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Showing posts from December, 2008

Praying the Scripture - Orphans no more

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Galatians 4:4-7 (The Message) But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. Reflection To have a life that’s not your own. To be a commodity; useful, practical, To be valued for what you can do but not who you are To be ruled by expectation and the tribute demanded For your path to be dictated by circums

Why a baby?

A lovely telling of the Christmas Story. A beautiful crib. There is comfort in the repeating of this tradition year after year and it’s not always easy to see the awesome wonder of it. Our God, a child in the arms of a young woman. Why a baby? After thousands of years of a vengeful, furious, demanding, overpowering, all powerful God, a God that burns cities, parts waters, brings down plagues and even causes the death of children. Why now, a baby? And this is no sudden change of plan, this is no whim. Before this night God hadn’t spoken to his people for hundreds of years. The Jewish people were distraught, blaming themselves for some unforgivable sin that silenced Yahweh. A fear that made them refine their rules and their tradition until there was not a move they could make without sanction from the priests. They were God’s obedient children, following his commandments, competing for his approval, laying the blame on the sick, the paralysed, the poor; living in fear of his wrath. Livin

Called by Name - When a Child is born

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Romans 10:8 (The Message) The Word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. Reflection If I hear ‘How long have you got?’ one more time – someone will get hurt. A week, actually…The longest week of my life. Never mind the nine months that went before; the planning; the waiting and wondering; the ‘Yes!’; the thrill of telling everyone; the realisation that there is no going back. Never mind the sickness; the spreading waistline; the doctor’s appointments; the scans; the bloodtests (I’m scared of needles); worrying about results; the realisation that I really am pregnant. Never mind the ever-spreading ‘everything’, insomnia and nesting urges; reading horror stories; writing birth plans; imagining all kinds; making space; finding room; the realisation that somehow, soon, you will be born. Because, really, I’d be quite happy for yo

Called by Name - Freedom from...

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Pauls letter to the Galatians 5:13-26 (The Message ) It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two wa

Called by Name

Praying the Scriptures - Paul Suffers Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (The Message) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummelled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard travelling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labour, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. Acts 20:19-23 (The Message) When they arrived

Second Sunday In Advent

Mark 1:1-8 (The Message) The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Watch closely: I'm sending my preacher ahead of you; He'll make the road smooth for you. Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road smooth and straight! John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey. As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out."

Praying the Scripture

Opening Prayer Here I am Lord, Listening Speak to me within my heart and soul. I am listening. Acts 22:3-15 (New King James Version) I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ So I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid,[ but