NIGHT PRAYER: Monday 5/4

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) I'll be leaving for an 8 day silent retreat at Eastern Point in Gloucester.  While I'm away, I won't be posting often - and perhaps not at all, depending on how the Spirit leads me.  Please pray for me - and you can be sure that YOU will be in my prayers!  Although the prayer below comes from the heart of someone leaving for a retreat, I believe that with just a a little adaptation, it's a prayer any of us might offer any day...

 

I'm sometimes asked, Lord,

if I go on retreat with an agenda,

some spiritual plan of action, 

some purpose or goal...

Actually, I try to avoid doing just that.

My only purpose on retreat 

is to spend some quality time with you:

to carve out some time

just for the two of us 

time to renew and refresh our relationship

- or to give it a jump start

    when that's what I need... 

If there's any agenda for this week, Lord,

I want it to be your agenda 

because I'm 100% certain 

that you know better than I

just what I need this week,

just what's missing in my life,

just how you and I can grow closer to each other

in faith, in hope, in love, through prayer...

So, help me put aside all my worries and concerns,

all the problems and troubles 

that might easily distract me

from all you have in store for me this week...

 

Help me slow down, Lord,

    and take a few deep breaths...

Send your Spirit 

to make of my heart a blank page

where you can write your name, Lord,

and tell again the story of your love for me

and what you plan for me, 

ask of me 

and hope for me...

Make of this week 

a time and place of healing quiet

where I can hear you 

in the hush of your silent presence... 

Open me, Lord,

to all you want to say to me this week,

all you have to reveal to me this week,

all you want to share with me this week...

Set the agenda for my retreat, Lord,

and open my mind and heart

to all you want this week will offer me...

 

Be with me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace... 

Amen.

 

I just discovered this song and it's perfect for retreat - or any time you want to steal away for some time in prayer... 

 

Come Away by Morris Chapman

 

If a video doesn't appear below, click here!

 

   

Don't you be in such a hurry 

Cause it only leads to worry 

There's a time to work 

But there's a time to pray 

Try to find a quiet place 

To hear His voice and seek His face 

Can you hear the Spirit calling, 

Come away. 

 

Come away, come away,

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

Let your heart and mind be stilled 

Let your empty cup be filled 

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

 

Are you sinking in your sorrow 

Are you worried about tomorrow 

Are the pressures of this life too hard to bear 

If you cast your cares on Him 

He'll give a perfect peace within 

Can you hear the Spirit calling, 

Come away. 

Come away, come away,

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

Let your heart and mind be stilled 

Let your empty cup be filled 

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

 

Come and spend some time with Me

And my love will set you free 

Come and spend some time with me

Come away. 

 

Come away, come away,

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

Let your heart and mind be stilled 

Let your empty cup be filled 

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

Come and spend some time with Me 

Come away. 

 

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Monday Morning Offering: 5/4

Good morning, good God!

 

There are times when I'm driving, Lord,

and after a stretch of miles

I realize I'm not sure

    if I've been watching the road
        with all its twists and turns;

not sure if I've paid attention 
    to other vehicles and highway signs;
not sure if I've been aware 

    of what's around me,

        what's behind and ahead of me...

 

And yet somehow 

(miraculously?) 
I've made my way to where I am 
from somewhere way back there 
and all without landing in a ditch 

- or worse...

 

I've often been listening to music

    or talk radio... 
or sorting through roaming thoughts... 
toying with ideas passing through my mind...
or just quietly moving down the highway
in the silent chapel of my car...

 

Is any part of me watching?

keeping an eye on the traffic?

looking left and right

in my rear view mirror? 

 

How is it that I don't lose my way?

that I get from somewhere way back there,

'til somehow I am here,

in the present,

in the moment,

now

- with you? 

 

It's not me, Lord, it's you,

you're riding shotgun, 

you're my copilot, 

you're at the wheel,

safely steering me

through heavy traffic,

dangerous curves,

and danger I might miss...

 

You alert me to exits

I can or should take

and guide me safely home

and to my journey's end... 

 

As on the highway, Lord, 

    - so in my soul -
you ride along beside me, 
protecting me along the way 

getting me from where I was, 
    - through peril I miss -
to where I'm going,

where I need to be, 
to where you  call and want me to be...

I offer you my thanks, Lord, 

for all you do  

when I'm not looking, 
when I'm nodding off, 

paying scant attention 

- when I should be alert, observant,

    vigilant and wide awake...

 

I offer my thanks for your direction, Lord,

for all the times you've nudged and prodded me,
for when you've grabbed the wheel 

and steered me out of harm's way,

keeping me on the road you've mapped

for this journey of mine through life... 

Amen.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Sunday 5/3

On Sundays, Night Prayer takes its lead from some element from the day's liturgy

and today is the fifth Sunday in the Easter season.  In today's Gospel, we find Jesus at his last supper, bidding farewell to his friends and telling them that he is their way, their truth and their life...  Those images are beautifully set to music in John Becker's song, "Lead Me, Lord."  I suggest that tonight we listen first to the song (lushly arranged here by Mark Hayes) and then join together in the prayer... (If a video doesn't appear below, click here!)

 

 

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, longing for their Lord,
for God's coming kingdom shall be theirs.
Blessed are the sorrowing, for they shall be consoled,
and the meek shall come to rule the world.

Lead me, Lord, lead me, Lord, by the light of truth
to seek and to find the narrow way.
Be my way; be my truth; be my life, my Lord,
and lead me, Lord, today.

Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be theirs,
and the pure in heart shall see their God.
Blest are they whose hunger only holiness can fill,
for I say they shall be satisfied.

Blest are they who through their lifetimes sow the seeds of peace;
all will call them children of the Lord.
Blest are you, though persecuted in your holy life
for in heaven, great is your reward.

Let's pray...

 

"By the narrow way..."

That's the way I need to go, Lord,
and I do need you to lead me
    to seek and to find the narrow way...

I'm so easily led down wider paths,
roads with broad, undefined shoulders:
    lots of room for weaving back and forth
    and waffling on decisions, choices
    and changes to be made...

The wider path is looser, less constricting,
leaving me free to follow the latest fad,
    the crowd's lead or whatever whim or fancy
    might currently be mine...

Multiple lanes on the road offer me
    more room than I need,
    more sway than is wise,
    more chances for losing my way...

It's the narrow way, your way, Lord
    that helps me focus on my goals,
    keeps me straight on the way that's mine,
    protects me from making wrong turns
    and leads me, always, closer to you,
    to your word, your grace and your love...

So lead me, Lord, by the light of truth,
lead me to seek and to find the narrow way.
Be my way; be my truth; be my life;

be my Lord - and lead me home...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep rest in your peace...

Amen. 

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Homily: Am I on the right path?

 

Here's my homily for May 3, the Fifth Sunday of the Easter season. (If a video doesn't appear above, click here!)  My reflection is based on today's gospel and the text of my homily follows below. Note: towards the end of my homily I refer to Becket, a young boy who received Communion for the first time this morning.) 

 

So we're at the Last Supper - and Jesus says to his closest friends:
        “I'm leaving you. I'm gonna go away for a while
            - so I can prepare a place for you -
                a place where we can all be together.
        And don't worry, you know how to get there.”

 

Thomas, the doubter, says,

    “Lord, we have no idea where you're going. 

    How could we possibly know how to get there?

 

Jesus says,

“Thomas, I *AM* the way.”

 

And then Thomas says… 

 

Oh, wait! Thomas doesn't say anything!

 

Thomas keeps his mouth shut - possibly because Thomas thinks Jesus hasn't really answered his question. And he's hesitant to push it, to ask again.

 

Thomas was looking for directions, maybe even a map. But Jesus' response seems to beg the question. Maybe it's a riddle.  

                “Show me the way. Oh, I am the way!”

 

Well, the more important question for you and me this morning is this: Do you and I know the way? The way to the place Jesus has prepared for us in his father's house. Can you and I puzzle out the riddle - and how Jesus could be “the way?”

 

I'm not exaggerating here when I tell you that the directions to the place where Jesus has made something ready for us in heaven are the most critically important directions you and I could possibly ever receive, or understand, and follow.

 

The only way we can solve the riddle, the only way we can understand how Jesus IS the way, is to know who Jesus IS. Or better yet, and more simply: To. Know. Jesus.

 

To know Jesus is to find the map that leads to the place waiting for us in the Father's house. And we will know that Jesus is our way IF the road we're on is filled - as was his - with ups and downs, twists and turns, joys and sorrows, potholes and detours.

 

We'll know that Jesus is our way IF the road we're on, like his, is a path with its share of hardship, suffering, and sacrifice.

 

We'll know that we're on the way of Jesus, IF it seems like, if it feels like the way of the Cross. Because that is the way of Jesus.

 

We'll know that Jesus is our way IF, like Jesus, we're not always sure where the road is heading. If, like Jesus, we need to, from time to time, pull over to the side: to rest, to reflect, to pray, to ask for the Father, “Where are you taking me? Where am I going?”

 

We'll know that Jesus is our way IF, like Jesus, we keep meeting

   - poor people who need our help,

   - hungry people, who cry for a place at our table,

   - sick people who need our company and our care,

   - sidelined people who need to be included,

   - difficult people who need our understanding,

   - strangers who need to be welcomed,

   - annoying people who need our patience,

   - persecuted people who need our defense,

   - and hurtful people who need our forgiveness.

 

But - and this is a big but…   

BUT, 

    if the road I'm on works to keep me

      from just those people,

   if the path I'm traveling protects me

      from even meeting such people,

   then there's a good chance

      that I've gone the wrong way,

      that I've taken a shortcut or a wrong turn,

      that I’m traveling in the wrong direction,

      that I’m lost…

A good chance that I'm not heading home

   to the Father's house.

A good chance at Jesus isn't the truth in my life.

A good chance that Jesus isn't my way.

 

That's why it's so important for us

   to gather here every Sunday, 

   to hear the truth of Jesus in the scriptures

      and the directions he offers us

         for keeping on the right path.

 

We gather here to celebrate his life in the Eucharist,

   to be nourished by his life in communion,

      (as Becket will be the first time this morning)

   to be nourished by his life in Communion

      so that we can be strengthened to reach out

            to those people we meet along the way Jesus IS.

 

We gather together to check the compass in our souls,

   to ensure we're walking in the footsteps of Jesus,

following Jesus, who is our way, home to the Father,

   to the place the Lord has readied for us in the kingdom.

 

So, the riddle is solved.

 

We DO know where Jesus was heading when he told his friends at the Last Supper that he was leaving them for a while.

 

We know that he has returned - he rose from the dead - and he wants to take us home with him, to where he is, with his Father.

 

And we know the way that leads there.

 

We know that Jesus, himself,

   Jesus, is the way.

 

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Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 5/3

Lord,

what will you ask of me today?

 

   - my awareness?

   - my attention?    

   - my affection?

   - my forgiving someone who's hurt me?

   - my reconciling rather than holding a grudge?

   - making peace in a war I'm waging? 

   - a change of mind?

   - a change of heart?

   - a change of habit?

 

   - helping someone who needs me?

   - reaching out to someone who misses me?

   - including someone who's often left out?

   - walking the path you call me to follow?

   - taking the high road instead of the shortcut?

   - following you  - no matter the cost?

 

    - a change in attitude?

    - a change in my thinking?

    - a change in my schedule?

 

   - telling the truth when I'd rather not?

   - being more honest - with myself?

   - confessing my faults and sins to you?

  

   - more time off my several screens?

   - more time spent in peaceful silence?

   - more time close to you in prayer?

 

   - or maybe something else, Lord,

         something known only to you and me:

 

            ____________________________

 Help me know, Lord, 

    what you ask of me today, Lord,

and give me the grace and the strength, 

   the wisdom and will 

        to do it - today...

Amen.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 3/2

Something in the setting sun
turns my heart to musing on times past,
returning to remember, lest I forget,
times of sorrow, times of joy...

Something at the end of day
finds me rummaging through memories,
sorting out the best ones,
like sifting through an attic's treasures...

Something now this evening, Lord,
stirs my grateful heart with souvenirs
of long-ago-but-not-forgotten joy, 
of peace embedded deep within my soul...

Something at this eventide
comforts and consoles, reminding me,
in good times and in bad,
you've always been my best, beloved friend...

Something here at twilight, Lord,
renews my faith and hope in you,
and kindles in my heart of hearts
the fire of your love...

Something in the setting sun
now turns my heart to you, Lord, 
with soulful, happy memories, dreams
to keep me safe in sleep tonight...

Protect me, Lord, as evening comes

    and watch over me when I fall asleep

that awake, I might keep watch for you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen. 

This is a beautiful arrangement of an old hymn, perfect for this evening's prayer...

 

Abide with me, 'tis eventide 

   lyrics by M. Lowrie Hofford

Tune: WELCOME GUEST

 

If a widget doesn't appear below, click here! 

   

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.

The day is past and gone;

The shadows of the evening fall;
The night is coming on.
Within my heart a welcome guest,
Within my home abide.

O Savior, stay this night with me;
Behold, 'tis eventide.
O Savior, stay this night with me;
Behold, 'tis eventide.

Abide with me; 'tis eventide.
Thy walk today with me
Has made my heart within me burn,
As I communed with thee.
Thy earnest words have filled my soul
And kept me near thy side.

Abide with me; 'tis eventide,
And lone will be the night
If I cannot commune with thee
Nor find in thee my light.
The darkness of the world, I fear,
Would in my home abide.

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