Sunday, March 21 – Lent V (The First Day… and the Eighth)

To be in Your presence

To be in Your presence
To sit at Your feet,
Where Your love surrounds me,
And makes me complete.

This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.
This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.

To rest in Your presence,
Not rushing away;
To cherish each moment,
Here I would stay.

Noel Richards © 1991 Thankyou Music

Sabbath Poem VII (1982)

The clearing rests in song and shade.

It is a creature made

By old light held in soil and leaf,

By human joy and grief,

By human work,

Fidelity of sight and stroke,

By rain, by water on

The parent stone.

We join our work to Heaven's gift,

Our hope to what is left,

That field and woods at last agree

In an economy

Of widest worth.

High Heaven's Kingdom come on earth.

Imagine Paradise.

O Dust, arise!

- Wendell Berry (born 1934)

Saturday, March 20

The Lord is My Pace-Setter

The Lord is my pace setter … I shall not rush

He makes me stop for quiet intervals

He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity

He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind

and his guidance is peace

Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day,

I will not fret, for his presence is here

His timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance

He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity

by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility

My cup of joyous energy overflows

Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours

For I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord

and dwell in his house for ever.

- Japanese version of Psalm 23

Friday, March 19

Reflection

I struggle with being still. I always have. Because it has been such a burden in my life I have had to perfect some ‘exercises’ that I do on a regular basis. It is due to these ‘exercises’ that I am able to attain some degree of stillness, peace and order in my life. Were it not for them my life, emotions and lack of balance would sometimes be unbearable. I know this is true because whenever I waver, whenever I forget and whenever I succumb to feeling self-sufficient, life in all its manifestations are quick to remind me. At those times I may feel like a hamster running on its exercise wheel, becoming exhausted and having nothing to show for my effort. I may see no way around a situation. I may become obsessed with all I have to do when measured against the energy and time with which to do it. Of course, demons work very well at night and that is often when I need to put into practice the affirmations of faith that I have committed to memory.

I would like to share some of them with you.

Here is a copy of ‘The Lord Is My Pace Setter’, a Japanese version of the 23^rd Psalm.

(See Saturday, March 20)

As a little girl my mother taught me a prayer that has been a mainstay in my life. It is:

The infinite love of God ever enfolds me bringing harmony, order and peace into my mind, body and affairs.

I have found that it covers everything I have ever worried about. Whether it is health, work, relationships, financial concerns or feelings of inferiority this prayer seems to hit the nail on the head for me. There have been many times that I substitute me/my and put in the name of a daughter, a friend, a relative, my husband, a grandchild, my job, my husband’s business or a world concern. It works with every apprehension I have ever encountered and it makes bearable the pain I experience when dealing with things I feel powerless to improve.

I also like words of wisdom, such as:

¨ Carefully choose what you nurse and rehearse.

¨ Magnify the problem—or magnify God. You can’t do both.

¨ The tiniest of coins, when held close to the eyes, can blot out the sun.

¨ Gratitude can change my attitude.

¨ Count your blessings—name them one by one.

¨ Sometimes we need to be in God’s PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.

¨ Use beads on a bracelet or necklace for counting blessings or for turning over worries—one by one.

¨ If Satan controls my thought life—he controls me.

¨ God can not mend a broken heart unless you give Him all the pieces.

To ponder and pray:

¨ When are you still?

¨ Name a time when you experienced the holy, the sacred, when you felt near to God.

¨ What are the enemies of stillness in your life?

Thursday, March 18

Scripture for the Week: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:38-42

Reflection – Peter Romersa

In this parable Martha was becoming frustrated by her sister, Mary, as Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him rather than taking part in the laborious dinner preparations that were being planned for the evening.

Surely we have felt during certain moments of busyness and haste while working with family members, or coworkers that maybe one person was doing more work than other people may have been doing. Maybe you've been frustrated that other people surely were not “pulling their own weight.” Or maybe you have been on the receiving end of such criticism.

Jesus’ lesson is clear. We need to take time out, not just for ourselves, but also to spend time with Jesus himself. Jesus recognizes the power of Sabbath. When you spend time with yourself, deep in prayer, mediation, and renewal, you also spend time with Jesus, the source of continuous peace, renewal, and rejuvenation for ever and ever.

To ponder and pray:

¨ How did you feel about that word “Stop?”

¨ What happens for you when you do slow down, or when you’re forced to stop?

¨ How do you define “rest?” What is restful for you?

¨ What most disturbs your rest?

Wednesday, March 17

Scripture for the Week:

For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

You sweep us away in the sleep of death;

they are like the new grass of the morning –

though in the morning it springs up new,

by evening it is dry and withered.

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Psalm 90:4-6, 12

Reflection –

Isaiah 26:3 inspiration:

I lay all my cares upon You.

I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.

And any time that I don’t know what to do

I will cast all my cares upon You.

When the door between a dark room and a brightly lit room is opened darkness does not flood the lit room.

In my daily journal I often record the prayer that God will take over my thoughts, actions and priorities. I pray that God will sit in my driver’s seat and maneuver the vehicle I call my life. I pray that He will be the brakes, the accelerator and my GPS. I pray for the humility to allow Him to control me, my journey, my day and my schedule. I pray that He will allow me only to see straight ahead, like a horse with blinders on, so that I will not become distracted or discouraged.

I am always amazed at the change in my outlook and the how the road in front of me seems to smooth out when I allow Him to be in charge. At the end of many days I am truly astounded at how He has enabled me. At those times I wonder what gets into me at other times when I think I can go it alone, know better than He and want or need to be in control.

I also keep another journal in which I jot down 3-5 things I feel grateful for at the moment. It may be as simple as NOT having any pain, having the energy to put one foot in front of the other or having the ability to bathe myself. When I review it I give praise and thanks to the One who provides. This has proven to be beneficial before going to bed at night.

These are just a few ideas and affirmations that may help others to be still and cultivate attentiveness.

Tuesday, March 16

Sabbath Reflection

This is the Sabbath to-day. This is the day set apart by a benignant Creator for rest – for repose from the wearying toils of the week, and for calm and serious (Brown's dog has commenced to howl again – I wonder why Brown persists in keeping that dog chained up?) meditation upon those tremendous subjects pertaining to our future existence. How thankful we ought to be (There goes that rooster, now.) for this sweet respite; how fervently we ought to lift up our voice and (Confound that old hen – lays an egg every forty minutes, and then cackles until she lays the next one.) testify our gratitude. How sadly, how soothingly the music of that deep toned bell floats up from the distant church! How gratefully we murmur (Scat ! – that old gray tom-cat is always bully-ragging that other one –
got him down now, and digging the hair out of him by the handful.) thanksgiving for these Sabbath blessings. How lovely the day is! ("Buy a broom! buy a broom! ") How wild and beautiful the ("Golden Era 'n' Sund' Mercry, two for a bit apiece!") sun smites upon the tranquil ("Alta, Mon' Call, an' Merican Flag!") city! ("Po-ta-to-o-o-es, ten pounds for two bits – po-ta-to o-o-es, ten pounds for quart-va dollar!" )

- reprinted Mark Twain's San Francisco, edited by Bernard Taper
(McGraw Hill, 1963), pp. 199-200
Reflection –
Peter Romersa

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” In this commandment, God prescribes people work for six days out of the week, but on the seventh day God proscribes any work to be performed by anyone. This is a special day out of the week that is reserved for quiet time, and no work should be done at all. God, as the final authority, even gives the prohibition of work to slaves and animals that work on the farm.
This advice just as timely today as it was back when in ancient times, when the world was beginning to form. Today we live in a twenty-four hour news cycle virtual reality world.
We are constantly being bombarded with the latest scandals from Hollywood celebrities to
high-profile superstar athletes. We need one day to take a break from Twitter, Facebook, a
nd Gmail: the scandals can live to wait another day. We need to take a break from all this information, so we can recharge our spiritual batteries and we can start the world anew the next day and be ready for any challenge that faces us during the week ahead.

Monday, March 15

Scripture for the Week: Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. – Genesis 2:1-3
Reflection – Paula Hanson

When Kate first mentioned the idea of Sabbath keeping, I pretty much tuned out – it seemed to be one of those ideas that could work for others but not for me. Yes, I know there are people who keep the Sabbath, but “Sabbath keeping in Fairfield County” seems like an oxymoron. Take a day to rest every week? You’re kidding, right?

As I started to look at Sabbath keeping, though, I was impressed with the long tradition of people who have kept it. For the spiritual descendants of Abraham – Jews, Christians, Muslims – time flows in seven-day cycles, and there is always a day to rest and reflect and worship. The lives of these peoples have not been simple or easy, and yet many of them have kept the Sabbath. Sometimes they had to really fight for it, for example, when anti-Christian leaders tried to weaken religious traditions by abolishing the seven-day week during the French Revolution. But the people valued the Sabbath idea enough to resist that change.

Why did our ancestors think that Sabbath keeping was so wonderful? For them, the Sabbath was not meant to be a day of relaxing, really, but rather a day to spend time thinking, meditating, praying, and worshipping. So it was intended to be productive time that produced “results” – guidance, security, peace, hope and other gifts from God. And I think that God offers us these gifts, and this experience, even today. As with many elements of the Christian life, we just have to choose to say “yes” to it – to stop doing and start being – and then see where it can take us.