Holy Saturday, April 3

Scripture for the Day:

Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts - Psalm 95:6-8

Reflection – Ed Happ

The Yearning

I long for

the God who

dabbles in chaos,

puts His finger

into my hard heart,

a thorn to

stir my doubt;

pokes through

my hands

when I dare

to take up

the pen of a wagging tongue—

the God

who speaks to me

in the slow time—

the outages

in a flurried life—

when even

a blowing

wisp of a

spring spore

can sing.

30 Apr 00

Holy Saturday is a day that does not make sense. We are stuck between the times, in a limbo much like a man late in life getting laid off before he realizes the dream, before it has taken him by surprise. Yesterday all the plans and hopes died with the finality of a nail in a coffin. How do we go on from here? What will I tell my friends, my children, my family? I am a fool without a cause, without a purpose, without a job. Our hopes are scattered to the wind like the disciples in hiding. This did not go as planned; this did not end well. I’ve been shaken up with no foundation on which to place my feet and stand. I bolt the door, curl up in my bed and wait; doubt and despair stirring left and right, I dream of an elusive knock on the window.

Good Friday, April 2

Scripture for the Day:

Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others;

a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;

and as one from whom others hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God,

and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:1-5

Reflection

Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

(1987, North Point Press, San Francisco)

To sit and look at light-filled leaves
May let us see, or seem to see,
Far backward as through clearer eyes
To what unsighted hope believes:
The blessed conviviality
That sang Creation’s seventh sunrise.
Time when the Maker’s radiant sight

Made radiant every thing He saw,
And every thing He saw was filled
With perfect joy and life and light.
His perfect pleasure was sole law;
No pleasure had become self-willed.

For all His creatures were His pleasures
And their whole pleasure was to be
What He made them; they sought no gain
Or growth beyond their proper measures,
Nor longed for change or novelty.
The only new thing could be pain.

Maundy Thursday, April 1

Scripture for the Day:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Reflection – Kate Heichler

Why is this night different from all other nights? I don’t know if that question was part of the Passover observance in Jesus’ how different this night would be from all other nights that ever had been or ever would be.

Maundy Thursday is for me the most sacred night of all the sacred nights. It is a threshold from regular chronos time into God’s kairos time, a night when the membrane separating heaven and earth becomes wafer-thin. We gather and celebrate and commemorate a meal at which everything became subverted, no expectation met unchanged. Jesus takes the familiar prayers of blessing and distorts them with shocking words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He takes a ritual of hospitality with which a host would normally greet guests and enacts it after the food, lowering himself to wash his disciples’ feet, an act of intimacy and humility that challenges our self-sufficiency as much as it did theirs. And after supper he goes into the night to accept the most intimate of humiliations, not fighting, but subverting human pretensions of control with love and truth.

And so we eat and wash and bless and pray, and walk together into the three-day dream sequence we relive every year, in which God and humanity meet on a cross of brutality,

in which heaven and earth come crashing together and the whole mortal order of things is overturned, once and for all. Death swallowed up by life. Here it begins, our sacred mystery. Stay awake. Watch and pray.

To ponder and pray:

¨ Will you accept the gift and discomfort of allowing someone else to wash your feet tonight? Someone who stands in for Jesus?

¨ If not, in your prayer today tell Jesus why you won’t allow him that privilege. How does He answer you?

If yes, invite Him to open your heart to God’s transforming life in the encounter.

Wednesday in Holy Week, March 31

Scripture for the Day:

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved - was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:21-35

Tuesday in Holy Week, March 30

Scripture for the Day: Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” – John 12:20-26

from Wendell Berry's A Timbered Choir, 1998

What hard travail God does in death!

He strives in sleep, in our despair,

And all flesh shudders underneath

The nightmare of His sepulcher.

The earth shakes, grinding its deep stone;

All night the cold wind heaves and pries;

Creation strains sinew and bone

Against the dark door where He lies.

The stem bend, pent in seed, grows straight

And stands. Pain breaks in song. Surprising

The merely dead, graves fill with light

Like opened eyes. He rests in rising.

Monday in Holy Week, March 29

Scripture for the Day: While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” - Mark 14:3-9

Reflection – Kate Heichler

We have, for the past five weeks, been modeling something of this woman’s act of extravagant worship – we have been offering our time, the most precious commodity most of us possess.

Few things are more costly than giving a whole day to something or someone. In the spiritual practice of Sabbath-keeping, we offer God a whole day per week, empty, for God to fill.

The practical, earthbound voices in and around us might say, “Wouldn’t God rather we worked for those hours? Got something done? Made money so we could give more away? Produced something? Done volunteer work? Why was this time wasted in this way?”

But a voice in our spirit cries, ‘Yes! Break open the alabaster jar of precious minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years… break it open and offer it all in worship to our Lord; pour it over his head and watch our precious time drip down his face.

For who gave us the time, but He, the Maker of all time, and the One in whom all time will end?

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

Song When I survey the wondrous Cross Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the prince of glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ my God

All the vain things that charm me most

I sacrifice them to his blood

See from his head, his hands, his feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did ever such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were a present far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

Palm Sunday – March 28 (The First Day… and the Eighth)

Song: When I survey the wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts/Folk Tune

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Saturday, March 27

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world.

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reflection – Ed Tucker

Early weekend mornings when I am in Stamford and not commuting to New York City, you will find me walking at the Cove. As day breaks I check on the tide, see if the sky in orange, observe what the geese, swans and other birds are doing and let my mind wander. This is when new ideas for my research program pop into my mind, when I get a more accurate and balanced understanding of what is important to me, my family and my friends, and when I plan for my biology lectures. Importantly, this is when epiphanies come to me. Everything becomes fine with me and the world. I then stretch, drive home and have breakfast while reading The Advocate. I highly recommend unstructured free time and invite you to join me any time of the year - 6:00 to 7:00 a.m at Cove Island Park.

Friday, March 26

Scripture for the Week:

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

- Philippians 4:4-8

Friday, March 26

Reflection –

In this scripture we are reminded to see the Lord at the “Helm of Life.”

Through the mystery of asking, seeking and praising, we are able to “Let God handle the matter at hand.”

In truth, our requests are already known by God, we are encouraged to speak up and feel comfortable, faithfully offering our concerns to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving. He is not surprised nor is any thing really kept from the Divine.

We are asked to offer, surrender our problem at hand, by asking for help and with praise! While we are waiting, we may not understand exactly what is happening, but in that moment of surrender and offering, the promise is written, “We are given the Peace of God that surpasses our mortal understanding.”

So, we may not understand why or how this peace and protection takes place, but we don’t have to. We just have to trust and have faith and release our prayers to Father God completely.

We are also advised to shift our attention from negative worry, towards a more conscious awareness of all the blessings of beauty, natures simplicity, harmony with loved ones and goodness the God continuously supplies.

Become aware of what surrounds you with the utmost gratitude. We can take a few quiet moments and meditate or contemplate the many times God has been there for us and the many breakthroughs and miracles taken place..

Whatever is great about my life, I give thanks. Everything I have is because of Grace. Everything I don’t have is also because of Gods Grace. I may never know what I was protected from because of Grace , or when I have been spared undue pain. Give God the Glory and keep looking upward and within, stay focused on the pureness of life.

Thursday, March 25

Scripture for the Week:

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath… Therefore the Jewish leaders started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God

. – John 5:1-9, 16-18

Who makes a clearing makes a work of art,

The true world’s Sabbath trees in festival

Around it. And the stepping stream, a part

Of Sabbath also, flows past, by its fall

Made musical, making the hillslope by

Its fall, and still at rest in falling, song

Rising. The field is made by hand and eye,

By daily work, by hope outreaching wrong,

And yet the Sabbath, parted, still must stay

In the dark musings of the soil no hand

May light, the great Life, broken, make its way

Along the stemmy footholds of the ant.

Bewildered in our timely dwelling place,

Where we arrive by work, we stay by grace.

- Wendell Berry, Sabbaths

North Point Press, 1987

Wednesday, March 24

Scripture for the Week:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

– Psalm 23

Reflection –

One of my favorites Psalms, often heard at eulogies, is mysteriously full with life-affirming words if we look more closely.

Just imagine, Gods’ Shepherd, leading and beckoning us to take repose in Spirit. Realizing that we are welcome to experience calm waters instead of restlessness. Allowing ourselves at any given moment to take rest in Him.

To me this means “fully” the promise of restoration and wholeness. Even if we experience a “dark night of the soul” we are promised regeneration and comfort.

Fear does not have to consume us. Fear has no place any longer, because we are told that He is our comforter, showing us the path ahead.

Further blessings abound as we are anointed with fresh oil and with divine guidance led to rightful decisions and insights. Isn’t it wonderful to know we can be led and shown the path ahead for the highest best and good for all concerned?

God also wants us to know that we are promised a place of sanctuary in the midst of foes and hardships, we have a special reservation, seated at the table of life.

“Our cup runneth over” is the outpouring of blessings upon us! A reminder when the Heart is filled with Spirit, the Cup of Life overflows. Aren’t we fortunate to have goodness, mercy and abundance, not just for today, but for all the days of our lives.?

Tuesday, March 23

Reflection – Ed Happ

Before the scream

She sees the tail

of the mouse

already gone.

If scurrying could be rewound,

would she hear the little feet of time

that taps in her ears,

see the blur of the white under-belly

sweeping along the polished oak floors

in her life?

Will she slow it down

before the scream

and give thanks?

Sharon Olds recently said “Poetry, as in therapy, is about backing up the mouse that just ran into the hole in the wall.” Stop! What just happened? Roll-back the tape and do an instant replay in your mind. Write down what you saw. This is often my thought process in writing a poem. The most important word in the sequence, however, is not “write” …it’s “stop!”

When we pause, focus, stop the chatter, we are open to listening, to asking “what just happened?” The writing is then recording, like relating a dream after you woke up. That’s a kind of paying attention in reverse to what has just become “past” and a new openness to what may be coming around the corner.

– from an Advent sermon November 30, 2008

WEEK 5 : Being Still: Cultivating Attentiveness -- Monday, March 22

Scripture for the Week:

That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don't you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

- Mark 4:35-40

Reflection –

After a full day of Jesus teaching parables to the multitudes, it was time to rest. Evening was approaching and he decided to be alone with his disciples instructing them to cross over to the other shore. The disciples surrounded him in the boat and there they sailed.

Undoubtedly, Jesus was silent and eventually went to sleep. Perhaps his lesson being taught that night was not a parable but a lesson of commanding words in total faith.

After the violent churning of waves and turbulent winds began, the disciples panicked, forgetting the lessons of the parables learned that day. They awoke Jesus stricken with terror and claimed, “He didn’t care about them!” After all, how could he be asleep when so many of their lives were in peril?

Now, I suspect Jesus knew what he was teaching them that night, perhaps in a different way than parables. Jesus woke from his slumber and stood up commanding nature with full power of the spoken word, “Be Still.” Then the winds ceased, the waters calmed and truly the disciples were amazed. That day they saw Faith and Power work in unison. The result of faith and the spoken word transformed nature, ;Gods powerful alchemy was at work. That day, the lesson might have been that or simply, “Only he who obeys, can command.”

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.