Category: actions

Community

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At its best, Christian community nourishes the alternative life of centering in God, and instill at passion for compassion and justice for the whole creation.———-Marcus Borg

To be the Christian we are called to be we need to be in community. We need others to share our “God moments” and to hear theirs. We need the support of the community when we are in crisis and should be ready to help when others face problems. If you have not found your community keep looking!

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Compassionate God, help us to find that place where we can nurture others and be nurtured. AMEN

Let go!

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Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

It is so easy to take worries on ourselves. We forget to turn it over to God and let it go. Or we may turn it over and keep picking it back up. Maybe, we think, we can handle it ourselves. Maybe we know better.

The truth is we are sometimes arrogant enough to want to hold on to the worry and not let it loose. God will take over if we let him.

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Gracious God, you must wonder why we insist in holding on to things that you can take and carry for us. Help us to turn lose and let God.

Life is limited

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Death gives life its fullest reality. ——————Anthony Dalla Villa, Eulogy for Andy Warhol, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, April 1,1987

jumping kid on the field

Death reminds us that our time in this life is limited. Knowing that there is an end pulls us to live each day to the fullest. God created life and a universe around us. Don’t forget to stop, look, and appreciate each moment.

Amazing God, you created everything. Help us to see that every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God First

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Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul. ——————Henry Van Dyke
It is easy to get lost in ourselves. We can’t help it. Self seems to be the only things we have. It is understandable that we put ourselves first. However, we are called to put God first. It is a difficult thing to do but we have to keep trying. I don’t know if we will ever achieve it until we are united with God but we have to try.
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God of the universe, keep reminding us that you come first. Help us to keep trying. AMEN

Things can be idols

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Why is life sped up so? Why are thing so terribly unbearably precious that you can’t enjoy them but can only wait breathless in dread of their going? ——Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I sometimes think that things have become more important than God. Things have become our idol. If we aren’t concerned about the things we have we are longing for the things we don’t have. TV is telling us every day that there is something else we must have.

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We have to learn to enjoy what we have now. We have to appreciate the life we have and give thanks.

Giving God, you have given us so much. Help us to know that it is enough and be thankful. AMEN

We need touch

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touching-quote-1Touch is important for our life. God created us to live together. He did not leave Adam alone. We need the Christian community. Sharing the peace, the touch of hands in healing are so important. God intended us to be touched.

Lord God,  you created us together, help us to find the touch of your healing community. AMEN

Community

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We hunger for a kind of group association in which, through being ourselves, we may get to something greater than ourselves. We long to touch the transcendent, and, furthermore, to do it in the company of others who, by sharing our experiences, verify and confirm them. —————-Milton J. Rosenberg

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I am one of the people who feel that it is hard to be Christian without a community of faith. We need others to confirm our beliefs. We need them to be with us during our trials and we with them during theirs. We need a family of faith. If you don’t have one search until you find one.

Loving God, help us to find a community that can become our extended family AMEN

see more on this subject on https://wordpress.com/post/worrylessjourney.com/2827

 

The light of life

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When the soul is troubled, lonely and darkened, then it turns easily to the outer comfort and to the empty enjoyment of the world.  ————–Friedrich Froebel

When things don’t go well for us it is easy to try to find solace elsewhere. Some find it in a bottle, some in drugs, some in sex, some in parties and high living. The problem is that none of these things light the dark space where the soul resides. Only God can do that.

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Patient God, you wait for us to discover that our only light is in you. Help us to turn to you in our dark times. AMEN

The Lord’s Prayer

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The following is a version of the Lord’s Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book. There are so many reasons why I love this form. It’s description of God moves me to tears. “Loving God, in whom is heaven:” makes me sit and ponder on its vision. “In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.” We are hurt and we hurt others. It is so easy to see it in this version. I encourage you to read and think about the prayer. You may love it or you may hate it but it will help you think.

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and for ever. Amen.

just listen

Mind yourself

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Difference of rite ought not to involve differences of faith-———Christopher Dawson

Sometimes I think that we spend as much or more time pointing out the flaws of other denominations that we do about other religions. Some feel that their path is the only one and want to be sure that everyone else is wrong.

God is so far beyond out understanding that none of us can claim to have the only truth. Don’t waste time putting down others.

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Gracious Lord, remind us to mind our own search for you and not someone else’s. AMEN