Daily Meditations
In today’s society I see so many angry people. It seems that everyone is upset about something. The football players who are choosing to confront people with their opinions seem angry. Some of them have held up clenched fists. I don’t think that anger changes anything. It just seems to set off more anger. Christ calls us to be the first to let go of anger and offer our open hand.
God of all, let us encourage open handedness and love instead of anger. AMEN
Technology gives us power, but it does not and cannot tell us how to use that power. Thanks to technology, we can instantly communicate across the world, but it still doesn’t help us know what to say. Jonathan Sacks
We have so much ability to communicate with each other and the world. The question is are we careful with out words. As children we said “stick and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” That is about as far from the truth as we can get. It has been evident that electronic bullies have caused suicides.
We must be careful with our words. Kindness should be part of who we are as Christians. Something said as gossip may not only be wrong but very hurtful. Think about your words before you say them.
Loving God, help us to speak only out of kindness. Remind us to be careful about repeating gossip. Let us be kind Christians. AMEN
Holding a grudge is a stone in your heart TV show The Good Doctor
It is so easy to hold on to grudges against people who have wronged us. Sometmes the grudge makes us want to strike back and get revenge. God has called us to a different choice. Through Christ he has made it clear that we are to turn the other cheek. We are not to seek retribution. Judgement is left up to God.
Forgiving God, help us to let go of the stone in our hearts. Help us to give back kindness instead of revenge. AMEN
Make me a channel of your peace. Prayer of St Francis
Peace is so difficult to achieve. I don’t like conflict and have always been the family peacemaker. That doesn’t mean I succeed. Trying to make peace is a real challenge. God calls us to this task. We may not be able to bring about world peace but we can strive for peace wherever we are. Who knows. Things may change.
Lord God, help us to be the peacemakers no matter how difficult it is. AMEN
Infinite, intimate God; this night you kneel before your friends and wash our feet. Bound together in your love, trembling, we drink your cup and watch. From the New Zealand Prayer Book: Maundy Thursday prayer.
This is one of my favorite prayers for several reasons. I want to talk about one. I don’t think before this I ever heard God called infinite and intimate. What a wonderful image. This is what many people would call an oxymoron (two things that don’t fit together). God is both with us in every moment and so infinite we cannot grasp it. How can this be? Yet He is God!
Infinite, intimate God, help us to see that you are all things and with you anything is possible. AMEN
“I struggle…..I want to feel closer to God…..maybe that feeling….that yearning is all there is, maybe that is enough.” From the TV show Madam Secretary.
We all yearn for closeness with God. We want to feel His presence. We wish we could feel Him holding us….and yet it is rare if ever we actually feel that way. Sometimes we have that mountaintop experience but even the disciples had to come down. Life intrudes. The thing is whether will feel it or not God is always there….always holding us. So we need to turn loose of wanting a certain feeling and just choose to know He is there. We will still yearn for Him and maybe that is enough.
Loving God, sometimes we want to feel your presence…want some assurances….want writing on the wall. Forgive us for our feelings and teach us to accept your presence whether we feel it or not. AMEN
Prayer is our communication with God. Do you pray? Do I take time for prayer? How do we expect to experience God without prayer? Too often we spend time telling God our wants and needs without listening for an answer. Too often we don’t think God for the gifts we have been given. Take time for prayer but remember to thank God and LISTEN. It is in silence that God speaks.
Awful God, we forget to give you thanks and praise. We forget to listen for your voice. We forget to be silent. Help us to remember that prayer is time spent with you. AMEN
There is so much judgment going on today. People are judged for their skin color, their religion, their money or lack thereof. That is only the beginning of the list. We could go on with transgender, homosexual, adulterer and on and on.
The problem is we are not called to judge. It is not our job. Our job is to love without judging. Admittedly a difficult job. When someone is everything you despise it is hard to think about accepting and loving but that is what God expects. In spite of what we see in front of us we have to see the human being that God made.
Forgiving God, help us to understand that we are not called to judge. Teach us to see you in everyone we meet. AMEN
God definitely has a sense of humor. Just when you think that you have everything in place the whole plan falls apart. I am sure that God wants us to stay flexible and follow His plan. Sometimes it is not the plan that we had in mind or even wanted to follow. When things hit us like a pie in the face we have to maintain a sense of humor. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, wipe the pie off our faces and follow God.
Loving God, I am sure that you laugh at us a lot but hope that we can get up and do your will. Help us to learn to move ourselves out of the way and follow you.
Hear God in Other Voices 