A Prayer for Today

Our Mother who lives in all and is all,

Thank you for your lovingkindness.

May your Word be manifest.

May all on earth know your love

As those with you already know it.

Set your bounty before us.

Teach us how you love us in our weaknesses,

So that we may love others in their weaknesses.

Guide our faltering steps

As a mother guides her toddler,

So that we may not fall.

For you are the light within us

Nurturing forever.

Amen

Deceit

The world around me seems built on deceit.

No one speaks the truth, only half-lies.

How do I survive in this place?

I know I must honor God

If I claim to be Christ's follower.

I will trust in God's lovingkindness

To deliver me from evil

As did the psalmist.

"The Lord is my rock,

And my fortress,

And my deliverer;

My God,

My strength,

In whom I will trust."

Fruit of the Spirit

Let me harvest the fruit of the Spirit,

Not the wealth of humanity.

I know that

"The fruit of the Spirit is

Love,

Joy,

Peace,

Longsuffering,

Gentleness,

goodness,

Faith,

Meekness,

Temperance."

We only need dwell with the Spirit

To partake of the fruit.

Let me pick just one fruit this day to nourish my soul.

Help me choose wisely and understand Your Word.

So that I can walk with the Comforter today and always.

Prayer for Today

Dear God, Master of Infinity,

May all humanity raise their voices in your praise;

May your glory abound,

And your will be manifest

In all dimensions.

Nourish our souls with your presence.

Let us know our weaknesses,

And understand those weaknesses in others.

Let the Comforter be a barrier to the evils of this world,

For you are Existence.

Amen

Ancient Hymns

Hymns bring memories and a sense of hope.

Old ones remind me of my childhood

With family gathered around the piano to sing together.

New ones make me part of today and the future,

Part of the ever woven fabric of Christianity.

The greatest hymns are very old:

The Psalms.

I shall read a Psalm today

As I listen to a hymn,

So that the music in my ears

Is echoed in my soul.

Christian Exclusivity

We had an enlightening discussion in Sunday School last week on whether belief in Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Most of my classmates stated that belief in Jesus Christ was the exclusive prerequisite for eternal life. They took literally Christ's words: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the father but by me." So do I.

I believe that Jesus was not imparting a message of exclusivity, but one of mechanism. Jesus was telling us that no matter how we as humans describe God or what we believe about who God is, we will reach the after life by one conveyance. All will come to God after death through the manifestation of God that is God's word in creation, that is God in action in our dimensional reality, and I believe, is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ. All have the opportunity to know God and life after death. God doesn't care how we find him, what we call him, only that we do.

As to atheists, I think they are closer to God than they believe. Atheists actively protest the existence of God, but in doing so they confront the concept of God. I think this brings them closer to God than those who are indifferent. In the end, I believe everyone will know God and will be able to choose or reject a relationship with God.

For me, Jesus represents the truest revelation of God and the mechanism by which we reach God no matter what we believe.

The Great Banquet

Today, I read the parable of the great banquet.

How those that were invited did not come,

While the lame, the blind and the poor did.

Is that the problem of this world?

Has God invited us to the banquet,

Only to find that we are too busy with our own lives

To partake of the everlasting repast?

Let me heed God's invitation,

That I might sit at the Almighty's banquet table

And feast my soul in God's presence.

Lost Sheep

"The Lord is my Shepherd..."

Those words echo in the soul of every Christian.

There at too many times when I feel

Like a sheep that has wandered astray:

Alone,

Lost,

Afraid.

Let me be a sheep in God's fold:

Warm,

Secure,

Surrounded by others.

If that cannot be,

Then let me remember

The parable of the lost sheep:

That the Shepherd will leave the ninety and nine

To look for the lost one.

Look for me, O Lord.

The Gladness of the Moment

"This is the day the Lord hath made.

Let us be glad and rejoice in it."

I quote these words as I rise each morning.

But can I follow this biblical command?

Sometimes I find it difficult to be glad,

Sometimes I find it impossible to rejoice.

Was it difficult for Jesus

When He stood on the hill over Jerusalem

And contemplated the tragedies to come?

"Jesus wept," the Bible says.

Did God weep that day for Jerusalem

Or for all humanity?

Where was gladness that day?

I know the answer to that question:

With Jesus as He entered that great city,

And palm fronds fell at His feet.

Let me feel the gladness of the moment,

Even if I know the sorrow of tomorrow.

Loving Others

Some days I find it difficult to follow God's Commandment

To love others as we love ourselves.

When I am not lovable, how do I then love others?

Perhaps a start is the simple courtesy of Colossians:

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,

That ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

I shall strive to be courteous to everyone I meet today,

So that I can truly say

Thy will be done.

God's Portrait

How do I picture God?

As the great figure in the Sistine Chapel?

As Father?

As Mother?

We personify our Creator to make him more reachable,

But when we do, we lose the sense of God's power and glory.

Jesus is the only personification of God that I can understand.

For a portrait of the Creator, I must turn to the words of John:

"God is light and in him is no darkness at all."

God is light...

Lord, let me embrace the Light.

Holy Spirit

My thoughts turn to the Holy Spirit,

The Comforter Jesus promised.

Does that Holy Spirit dwell in me?

The Bible tells me it must be so.

Let me feel the Spirit

And know that God's promise is fulfilled.

What is that Spirit,

But the Love between the Creator and the Son.

Let me bask in the Love of God

And be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Listening for God

Lord, I need to know Your will.

I pray, but do not hear Your voice.

Perhaps I am so busy babbling

That I do not hear You.

I will try to listen for Your answer.

I know that it may not come in words of fire

Or even in whispers of smoke,

But through the actions of those around me

Or chance encounter with a stranger.

All I ask is that I know when I receive that answer.

Fear of the Lord

These words from Proverbs echo in my mind.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the holy is understanding."

Is that the answer to the problems of our age?

Have we lost our fear?

Not soul-wrenching terror that drives out reason,

But the awe of God's power and glory,

The knowledge that all life flows from God

And would not exist without God.

Help me to know the fear of the Lord

And so gain understanding.

Forgiveness

I ask for God's forgiveness often,

For my sins, for my omissions.

Do I offer forgiveness to those who wrong me?

Seldom, I fear.

Forgive me for my inability to follow in Jesus' footsteps

And to obey the words of the model prayer:

"Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us."

I know that alone I cannot forgive,

So I ask God not only for forgiveness,

But for the power to forgive.

Friends

I contemplate the story of the healing of the paralytic.

How his friends tried to bring him to Jesus,

But were blocked by the crowds.

How they made a hole in the roof of the house that Jesus was in,

And lowered the paralytic to Jesus who healed him.

I would have such friends,

Friends of faith and of deeds.

But more I would ask of God:

Give me the strength to be such a friend.

The Trinity

Christians speak of God as One

And yet as Three.

How can this be?

Perhaps we are like some two dimensional creature

That beholding a cube sees only a square.

Is that the answer?

We perceive only part of You

Confined as we are by space and time.

When we die is that barrier removed?

I pray that it is so.

Heaven

Where is heaven?

I have studied the grand emptiness of space,

And I see not the face of God,

But only the miracle of Creation.

Where do You dwell?

I know that question has many answers.

I seek only the answer that brings me closest to You.

For now, I must be satisfied with the words of Your Book,

And the knowledge that You are present everywhere,

In every moment of my life,

I must trust that death is the gateway to heaven,

And someday I will hear You say,

"Welcome home."

Baptist or not to Baptist?

I was sprinkled as a baby because my paternal grandmother was Presbyterian. She thought that was sufficient water in one's religious life. However, my mother was raised Baptist and at age 10, I was attending a Southern Baptist church with her. I had a conversion experience. The problem is I do not remember much about that event. I do remember that my paternal grandmother did not approve. The Baptist minister proved to be very astute and won my grandmother over with the words "A little more water won't hurt her." I was duly baptized, then walked away when I became a questioning teenager.

Fifteen years later, I began to search for some meaning in my life. By that time I had a Ph.D. in chemistry and a thirst for knowledge. I studied other religions, then encountered a book by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, which led to another of his books, Mere Christianity. I decided to try organized Christianity once more. This time I chose that rarest of Texas churches - a liberal Baptist church.

I joined and so did my mother. She was only too happy to have her wayward child back in church. The senior minister invited us to meet with him and another staff member after we indicated that we wished to join by letter. I do not remember much about that meeting except that the semior minister was a good deal more complex than his sermons. Years later, I would know how much work went into each message. Oh, some may not know what "by letter" means. If you are member of a Baptist church, you are a member for life or until you transfer to another church. If you join another Baptist church, then the new church requests "a letter" from your prior church indicating you are a member in good standing.

Noah's Ark

My Sunday School class studied the story of Noah and the building of the ark last Sunday. We had a rather heated discussion that made me want to tackle the subject.
Do I believe that Noah actually lived? Yes.
Do I believe there was a flood? Yes, but not worldwide.
Do I believe Noah saved all the animal species? No.
Do I believe that God wished to destroy his creation? No.

One of my classmates remarked that if everything in the Bible were not true, then none of it was. At first I could not understand this statement, then I realized it had to be based on my classmate's view of the Bible. If you believe that the writers of the Bible were simply God's stenographers, then every word must be true. I assume this is my classmate's belief. It is not mine. I believe that the Bible is a record of God's actions written by inspired, but fallible, observers.

Because I believe that God's actions were recorded by inspired, but ordinary people, I understand that I cannot expect perfection. Yet, I also realize that these were observers well aware of God's presence in their lives and in the lives around them. This record of God's actions provides sufficient information for my salvation.

I also distinguish between the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is a compilation of oral history and myth. Genesis, the first book in the Bible, is not a scientific treatise, but a concise narrative of God's relation to creation and to us. God speaks to creat. God in action is the Word.