People's Prayers

Monday, April 17, 2023

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.

All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution and edited for local use as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. For more information or comments, contact: Leeosophy@gmail.com

Saturday, April 15, 2023

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

Friday, April 14, 2023

Meditation Moment in Easter Week ~ Friday '23

John 21:10-15

Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

It was a glorious morning for fishermen. This time a week ago it was fear, horror, and devastating grief. But even in the worst of times, the work has to be done. And now, the One who was lost is miraculously preparing breakfast on the beach. What would you give for one more breakfast with...

Dearest Fisher of People,
Fishing advice and breakfast after You've come back from the dead ~ is quite an amazing way to care for Your friends! And, as just one of the guys You show us how easy it is to be with You whether casually on the beach, walking down the road, or just having dinner. A moment of ease before our real work begins again. Thank You for reminding us that we can always rest and share breakfast or lunch or any moment with You, and be renewed for the work You have given us to do. Please, help us, always, to experience Your peace inwardly so that we may bring it to all we do and all those we meet. amen.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Meditation Moment in Easter Week ~ Thursday '23

Luke 24:33-48

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled togetherand saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” …And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish,and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Has it only been one week since our solemn Eucharist took us to the Upper Room? Each time we celebrate and participate in the Holy Eucharist we are again within those walls, listening to the words of Jesus. It was a week ago that our Eucharist seemed significantly more earnest, sacred, and portentous. We experienced it as The Last Supper in its own time when Jesus told the gathered disciples what was to come with the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter. We washed one another’s feet, stripped the altar, left in darkness and silence with some staying a while, waiting in vigil and prayer. Now 7 days later, we hear about You meeting with the disciples after Your resurrection. Let us sit with this for a while and imagine for what that first week was like and then that moment for them.

O Christ, Messiah of all Creation,
Time goes so quickly I can barely keep track of it. It doesn't seem possible that it has been a full week since we were reading about the Last Supper with all of its complexities. In reading about Your appearances to the disciples, I want to know what those moments were truly like for them in their time. It's hard for me to capture the essence of that immediacy of Your presence. I can imagine it, I can think about it, I can picture it, but I don't quite know how to experience it. Each day that passes takes my attention farther away from all that I felt just days ago in Holy Week. Of course I must pay attention to my every day life, but I also want to keep You as the focus in each day. Help me experience You. Keep me from being swept up in insignificant distractions in every day life, ignoring Your presence, being irritated or judging, or pathetically whining if things don't go my way.
Dear Jesus, with You in my waking, in my walking, and in my sleeping, all that I am and all that I do will be a reflection of that experience. Give my soul the spiritual cleansing and health it needs to guide my heart toward Your perfect love. All this I ask through God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. amen.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Meditation Moment in Easter Week ~ Wednesday ‘23

Acts 3:1-10

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Jesus, our Christ ~ as Peter, John, and the other Apostles began to discover and accept the gifts given them by You through the Holy Spirit, help us to discover and accept and use the gifts we each have from You. Few if any of us would believe that we could heal someone physically without the gift of an education for becoming a medical doctor or nurse. But a simple hello, a smile, or asking a person if we may say a prayer with them at their bedside when they are ill, remembering to say a simple blessing over our food before eating even if alone, done in Your name whether out loud or silently, are gifts we can use in any moment of life without a formal education. I know, yet must regularly remember, that gifts given, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, are gifts received.

Guide us, O Lord of us all, to stop at the top and bottom of each hour, to consciously breathe in Your Presence that is always available to fill our minds, our hearts, and our souls. As we then breathe out, let us send Your Grace to fill the world around us, to bless all we meet and pass by, to the neighbors just beyond our windows and to those beyond our reach. May each breath remind us of You as we give the gift of Your healing love, more by how we live our lives than by the words that we speak. amen.

~Take a moment today to read the fairly short chapter of 1 Corinthians 12 to know again the Gifts of the Spirit given to us.

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Meditation Moment in Easter Week ~ Tuesday ‘23

Luke 24:13-14, 30-31, 35

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.

"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 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. 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 to Emmaus 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.

Let us remember that at any time and any place when we tear a piece of bread that is blessed at a meal, whether we are alone or with another, to know Christ in the breaking of the bread. 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 in His love. When we are consciously in His love and our thoughts and actions are guided by His Truth, this Road will lead us Home.

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. Reinvigorate 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.

Monday, April 10, 2023

Prayers of the People: A Letter to Thomas ~ Second Sunday of Easter '23 Yr A

For Sunday, April 16, 2023, Readings: Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

For David says concerning him, "I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken, therefore my heart was glad...my heart will live in hope." [Acts 2:25-26]

O Lord, you are my portion and my cup; it is you who uphold my lot….You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. [Psalm 16:5, 11]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... [1 Peter:3]

[Jesus] said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."...Jesus said to [Thomas], "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." [John 20:22b-23, 29]

Dear Thomas, what infamy you have achieved, quite unfairly, I think. You have become a label ~ "a Doubting Thomas"~ for those who don't believe something without concrete proof. You watched him die, being taken down from the Cross, placed in the tomb. Who of us would not be doubtful of the claim of the Resurrection in that moment? You are saddled with all the blame for your disbelief until your eyes beheld the Risen Lord and touched his wounds. And yet, you were far from alone in your skepticism. The other Gospel accounts all tell of your companion disciples doubting. Luke 23:11 tells of them dismissing the women's account as an idle tale, and in Mark 16:11, when Mary Magdalene tells them she had seen the risen Jesus, they would not believe. My personal favorite ~ in defense of you ~ is in Matthew 28:17 that says even when they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Whenever any of us are unsure or questioning of this preeminent event in the life of Christ, despite the Gospel accounts and the significance to the whole of Christian theology and practice, we are in good company! For me the story of Thomas and the other disciples' initial disbelief, humanizes these men and brings them into this current time, as did Peter's denial of Jesus, and Judas' betrayal, remorse, and suicide. We know these people in our own lives, we are some of them when we struggle to accept and understand all that we are told in the Christian/New Testament and by those who have taught us from the pulpit or in our families. Our own doubt seems unfaithful to those who say and think they must accept it all on faith alone. Yet key elements of true faith for me are to constantly learn more, think more, wonder more, examine more, and discuss more with others. If we aren't questioning the tenets of our faith at various times, it seems to me that we haven’t really discovered the specifics of what it is that we do believe and why.

      These Gospel moments allow us to be who we are in this present time and relate to those who were with Jesus and still wondered what his movement was all about even as they moved forward with him. Each time I read this Sunday’s and other accounts of Christ’s life, teachings, death, and resurrection, or any part of any of the Gospels and Epistles, I discover something new and often profound.

  Whatever I believe about the Resurrection and its significance to our Christian faith, in moments of human wavering or in absolute certainty, I try to remember the words of King David from Peter's quotes in Acts 2. David isn't known for unwavering fidelity to God's Commandments! Yet these words for me form the crux of the message of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah which is to see the Lord always before me, to live in hope, and to follow the path of life He has shown me, as well as I can, through all of this life's trials. There is no better time than this moment to ponder those thoughts. The Presence of Christ is always within us, and our faith, however shaky at times, is the vehicle that keeps us upright and guides our thoughts and actions through trial and triumph. Un-doubt-edly in our human mistakes and wanderings, the writer of 1 Peter 1:4 reminds us quite specifically that what we have been given by the resurrection is: an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading...

      Dear Thomas, I firmly believe that Jesus wasn’t scolding you, he was speaking to all present then and all of us now, in love, compassion, and the utmost understanding of our human foibles and failings.

   Whether seen or unseen, the results of living in faith, as Christ teaches through the Greatest Commandment  [Matthew 22:36-40], will be a gift to ourselves and to others in our mortal time and in the time to come, by receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [1 Peter 1:9]. I’m reminded of a title of a book by the late Dr. Wayne Dyer, You’ll See It When You Believe It. And even when we struggle in claiming our beliefs, our place in Jesus is always saved. For now, for always, Christ IS Risen! Alleluia!

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O Christ Risen! How often have we simply walked through the penitence of Lent, the excitement of Palm Sunday, the passion of Holy Week, and the joyful celebration of Your miraculous Resurrection, taking it all for granted because it happens for us every year? In this and all times of trial, open our hearts to truly REJOICE as if for the first time. You have suffered, died, and Resurrected for each of us. Thomas saw and believed, help us to simply believe in the gift of our salvation.

Jesus, Messiah

RESPONSE: Our Living and Eternal Hope

~ O Christ Risen! Grant us new courage to refresh our faith in eternal life, and the energy in this life to challenge the leaders of this planet, this nation, and this community, to provide a Just, Safe, and Mercy-filled life for all Your people. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

Jesus, Messiah