dark and terrible the night.

To be a saint is to be a little out of one’s mind, which is a very good thing to be a little out of from time to time.

It is to live a life that is always giving itself away and yet is always full.

Source: Now and Then– Frederick Buechner

The Path Continues…