Tag Archives: Call to Prayer

A prayer for focus on what’s important – Seeking the face of God

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Another of my shortest prayers.

Stepping into the unknown…

Trying to figure out what is “right” or which way to go…

Wondering if my spirit is here, alone, maybe forgotten by a too-busy God …

Worrying that maybe there really is nothing more than this-here, and this-now, because if that is so, then what does this-here-now all mean?

 

I turn back to a small passage in the middle of Psalm 27, of the Psalmist seeking an intimate, personal connection with God:

Take heed, Oh LORD
when I call:
have mercy and hear me.

You speak in my heart and say,
“Seek my face.”

Your face – LORD – will I seek.

What does that mean to you: to see into the face of God?

Beyond the spiritual moment of seeing some entity or some bright light that we fantasize to be what Ywwh looks like, do we look at a field of growing vegetables and see God? Water rushing down a fast river and polishing rocks smooth? Standing back and watching a single moment of happiness between two people? The mottled blue and red light through cathedral windows falling on a cool stone floor?

Is the face of God in all that (and more,) and do we recognize it when it comes?

Lots of questions and not many answers. But one prayer follows my emotions and as I step into a new unknown, or I feel great sadness, or intense happiness, and when I feel great physical pain, my words are:

God:
show me your face.
Open my eyes that I might see.

- Amen

Keep the faith!

 

 

The Tenderness and Love of God – a call to prayer

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Two joining images from Psalm 130

Sometimes when entering into our moments of reflection (aka our Prayer Closet,) we catch ourselves approaching prayers when it seems as if “all hope is gone” as they say in the movies.

Looking at the words from Psalm 130, the writer begins the poem in this very depth of  depth:

1  Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; *
2     Lord, hear my voice.  *
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy. *

By the end of this short song, the writer rests in the peace of patience, mercy and love, repeating the sentiment with saying:

5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope. *
6 I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning, *
    more than watchmen wait for the morning. *

The Bible teaches in many places that the followers should wait with such patience (and determination) on this forgiveness and salvation. Especially salvation from the hands of one’s enemies. And reading these teachings carefully, the Bible also teaches by word and example that this waiting for salvation cannot happen in a vacuum of inactivity.

While we cannot debase ourselves by stooping to the whispers and dirty tricks and back stabbing of our enemies that the psalmist wrote of, the followers of this ancient faith should act by said faith, to ensure the preservation of the Kingdom of God, and to present that same love and kindness, even to those who would mean us harm.

Nobody said this religion stuff was easy.
Enlightening – yes.
Easy (especially with a short temper like mine,) not so much.

Keep the faith, and watch, eagerly for the morning.

A call to prayer

I hope in the LORD
with all my heart.
I am eager for God’s coming.

(Alleluia)

With the LORD,
there is tenderness and love.
God’s compassion overflows.

(Alleluia)

 

Bullet Points – a meditation

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In Paul’s letter to the Galatians (5:16-18,22-23) he writes:

Let yourselves be guided
by the Spirit,
for the fruit of the Spirit is:

  • Love
  • Joy
  • Peace
  • Patience
  • Kindness
  • Generosity
  • Faithfulness
  • Gentleness
  • Self-control

Looking at your own set of bullet points today, and reading Paul’s list above, which of these points are missing from your life? Which are lower on your list? Which of them have you possibly read in the past, ignored, or they simply do not exist at all?

Do you have points of Love… Understanding… Generosity… Forgiveness… Welcome…  that are in your life, on your list, or simply creeping into your radar that the writer did not list above?

How can you focus on these attributes (or those from your own list) and add them to the conscious thoughts of your daily life through your prayers and meditations?

Take the first line from the famous prayer attributed to St. Francis, and add in each point, one at a time, one day at a time, repeating each as your own call to prayer, as your own lectio divino:

  • Lord, make me an instrument of your Peace.
  • Lord, make me an instrument of your Love.
  • Lord, make me an instrument of your Forgiveness.
  • Lord, make me an instrument of your Patience.

… and so on through the list, as needed. Adding, as your own Amen:

  • And so by doing, make your presence known in me.

Keep the faith!
- Amen

 

 

 

Good Days and Bad – a Lenten call to prayer

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When we open our eyes and our feet hit the floor in the morning, we never know how the day is going to end up at the vesper bell – only that it is our day to take and use… our day to run and grow … our day to hold on and survive. In the middle of  those holding-on days it’s difficult for us to remember (or to believe) the words of the Psalmist, “This is the day the LORD has made; rejoice and be glad in it.”

The season of Lent begins easily enough for us, a bit like making New Years resolutions: we fill our fancies of the things that we are going to “give up for Lent” (most times not knowing why we are supposed to “give up,” and even more times not knowing that while we “give up,” we must also “take on.”)

For those of us who are still keeping track of such things by Monday of next week, we realize that the giving-up and the taking-on isn’t nearly so simple as we thought it would be. The fewer-still who are still with it the following week begin to wonder how they ever managed to do this in the past.

By the third week, we start pondering to God just how long 40 days can actually be!

Believe it or not: that’s the way it should be. Those who follow the practice step into 40 days of serious contemplation, days of contrition and forgiveness, and strive for some sort of spiritual renewal, be it great or small. Lent is a time for change, it is a time for “polishing the silver” of our spirit and our hearts before we venture into the long season that some folks call

Ordinary time.

We must become extra-ordinary people in very short order, so that we may see our way through that long summer season of practicing what we have read, learned, and felt while we were putting a spit-shine on our souls during Lent.

I have two different sentences of a call to prayer today, one for the good days and one for the bad days. I keep in mind when I’m in my meditation time that I rarely have a full day that is either one or the other. They are a glad mix of the two. Use them separately or together, as your meditations and prayers lead you.

- Keep the faith!

 Oh Lord,
Take heed to my words.
Listen as I cry.

 (- Alleluia)

There is joy, Lord,
for all you defend:
They will rejoice evermore!

(- Alleluia)

(inspired by Psalm 5)