Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Friday in Week 2 '23

Frederick Buechner*

     The time is ripe...not all the time, surely, but from time to time...to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember — the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.   

O Holy Comforter ~
          The calendar highlights the dates that are burned deeply into my heart with a mix of sweetness, sadness, and even a smile. And on each of those days I open the door to my inner room of memories and sit with them as if in a familiar attic. I sift through the virtual folders and boxes that hold remnants of the most meaningful people and times of my life now past. And on each of those days I need Your presence to surround me while winnowing through the highs and the lows of all that has been. Most importantly, please be here while I caress the remembrances of the all-too-brief moments with those now gone who I have loved and who have loved me. Give me Your peace when I go from this room until it is time again to remember. Strengthen my resolve to walk more fully into today, into all that is now, and all that is yet to be. amen.

 

*Carl Frederick Buechner [1926-2022] was an American theologian, Presbyterian pastor, and author of more than 30 books in several genres such as fiction, autobiography, and sermons, and is well-known among readers of Christian meditation. He received the O. Henry Award and been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award among many other honors.

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Thursday, Week 2 '23

Here's a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:

if you're alive, it isn't. 

~ Richard Bach* 

Lord of Now, Lord of Forever,

       

       I'm alive. Now what? 

       Some days it's hard work just to be alive. Other days go by so fast I hardly realize it. And then, someone you care about is suddenly gone and life takes on new meaning, again. And just as suddenly it hits me: his mission is finished, whether he was ready for it to be or we who care about him were, it just is. And even if we can’t understand or figure out what someone’s life mission was, especially someone very young, even in our deepest grief we can seek a way to live in earnest, and in honest and loving purpose, because of their importance in our lives.

     Again I’m here, as I begin once more to re-evaluate and re-discover how I can live as if You, Lord, were with me every moment [as You are]. When I do come to You, I remember that I can worry less about doing stuff and think more about just being, especially with You, and then my honest and loving purpose ~ my mission ~ will become clearer. Of course I'll keep doing but I'm seeing again that if I spend more of life working to love You with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, and my neighbors as myself ~ per Your instructions ~ that mission thing will take care of itself. Through that I will re-center my self, focus on being conscious in thought and action, movement and stillness, then perhaps more of what I do will then, simply, reflect the who I am continually becoming. Thanks for listening, as always. amen.

*Richard Bach [1937- ] is an author best known for classic 1970s bestsellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and later, There’s No Such Place as Far Away, and more. His books carry a philosophical theme that our physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. An avid pilot and love of flying nearly cut his mission short in 2012 as his small plane landed upside down in a field and he was badly injured but recovered and continues to write.

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Wednesday Week 2 '23

To ‘listen’ another’s soul 

into a condition of disclosure and discovery 

may be almost the greatest service that 

any human being ever performs for another 

 

~ Douglas Steere* 

Well, Dear God, here's a big shocker for you ~ 
     I do acknowledge that sometimes I am so busy thinking about what I want to say that I forget to listen to what someone else is saying! I'm learning, slowly, to give others their air time even though I'm sure my response is the better comment and the most necessary. (Yeah, ok, I'll work on that thought, too.) I have experienced the rare moment when I feel listened to, as if what I think and say and feel are important to someone. Other times I can go on and on about my stuff trying to re-experience the feeling of importance. But when I'm being consciously more aware, I have had the right moments of just being present and listening to someone in need while letting whatever I wanted to say go away unspoken. That is an amazing and humbling feeling. 

     I know that true listening is a gift of personal attention to the one who is speaking in words and/or emotion especially in these times of so much yelling at others to make a point. I also know that deep listening is a gift to myself, as with it I learn more about the person I'm with and me, my needs and wants, how to express them, and how to better choose what to let go. 

     I will strive to be more attentive to others and less attentive to what I want to say about it. And the best example I have as a pay-off is You, always here, always listening even when I ramble (like now). Thank You for that and, as You already know, it's hard for me to take my own counsel in this so I'll be asking You regularly for a little smack on the back of my head along the way, OK? amen.  

Best advice for good listening:     

DO Listen deeply to understand  

DON'T listen only with the intent to reply

 *Douglas Steere [1901-1995] was a Quaker ecumenist who was professor of philosophy from 1928 to 1964 at Haverford College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent a year as a visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.  Dr. Steere was significantly involved in Quaker post-war relief efforts in Poland, Norway, and Finland after World War II and was given national recognition by Finland in 1987.  He held a PhD from Harvard and was a Rhodes Scholar with two additional degrees from Oxford University.  A prolific author, editor, and translator of books and articles on Quakerism and other religions, he was invited as an Ecumenical Observer at the Second Vatican Council.

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Tuesday, Week 2 '23

It is a fact that people are always well aware of what is due them.

Unfortunately, they remain oblivious of what they owe to others.

~ St. Francis de Sales*

O Lord,
     I am chastened by the recognition of how often I do the check-list thing and think about how to get all that I deserve. Then I look back over my life and worry that I might actually get all that I deserve...Please, God, spare me that, at least some of it! 
     Help me, again and always, to discover Your peace within myself, so that I can work to reflect it outwardly to others. Help me to measure my life in gratitude, not wants or expectations. Grant me the consciousness to spend more of my allotted days seeking forgiveness for my faults and forgiving others for theirs, rather than me judging us both harshly. I want to wake each morning, remember each noon, and when I lay me down to sleep, feeling and knowing the grace You bestow on us all. I want to look beyond myself and live into the gifts You have given each of us to use generously on behalf of all Your people.  
     O Lord, I am also chastened by the recognition that what good I perceive is owed to me in this life is exponentially less than what I owe You, Your People, and, Your Creation. It is past time for me to begin re-payment so I'll start today even if slowly.  amen.

*Francis de Sales [1567-1622], a saint on the Roman Catholic calendar, was Bishop of Geneva but not allowed to live there as it was under Calvinist control. Of great accomplishment as a bishop, he is best known now as a mystical writer who championed the laity and provided gentle spiritual direction and counsel. His best known work is Introduction to the Devout Life, still read today, in which he emphasized charity over penance as a means to progress in spiritual pursuit whatever your station in life, from the wealthiest to the poorest. He did not define charity in terms of money but rather caring consideration in whatever way is available to us. He is said to have struggled with a short temper but through his writings we only know him with an inner calm and deep faith. 

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Prayers of the People: On THAT Road Again ~ 3rd Sunday of Easter '23 Yr A

For Sunday, April 23, 2023, Readings: Acts 2:14a, 36-41, Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23, Luke 24:13-35

  Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit..." [Acts 2:38]

  I love the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him...Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his servants...O LORD I am your servant...I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the LORD. [Psalm 116: 1, 13, 14a]

  Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth...You have been born anew...of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. [1 Peter 1:22a, 23] 

  Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all these things that had happened....When he was at table with them he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight...Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. [Luke 24:13-14, 30-31, 35]

   "If only..." is a frequent refrain for all of us who wish we had done things differently, or the pandemic had not happened, or the weather was ___ [fill in the blank]. Mostly, though, I think most of us have yearned, with some desperation at times, for that if only I could see, talk to, or touch him, her, or them one more time moment. As for the death of one loved deeply, I can say from my own acute experiences that yes, much time does soften the punch and shock of loss, and it is then the memories become ever more important with the hope and desire to believe that they are still present with us. To remember the significant, the difficult, and the quiet moments that echo within forever. It is with that understanding that we enter this segment of Luke’s Gospel about two little-known disciples of Jesus.

    We read about two regular guys walking down the road talking about the strange events of the prior few days. This other guy shows up and seems unaware of these events and their importance. They, surprised he didn’t know, explain it and then invite him home to dinner. Suddenly the stranger is hosting the meal and even more suddenly, as he blesses and breaks the bread, he vanishes. In an instant their eyes were opened as never before and when they realized who He was, they rushed to tell the others what they experienced.     

     The Disciples had that one-more moment ~ never enough, to be sure ~ and they certainly made the most of it as here we are, more than two thousand years later, still hearing their experiences with Jesus, still hearing the words He spoke. And then, we move into our “today” mode. This account of Jesus, as so many others, fades quickly and becomes too distant, other-worldly, merely familiar, and then gone from memory, until it comes around again in the cycle of readings in Eastertide.

     This day and time is perfect to hear the story of the Road to Emmaus again, in our hearts, through our own memory of loss. Feel their confusion, their shock, their sadness. And then, hear and remember the words Jesus tells them and us.

     Let this story stay with us so that each time receive the sacred Bread at the celebration of the Eucharist, and any time you break a piece of bread that is blessed at a meal, whether you are alone or with another, remember and know Christ in the breaking of the bread and feel more blessed inside because of it. More than a memory, Christ is living within us. As we travel the road of this life, wherever it takes us, when we call upon His name we know we are encircled by His love. When we are as His love in our actions, purified by obedience to His Truth, this Road will lead us Home.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:  ~ Living Jesus, guide us out of the blindness of the “normal” and routine to discover the everyday newness of Creation around us. Open our hearts to Your Constant Presence, open our eyes to see Your Way to Eternal Life, and open our souls to accept and live into Your gift of Salvation.

                                                    O Christ Risen

    RESPONSE:                    We call Your Name in Faith and Hope

~ Living Jesus, grant us the determination, the voice, and the words to redirect the energy of those in Global, National, and Local political power, to actions that benefit all humanity and the planet above unreasonable profit. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                                                       O Christ Risen

                                                       We call Your Name in Faith and Hope

~ Living Jesus, incline Your ear to us all and especially those who are lost in serious illness, emotional upheaval, and hopelessness, and all who give them healing care. We now pray for those in need… add your own petitions

                                                       O Christ Risen

                                                       We call Your Name in Faith and Hope   

~ Living Jesus, we give You thanksgiving for the lives of all who have departed this life, as precious in Your sight and now raised into the splendor of Your eternal courts. We pray especially for…add your own petitions

                                                       O Christ Risen

                                                       We call Your Name in Faith and Hope

~ Living Jesus, we pause in this moment to offer You our personal heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials…add your own petitions

 

                                                       O Christ Risen

                                                       We call Your Name in Faith and Hope

                     

~ Living Jesus, pour Your special grace and vitality upon those anointed to lead us in Your Church as they enrich our souls, so to hold fast in faith, now and always. We pray especially for… add your own petitions.

 

                                                       O Christ Risen

                                                       We call Your Name in Faith and Hope                                                                             

The Celebrant adds: Risen Lord Jesus, our constant Companion on the Road, You ransomed us from the futile ways of sin, and we are born anew through Your Resurrection. Enliven our dedication to purify ourselves by obedience to Your Truth, to live in and act through genuine love for others and ourselves, and to set our faith and hope on God. We ask through You, the Living Enduring Word; and the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of our Souls; who together with our Impartial Creator, reign as One God, always, forever, eternally. Amen. 

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Meditation Moment in Eastertide ~ Monday, Week 2 '23

Psalm 61:4

Let me abide in your tent forever, 

find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

          In the gold, the silver, and the rare colors found in elaborate calligraphy in the artful and prayerful Illuminations from the ancients, to the archaeological and scholarly explorations of language and history in the context of its time, to one's own mystical and personal relationship with the Bible ~ whether in a particular book, a chapter, a verse ~ we, who engage with it, may find a light on our path, a resonance within ourselves, and often, more questions than answers.     

        There have been, are now, and will be innumerable studies of the texts, resulting in many more interpretations, much more knowledge, and fresh understanding and yet, with all the work of highly educated researchers, linguists, and religious scholars, professors, and world class preachers of varying denominations and cultures, Christian and non-Christian alike, there is one tiny little word that no one, ever, anywhere has completely defined:  Selah. 

        Selah is found 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in the book of Habakkuk. There are many theories about it ~ it may be a musical direction, a liturgical pause, perhaps it is meant to connect thoughts. It occurs at the end of some verses and most often at the end of the psalm itself. 

        You won't find it at all in the psalms section of the American Book of Common Prayer, or in the New Zealand Prayer Book, or even in some Bible printings. But it is in most Bibles. And it is a mystery. We simply don't have an absolute definition.

        Does it really matter? We can use it as a pause for reflection, to stop and listen to how a particular passage or phrase reverberates within us. We can pass it by without any thought or action. As a North Carolina United Methodist Minister, James Howell, says, "I find myself fond of the fact that we don't really know. We never master the Bible, and I suspect God chuckles a bit when we're befuddled. When we join that angelic host for worship in heaven...then we'll get it and do the 'Selah' thing ourselves."  

Holy and Mystical Lord God of Heaven,
        In this season of Eastertide, I want to find Your Voice in the small words as well as the grand, in the quiet as well as the thunder, in the commonplace as well as the extraordinary. As we continue to explore all the facets of The Resurrection in its own time, I pause, reflect, and wonder what it means to me in my own. May I remind myself to look for You through your Word in every form, in every way, in every day and, to discover many times over, in this and all seasons of my earthly life, the illumination of and for myself. And when the day moves too quickly with too many to do's, help me to stop, listen, receive, and breathe in, then out, then slowly in and out again with: Ah, Selah! amen. 
      

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Meditation Moment in Easter Week ~ Saturday '23

John 21:15-19

   When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus says, to me and to you, Do you love me? 

    I'm not sure if I have ever thought about this passage in terms of Jesus directing that question to me. I grew up with the little song Jesus loves me this I know... I have heard sermons, read meditations (and written a few) about how Jesus loves us so much that he ... but how much do I/We love Jesus? I've fed his "sheep" through volunteer work and employment. I've contributed money to charitable organizations, donated clothing and household goods, I go to Church and participate in a variety of ministries, I repeat all the necessary syllables of familiar prayers regularly. Yet what are my conscious thoughts relating to all of these? Have I said silently or out loud: Jesus, I love you?

Living, Loving, Lord,

    Too many times, even most of the times, ok ALL the times I pray to You I'm asking for You to give me, do for me, do for them, help me with..., today I've heard you ask Peter if he loves you. Like me, more often than I want to admit to me, I take it for granted, as Peter, of course I love You; You know that. And just like being in a human-to-human relationship when I just want to hear the words, it dawns on me at last, I must say the words without the tag line after of gimme, gimme, gimme. 

     Jesus, I.Love.You.  amen

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