Today, to close our retreat, let me invite you to be with me in ways that might nourish our hearts. I would like to pray with you with song, in silence and in the spirit stillness. So, take a deep breath and let it go into God’s loving grace as we sing: Alleluia.
Psalm 40 in the Hebrew Bible asks us to be still and know: know God, know that we are loved, know that God’s will is greater than our fears, plans, differences, and everything else that so often ties us in knots. And last night the wisdom of God was shared through God’s first word – creation/nature – when it snowed. Everything around us had to slow down and be careful. We had to become watchful. We had to pay attention if we were out on the roads. And if we were really listening when we got home, we had the chance to simply be still and quiet and just rest and into the darkness. Resting in silence or stillness in one of the ways we can all pray. No words just resting. And when I saw the snow last night, it was clear to me the one of the ways we needed to pray together today was simply to rest into the spirit of this season.
One of my teachers, the late Fr. Ed Hays of Lawrence, KS, used to put it like this: O sacred season of winter, be my teacher, for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment. We live in a society that is ever-restless, always eager for more mountains to climb, seeking happiness through more and more things. So let us be still together right now just like last night's snow and rest. Let us feel the blessings that are already in our hearts just waiting for us to sense them. And after a moment of silence, we can sing a song of resting in God's presence that you've been practicing for the last 18 months: Bless the Lord My Soul.
During this season when it gets dark early and is so often wildly cold, another thing God’s first word in nature can teach us during the winter is our need for one another. In the summertime we might think we can make it all by ourselves, but when its frozen and it hurts to breathe – when we can’t dress ourselves - or we need help with shoes and boots and mittens, then we remember the blessing of friends and those who care for us. There’s a beautiful passage in Christian scripture at the end of the Gospel of St. John where Jesus tells Peter that: when you were young you went where you wanted and did what you wanted, but as you grow older there will come a time where you can’t go where you want and you will need another to help you dress. And that will be a time where you will be led into those places you do not want to go.
So let me ask you to offer up two prayers right now: One is the name of just one person you are grateful to have in your life – someone who helps you, loves you, encourages you, gets you ready for life everyday – one person who brings something of God’s love into your life these days. Take a moment to get that name… and then on the count of three say it out loud as a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord. Ready? One, two, three… un, deux, trois... Second, let's sing the Alleluia again together as a way of returning thanks to God for the people in our lives who love us, help us, and show us we're not alone. These are prayers of honoring and gratitude...
And there's one other gift that the snow offers to us when we pray and that is to
Psalm 40 in the Hebrew Bible asks us to be still and know: know God, know that we are loved, know that God’s will is greater than our fears, plans, differences, and everything else that so often ties us in knots. And last night the wisdom of God was shared through God’s first word – creation/nature – when it snowed. Everything around us had to slow down and be careful. We had to become watchful. We had to pay attention if we were out on the roads. And if we were really listening when we got home, we had the chance to simply be still and quiet and just rest and into the darkness. Resting in silence or stillness in one of the ways we can all pray. No words just resting. And when I saw the snow last night, it was clear to me the one of the ways we needed to pray together today was simply to rest into the spirit of this season.
One of my teachers, the late Fr. Ed Hays of Lawrence, KS, used to put it like this: O sacred season of winter, be my teacher, for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment. We live in a society that is ever-restless, always eager for more mountains to climb, seeking happiness through more and more things. So let us be still together right now just like last night's snow and rest. Let us feel the blessings that are already in our hearts just waiting for us to sense them. And after a moment of silence, we can sing a song of resting in God's presence that you've been practicing for the last 18 months: Bless the Lord My Soul.
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What did singing that feel like? Quiet? Restful? Peaceful? Safe? Tender? See you already know how to pray in restfully with stillness. Your hearts are just helping you realize it. Let's sing it again and rest in the quiet after we're done...So let me ask you to offer up two prayers right now: One is the name of just one person you are grateful to have in your life – someone who helps you, loves you, encourages you, gets you ready for life everyday – one person who brings something of God’s love into your life these days. Take a moment to get that name… and then on the count of three say it out loud as a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord. Ready? One, two, three… un, deux, trois... Second, let's sing the Alleluia again together as a way of returning thanks to God for the people in our lives who love us, help us, and show us we're not alone. These are prayers of honoring and gratitude...
hold silently in our hearts one of those places you don’t want to go to: we all have them and we just like we can't take away the winter darkness, we can’t deny the dark and hard places of our lives. Jesus promises us that God’s love will be with us even in those dark, hard places. So this is really a prayer about trust – resting in God’s love that is greater than our ability to understand or even control in those times when we’re hurting or confused. I think the winter darkness can help us to open our hearts in trust.
So let’s close our eyes together and be still for another moment of winter prayer together in the spirit of this season’s darkness and silently lift up to the Lord one of those dark places in your life, ok? One of those challenging or painful places. At the close we’ll turn it all over to the One who is Holy with the prayer song: Bless the Lord my soul…
So let’s close our eyes together and be still for another moment of winter prayer together in the spirit of this season’s darkness and silently lift up to the Lord one of those dark places in your life, ok? One of those challenging or painful places. At the close we’ll turn it all over to the One who is Holy with the prayer song: Bless the Lord my soul…
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