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
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.
Scripture for the Week:
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
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
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.?
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
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.”
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
O Dust, arise!
- Wendell Berry (born 1934)
