February 27, 2012
True Fasting
Isaiah 58
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
February 26, 2012
Ignatian Prayer for Detachment
A Prayer for Lent
I beg of you, my Lord,
to remove anything which separates
me from you, and you from me.
Remove anything that makes me unworthy
of your sight, your control, your reprehension;
of your speech and conversation,
of your benevolence and love.
Cast from me every evil
that stands in the way of my seeing you,
hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching you;
fearing and being mindful of you;
knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you;
being conscious of your presence
and, as far as may be, enjoying you.
This is what I ask for myself
and earnestly desire from you. Amen.
~ Blessed Peter Faber SJ
From Hearts on Fire: Praying with Jesuits
http://ignatianspirituality.com/4036/prayer-for-detachment/
February 22, 2012
Ash Wednesday Prayer
Jesus come and save us,
We are but dust,
We are like ashes,
but you can touch our unclean souls.
Jesus come and forgive us,
Our hearts are heavy,
Our burdens are great,
Cleanse us with the water of life.
Jesus come and heal us,
Restore our sight,
Teach us truth,
Speak to us words that bring us wholeness.
Jesus touch us with your heart of love,
Cleanse us with the water of life,
Restore our sight that we may see,
Teach us truth that we may lead Godly lives.
-Christine Sine
http://msainfo.us/2012/02/17/join-us-at-godspace-during-lent/
February 21, 2012
Giving Up
Jesus, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
-Philippians 2:6-8
He gave up everything for us. Such sacrificial love…
February 2, 2012
The Lord Our Righteousness
We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. –I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. –To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Jeremiah 23:6b Isaiah 64:6 Psalms 71:16 –Isaiah 61:10 Luke 15:22 –Revelation 19:8 Philippians 3:8, 9January 26, 2012
Contentment
O Lord, by your dealings with us, whether of joy or pain, of light or darkness, let us be brought to you. Let us value no treatment of your grace simply because it makes us happy or because it makes us sad, because it gives us or denies us what we want; but may all that you send us bring us to you; that knowing your perfectness, we may be sure in every disappointment you are still loving us, in every darkness you are still enlightening us, and in every enforced idleness you are giving us life, as in his death you gave life to your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Phillips Brooks (1835–1893)
January 14, 2012
Prayer from Martin Luther King Jr.
A New Day of Justice and Brotherhood and Peace
God grant that we will be participants in this newness and this magnificent development. If we will but do it, we will bring about a new day of justice and brotherhood and peace. And that day the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy. God bless you.
(One of King’s very last public prayers, recited at the end of his sermon “Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution.” This sermon was preached at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1968, five days before King was assassinated. King paraphrases Job 38:6–7.)
Taken from: http://www.thekinglegacy.org/books/thou-dear-god-prayers-open-hearts-and-spirits
January 6, 2012
An Epiphany Prayer
Lord Jesus
may your light shine our way,
as once it guided the steps of the magi:
that we too may be led into your presence
and worship you,
the Child of Mary,
the Word of the Father,
the King of nations,
the Saviour of mankind;
to whom be glory for ever.
~ Frank Colquhoun
Taken from: http://www.churchyear.net/epiphanyprayers.html
January 2, 2012
I see you and I love you
I see you and I love you-
God’s words to you today
whoever you are
wherever you are
whatever you are doing…
What a God!
One who loves you no matter what.
May you receive this truth today,
and pray/live it to others as well.
Amen.
Prayers & Creeds 