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Excerpt from: Seeing What is Sacred (Gire 2006)
Pages 10 -11
The Sacredness of Our Neighbor
Books in a way are sacraments that make the communion between an author and a reader possible. The white paper and black ink are the means through which one heart is revealed to another. But the paper and the words are merely the elements of the sacrament. What is sacred is the heart that writes the book and the heart that sits in silent communion to take and read what has been written.
The words that are read are small, waferlike things. But sometimes, on some page, God humbles himself to come through some of those words and touch the reader’s heart. It is not the words that are sacred but God who is sacred . . . and the person to whom he comes.
In a sermon C.S. Lewis once said that next to the Blessed Sacrament our neighbour is the holiest thing presented to our senses. Most of us though, are oblivious to that holiness except at rare moments . . .
“The awe that we sense or ought to sense when standing in the presence of a human being is a moment of intuition for the likeness of God which is concealed in his essence”, wrote the Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel. “Not only man, even inanimate things stand in relation to the Creator. The secret of every being is the divine care and concern that are invested in it. Something sacred is at stake in every event.”
Something sacred.
At stake.
In every event.
A sobering thought, if it’s true. And if it’s true, it changes everything. Every moment of our day, every day of our life. Every dinner with the family, every breakfast with a stranger.
Excerpt from: Out of Solitude (Nouwen, 1974)
Pages 31-32
Out of His solitude Jesus reached out his caring hand to the people in need. In the lonely place his care grew strong and mature. And from there he entered into a healing closeness with his fellow human beings.
Jesus indeed cared. Being pragmatists we say: “That is obvious: he fed the hungry, made the blind see, the deaf hear, the crippled walk and the dead live. He indeed cared.” But by being surprised by all the remarkable things he did, we forget that Jesus did not give food to the many without having received some loaves and fishes from a stranger in the crowd; that he did not return the boy of Nain to his widowed mother without having felt her sorrow, that he did not raise Lazarus from the grave without tears and a sigh of distress that came straight from the heart. What we see, and like to see, is cure and change. But what we do not see and do not want to see is care, the participation in the pain, the solidarity in suffering, the sharing in the experience of brokenness. And still, cure without care is as dehumanizing as a gift given with a cold heart.
Job 1:21 (New International Version)
NAKED I CAME FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB,
AND NAKED I WILL DEPART.
THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HAS TAKEN AWAY;
MAY THE NAME OF THE LORD BE PRAISED.
Job was a man who honoured God; he had been blessed by God. Satan took away the evidence of that blessing but the presence and caring of God remained. God allowed Satan to intervene in Job’s life. Job questioned God. He called out to God. He demanded an audience with God for answers and confirmation that he was blameless. Job’s wife and friends confronted him. People from his community who had respected him now scorned him.
Job admitted his sin and confirmed his belief in God. God answered Job “out of the storm”; Job’s life was in turmoil. God responded to Job with questions which Job could not answer. Although Job loved God he could not see God’s perspective. God showed Job that God was in control. Job acknowledges, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Job called out to God until he heard God’s answers.
Job’s story challenges me to acknowledge God’s provision. Throughout my life change has been constant. Life has not proceeded according to plan. The plan has changed many times, and likely will again. God loves me. He has directed me and provided for me and helped me to learn. But still, when change is upon me I struggle to meet it with confidence. Instead of calling on God to lead me I resist the change. Instead of relying on God’s strength I feel inadequate and overwhelmed. God has prepared me and challenges me to step forward. I am responsible to use the skills He has given and the strength He provides.
This opportunity to travel to Kenya is a gift from God. God has supplied the resources to allow me to see the beauties of the world and His provision in the lives of people I will meet. I will be challenged to learn new things and contribute the skills the Lord has taught me.
Will I understand “the bigger picture” that God sees? I may not. But I can be sure that God loves me and will meet my needs as I ask Him. Open my eyes, Lord, to see You. Open my mouth, Lord, to praise you. Let me learn through this experience, to use the gifts and skills you have given me to embrace change in my life, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:13 NIV.
Janice Evans
Unity in the Body of Christ
Ephesians 4 (New International Version)
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
God put us here for a reason, to be a part of the Body of Christ. He brought each one of us to Kenya for a specific reason and those whom we’ve left at home are there for a specific reason as well. We each have jobs that he’s intended us for. That job might be as simple as saying thank you to someone who’s made us a meal and touching their heart. Or, it could mean teaching a sermon to touch many hearts.
Each of the people we meet while we’re on this journey has a purpose in our lives as well as in the Body of Christ. Although we might not see it at the time all of these people will touch us and it’s our responsibility as part of the Body of Christ to be open and accepting of that touch. Some of the things we see and experience will make us feel uneasy or afraid or confused but there is something important to glean from all of it. Don’t shy away from those things but rather go towards them and face them with the knowledge that God is here to protect and love you and you are here to show that same faith and love to others.
Most of all remember that we are ALL part of the ONE Body of Christ believing in “5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Lisa Milton
Ruth 1: 16-17
When I began to think about writing this devotion, I turned to Eugene Peterson’s, The Message, to read his introduction to the book of Ruth. Following is my summary of his thoughts, which I wanted to share with you as a part of my devotion. This book of Ruth, a story about two widows and a farmer, is found in the Bible between the historic beginning of the Hebrew people with some well known stars – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses and the subsequent stories of spiritual formation starring characters such as Hannah, Samuel, David, Saul and Solomon. In the middle of these great fathers and mothers of the faith comes Ruth. She seems to be an unimpressive and unimportant character. She was a foreigner, not born into the faith, a poor, powerless widow. How could Ruth have any place in God’s story? As we read to the end of the book of Ruth, we discover that she is absolutely crucial for God’s story of redemption and salvation to be complete, for Ruth was the great-grandmother of David and a foremother of Jesus. How often do we feel that our lives are inconsequential, that we are only ordinary people who have little significance? Regardless of what we feel, each of us is “irreplaceable in the full telling of God’s story. We count – every last one of us – and what we do counts.” (The Message, p. 449).
What made Ruth significant? What made her life count? The two verses, Ruth 1: 16-17, provide an excellent glimpse into the character of Ruth and I believe answer those questions.
Don’t urge me to leave you or turn back from you.
You have something that I want – a faith for myself.
Where you go, I will go.
I will follow you to a place and a land I know nothing about. I will have hope.
Where you stay, I will stay.
I will be committed and live with you and your people who may even be hostile to me, a foreigner.
Your people will be my people.
I will become one of your people, observing the laws of your God.
Your God will be my God.
I will worship your God in spirit and in truth.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
I will be faithful, love you and stay with you until the end.
What made Ruth irreplaceable in God’s story? She became a woman of faith. She pursued the faith of Naomi and made it her own. She lived in relationship with God, following his ways, observing his laws. She had hope despite her circumstances. She lived out a life of love and commitment.
Commitment, Faith, Hope, Love.
Heavenly Father, Help us to live lives of commitment, faith, hope and love. We may never know the impact that we will have on the people around us. Despite that, use us and what we do, imperfect as we are, in your unfolding story of redemption and salvation. Amen.
Lynn Martin
Robbing God
Malachi 3:6-12
Are we robbing God? Are we bringing our tithes and offerings to Him? Are we bringing the ‘full’ or ‘whole’ tithe? If not we are robbing God.
Malachi is talking to a people who have abandoned and ignored God. They have not only abandoned God but also His children; the widows, the orphans, the foreigners, and those who work for wages. This lack of giving is a symptom of something much bigger. They have turned their backs on God and gone their own way and this arrogance has caused them to ignore their neighbour.
This is an interesting passage to consider while we are in Kenya (when you’re reading this we’ll be in Kenya). We are among a people who give even though they have few possessions. They share a meal with us, even killing their chicken or goat, while they survive on a protein deficient daily diet. Their chicken or goat is like the widow’s mite that Jesus described in Luke 21:1-4. Jesus said that the widow with her two pennies gave more of what she had than the rich man who gave out of his plenty.
I think that the time, members of the Altadore family have spent among the El Salvadorans and the Kenyans, has influenced us. Observing their lives and their character has rubbed off on us. It has made us a more giving family of believers. We respond to the need we see in the world around us. We love to share our time and gifts with His children where ever they are in the world.
The passage ends with the promise “We will be blessed” if we obey. In ‘The Message’ Eugene Peterson translates this to we will be called the “Happiest Nation”. It’s interesting that we’re here with the Kenyan people who give and share willingly. They are a happy people, smiling in spite of the many challenges they face each day. With these smiling faces the Kenyans must be part of the “Happiest Nation”. Being here among them allows this to rub off on us and we like others before us bring this back to our church family at Altadore.
Prayer:
May we be as generous as our Kenyan hosts.
May we bring the full tithe into God’s store house.
Grant us the willingness to obey, to look after
the widows, the orphans, the foreigners, and the workers.
May we become a “Happiest Nation”.
Amen
Glenn Malcolm
Psalm 123
1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.
Excerpt from: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (Peterson 1980)
Pages 55-56
Quote from Karl Barth
In general terms, service is a willing, working, and doing in which a person acts not according to his own purposes or plans but with a view to the purpose of another person and according to the need, disposition, and direction of others. It is an act whose freedom is limited and determined by the other’s freedom, an act whose glory becomes increasingly greater to the extent that the doer is not concerned about his own glory but about the glory of the other…. It is ministerium Verbi divini, which means, literally, “a servant’s attendance on the divine Word.” The expression “attendance” may call to mind the fact that the New Testament concept of Diakonos originally meant “a waiter.” We must wait upon the high majesty of the divine Word, which is God himself as he speaks in his action.
Generosity Encouraged
2 Corinthians 9: 6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
"They have scattered abroad their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever."
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
There are two kinds of giving noted in this passage. The first is giving out of obligation. The second is giving out of love. No matter what we give- our finances, our time, our friendship- God wants us to give willingly, out of love. When I think of all the gifts I have been given by God, I realize these gifts are given freely. Jesus gave the greatest gift, salvation, freely. God gave His Son, freely. God gave me gift of a loving family and wonderful friends, and the gift of living in this country, with all its wealth and benefits. The question is what should I do with these gifts, and how do I share them. The easy thing is financial sharing. Take a look at what you have, and write a cheque. Easy…..
The tough stuff is giving of yourself, putting others first. It is a challenge in our wealthy society to not feel some sense of entitlement. We think we deserve to be treated a certain way; we think we deserve to have a nice home, to eat well, to have top health-care, to have good education. We complain when any of this is lacking. The reality is we are just lucky. The first step to being a cheerful giver is to step out of the sense of entitlement, and enter into a sense of gratitude. When I become grateful for family, it is easier to give to them. When I am grateful for my friends, it is easier to give my time. When I am grateful for my life situation, it is easier to open my cheque book. The amazing thing is that truly the more we give the more we receive. When we give our time to help a friend, the satisfaction we get often feels like we benefitted more than the friend. Simply taking time to engage in conversation can have huge rewards.
The big issue though is how we see God. The burden of this text is to help us see God and feel God as a Giver and not a Taker. He is a Giver on both sides of our giving—on the back side, enabling our giving with his blessing, and the front side, rewarding our giving with even more blessing.
Colleen Milton
Psalm 28
The Lord our God is our rock and our foundation. We must trust in him during our times of struggle. Our faith in him always being there and never turning away from us gives us the strength to go through the struggles we all face in our lives. I need to always remember not to stop relying on him to help me accomplish my goals. He has a plan for me and a path for me to follow, and as long as I stay true to him and his ways I can accomplish anything. During this trip to Kenya I believe God will show me much about his ways and how he wants me to take part in his kingdom. Through relying on him, the journey he has set a head of me although challenging, can be accomplish. With him at my side anything is possible and it is through that strength that I step out of the world I know so well and travel to a land I do not.
Dear Lord give us strength to accomplish what you have set in front of us. We know that you challenge us to help us grow and for that we thank you. You have never let us down Lord and today we pray that you give us the strength to not let you down. Be with us this day Lord and give us the strength we require. You are our one true God Lord and we can do anything through you.
Amen
Stewart Littel
God Breaks Into Our Everyday World
Luke 24:1-12
The women have been preparing the spices and perfume for Jesus’ body. They did not have time to complete the burial. They only had time to get his body to the tomb and then they had to rest, as required on the Sabbath.
What a long Sabbath that must have been. Remembering what Jesus endured on the cross. Possibly trying to make sense of what seemed so senseless.
And now they rise early to bring the spices and perfume to the tomb. I can not imagine how heavy their hearts felt that morning. They were taking the final steps to complete the burial. Their focus on the task ahead of them.
And then there is surprise. The stone has been rolled away. More surprising, the body is missing! They are overwhelmed as men with white gleaming clothes appear suddenly. The events over the last few days are forgotten. God has broken into their world. They hear the words of Jesus again. He is risen! He said he would rise. How could we know what it would mean? He said it would happen and it has! He is risen!
The spices and perfumes are not mentioned again. The women probably left them as they hurried from the tomb. Their focus was no longer on the burial. They had to let the Eleven and all the others know that Jesus had risen.
When Peter entered the tomb it would have been filled with the aroma of the spices and perfume. An aroma normally associated with death. But there was no body. Even Peter was wondering what was happening. This is not what he had expected.
What joy and celebration there would be as the significance of the empty tomb sunk in. He had risen! Just as he said he would. What wonderful joy during a time of deep sorrow. God has broken into our everyday world and reminded us of His power and love.
Heavenly Father,
We thank you for the new life that You have given to every person through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We remember the pain and sorrow that began that first Easter morning and celebrate how You broke through with surprise and wonder. Through Your power and love You have given us new life. Help us Father to remember this in our everyday lives.
Amen
Darren Martin
Esther 4: 12-17
In the past few months I’ve been frequently reminded of the idea that each of us are living stories, stories within a greater story that connects everything God has and will create. Passages from songs, books, movies, and even T-shirts have caught my attention since I began focusing on this notion of “story”, the most prominent being the book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller, a narrative centered on the idea of writing your life into a story worth telling. In the end when we sit with God and remember our life, will he tell us we have lived a good story, one he is pleased with? Donald predicts of a story well lived: “I’ll tell these things to God, and he’ll laugh, I think, and he’ll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were his favourites. We’ll sit and remember my story together, and then he’ll stand and put his arms around me and say, “Well done,” and that he liked my story. And my soul won’t be thirsty anymore.”
Most of us have significant input into how our stories evolve and whether we write stories worth telling; I found this reflected in the account of Esther, specifically in her decision to risk her life in the chance she could protect the lives of her people. We can look to Esther’s story as an indication of what God is capable of doing when we choose to go from victims and bystanders to active participants that embrace conflict with courage and take the risk of trusting something beyond ourselves.
A good story doesn’t mean you have to travel across the world or become a leader of an organization; if we make the effort to look at every day and every moment as an opportunity to love people and love God I think we’re living a story that reflects the story of Jesus. Stories are also continuous, whether we are ten years old or ninety years old, characters continue to grow and there’s always more to be written. It is exciting to consider my life as a story, something God not only spoke into existence but also continues to whisper direction and opportunity into. However, not only am I writing stories for myself, my stories are also contributing to the greater story of all creation – a fact that requires accountability when we consider the impact of every choice we make.
I want to share one final quote by Donald, a statement I think deserves our consideration of how we have and will choose to write our lives in the face of a power fighting against a well written life:
“Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life. There is a force in the world that doesn’t want us to live good stories. It doesn’t want us to face our issues, to face our fear and bring something beautiful into the world…I believe God wants us to create beautiful stories, and whatever it is that isn’t God wants us to create meaningless stories, teaching the people around us that life just isn’t worth living.”
A Four Fold Franciscan Blessing
Bless us with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that we may seek truth boldly and love deep within our hearts.
Bless us with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
Bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
Bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we really can make a difference in this world, so that we are able, with your grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
Help us write stories worth telling, stories that go beyond ourselves, stories that make you proud.
Amen
Sara Malcolm
Life I find is harder and easier to enjoy when we are reminded of what there is in this world to compare to...
I was out getting some work done one on of my job sites/restaurants and I couldn’t help hearing the lady next to me. She was about thirty eight years old and was off on a rant about how her husband that she had been with for more than three years was being such an unrealistic individual and that he is only in it for himself! After trying to block her out and carry on with the task at hand I heard why and how this all started. The gist of it came down to the fact that her husband didn’t want to buy her the Land Rover until she was 40 and that she would have to stick with her “ lame Honda Ridgeline” until then. Wow was all I could get out of that when I was packing up my tools. May be the “lame Honda Ridgeline” was enough.
It has been a dry winter for us here in Southern Alberta. The duck ponds are down and dry, the rivers are low and clear, the grasses are snapping with the harsh dry wind and yet I am confident knowing that the rain will come with spring. I like hearing the birds move in, seeing the grasses starting to grow from the littlest of root. I find that these simple cycles of our Canadian landscape are what drive me and keep my head a little higher looking forward to a new period. Is it wrong to feel guilty for knowing that we have “it” a little easier than our Kenyan Friends? (And yes I took into account the whole minus thirty degree thing in winter; at least we know this too shall pass!)
So my Grandpa is dying, it is kind of neat to see. No I don’t like to see this happen don’t get me wrong. Here is a man that has been around for eighty years now and has his family closer than ever. Both grandparents have their family to lean on and talk through the whole process with. I feel blessed to have had the ability to know this man all of my life. I see his knowledge now coming through in the people around him and how he has had a quiet and simple approach to showing his experiences to others. I kind of find it hard to look at and think through the fact that someday I will be there in his place knowing that the end is coming and that I will never be able to tell or share another experience again. I guess what I am realizing is that every day we need our family and friends close to us to share those experiences with because someday we will not have the chance to do so. I at times find this hard in my busy life and I look up to most of Kenya for the relationships they have and the time they dedicate to each other.
So if you have known me for more than a day or so you should know that I love to go fly fishing. I feel more connected out there to this place we call earth and more in tune with God than in any other setting I’ve come across. One day just after the official start of spring I was out enjoying a little stream, that shall remain nameless, and I had the best day of fishing I for a stream that size in many years. The day started out laid back and simple. I got to the river around 1100 and the river as very low and clear. Minutes in to the hike up stream a beautiful Brown trout was on the other end of the line and the endless wind seemed to have stopped. A little further up stream I was greeted by a pair of Great Horned owls that took off from their tree and cruised inches above the water and lead me farther upstream. I landed a dozen fish that afternoon and the day just keep getting better. All of the time that this “surface enjoyment” was going on I was feeling that this stream was way too low to be healthy and then it hit me. Wait a minute; the river is here at least! There was enough snow in the mountains to sustain it until the rains came. All of the day’s enjoyments seemed to be a bit of a non-issue compared to the fact that there was a river there that at all. It shouldn’t be hard to live and enjoy life but it is good to see it differently when compared to some of the bigger issues out there.
I wrote this “devotion” in a bit of an untraditional way because this is the way that I see this thing we call life. There are so many dynamics of life that can be taken or experienced in a different way all dependent on perspective. I am here in Kenya because these people teach me that life is what we make out of it. I need this reminder to be able to “enjoy and connect” with what I think truly matters.
Eric Milton
The Living Stone and a Chosen People
1 Peter 2:4-12
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Peter is writing this letter to a collection of believers scattered across a diverse ethnic region and he is telling them that collectively, they are “a people” together. Though they may feel alone or isolated in their communities, they are a part of a privileged people group, the people of God. We too are people of God. Jesus is the living Stone, the precious Son who God chose to fulfill his purpose and sadly who, as then, is still rejected by many today. A temple is not built with just one stone but by many stones being stacked together, so are we drawn together as fellow stones with Christ as our cornerstone. In ancient times the cornerstone was the most important stone in architecture. It was a foundation stone that held the pressure where two walls joined. By putting our trust in Jesus, we will never be disappointed. This passage is an encouragement for Christian fellowship and confirms that God brings and binds us together.
We are also a people with a purpose. The priests were the ones who stood between the people and God and who offered the sacrifices in the temple. We are to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Our spiritual sacrifice is our heart, our very own being offered up to God. From this broken heart arise two main things that we do together as priests, praise and good works. We do them not in isolation, but together. Thus we have a spiritual fellowship and are spiritually connected to all Christians.
Christ was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the reprobate Jews who despised and rejected the word of the Gospel and everything to do with him, all of which was preordained. What makes the situation disheartening, is that God intended us all to be part of his family and in the end there will only be a remnant of all the nations that go to heaven.
For those of us who chose to believe in Christ, how wonderful to know that before we chose him, God chose us. What a privilege and an encouragement. As we grow in Christ, we are constantly being shaped into spiritual beings who are ever being refined in our journey toward everlasting life. In our daily struggles in this world (perhaps when we are belittled or embarrassed, tired or stressed), we may feel inadequate or unworthy to come into the presence of Christ. The Old Testament reference above reminds us that if we just trust in God, we will be all right. It seems such a simple thing but we need to impress it upon our minds so that we can remember and use it during those times of doubt and despair. It is comforting to know that because we have accepted Christ as our saviour and are following him we are being moulded day by day into his likeness. He is the light and all we need to keep walking in that light.
As Christians, we belong to a royal priesthood and a holy nation. If we think of royal circles here on earth, or privileged clubs, they pale by comparison! After all, we have God as our King and Jesus as our Lord.
I love verse 11. For a long time I have felt that I really do not belong in this world and this verse explains why! None of us Christians do – we belong to God's kingdom. It is interesting to see how some of the other bible versions describe this "worldly unbelonging". The Message says "friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it"; the New Living Translation, that we are "temporary residents and foreigners"; and The New English Version that we are "aliens in a foreign land". So, no wonder I feel like a stranger here.
Finally, we are called to live in such a way that those around us who do not know Christ will eventually be impacted by the way we live. With the help of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, by obeying his commands and reading his Word, we can overcome those worldly desires and temptations and be a model for unbelievers.
Janet Walker
Excerpt from: Can You Drink the Cup? (Nouwen, 1996)
Pages 109-111
One Cup, One Body
On July 21, 1997, it will be forty years since Cardinal Bernard Alfrink ordained me to the priesthood and my uncle Anton gave me his golden chalice.
The next morning I celebrated my first Mass in the sisters’ chapel of the seminary. I stood in front of the altar, with my back to the sisters who had been so kind to me during my six years of philosophical and theological studies, and slowly read all the Latin readings and prayers. During the offertory I carefully held the chalice. After the consecration I lifted it high above my head so that the sisters could see it. And during the communion, after having taken and given the consecrated bread, I drank from it as the only one allowed to do so at the time.
It was an intimate and mystical experience. The presence of Jesus was more real for me than the presence of any friend could possibly be. Afterwards I knelt for a long time and was overwhelmed by the grace of my priesthood.
During the nearly forty years that have followed, I have celebrated the Eucharist every day with very few exceptions, and I can hardly conceive of my life without the consistent experience of intimate communion with Jesus. Still, many things have changed. Today I sit behind a low table in a circle of handicapped men and women. All of us read and pray in English. When the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the table, wine is poured into large glass cups, held by me and the Eucharistic ministers . . .
So much has changed! So much has remained the same! Forty years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being a priest in the way I am now. Still, it is the continuous participation in the compassionate priesthood of Jesus that makes these forty years look like one long, beautiful Eucharist, one glorious act of petition, praise, and thanksgiving.
The golden chalice became a glass cup, but what it holds has remained the same. It is the life of Christ and our life, blended together in one life. As we drink the cup, we drink the cup that Jesus drank, be we also drink our cup. That is the great mystery of the Eucharist. The cup of Jesus, filled with his life, poured out for us and all people, and our cup, filled with our own blood, have become one cup. Together when we drink that cup as Jesus drank it we are transformed into the one body of the living Christ, always dying and always rising for the salvation of the world.
Psalm 131
a psalm of humble childlike trust in God
stilled and quieted his soul in God,
as a child to his mother.
Heavenly Father, thank you that I can trust in you like a child trusts in his mother. Thank you for being a loving God, protect us as we go to Africa and help others trust in you too. Amen
Paul Malcolm
Ezekiel 47: 1-12
This scripture is the one Altadore Baptist selected as a metaphor or reflection of our church during our second look at our Vision statement. Its rich imagery has drawn me into a wonderful sense of God’s presence and purpose in our personal lives and in our global fissional Church life.
The small spring begins at the Temple, the place for worshipping and building our intimate relationship with our God. It is the only source for what becomes a rushing river, unexpectedly widening and deepening the further from the source it flows. It moves in real time and space, and causes a miraculous change in the landscape and even impacts the Sea it flows into as the deadly salt becomes fresh. Life abounds within it and all around it and food is plentiful for those who need to eat, and at the end is the promise of healing. God is present in our world, whether near or far.
As you look at this passage while we are in Kenya, I pray that your small springs of love, care, hope, generosity, and purpose will unexpectedly widen and deepen as we together sense God’s presence in the actions and obedience of the people of the African Brotherhood Church. We have come a long way to see what God has done here, and to learn how flooding spiritual water can make everything fruitful, fresh, teeming with life and full of healing.
I am curious about the “man” in this passage who leads Ezekiel through this experience. For me it is as if Jesus was there with him, someone with knowledge and authority, who has a measuring line in his hand (v.3). For the Kenya team it is Tim Bannister, of course. Please pray for him today, and Diane too, as they have a significant role to play on our behalf as we all safari ya kikanisa.
David Littel
Prophets of a Future Not Our Own
-- Archbishop Oscar Anglo Romero (martyred on March 24th 1980)
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of
saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.
The Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon,
where there is discord, union,
where there is doubt, faith,
where there is error, truth,
where there is despair, hope,
where there is sadness, joy,
where there is darkness, light.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
In the world’s schema of things, survival of the fittest is the rule. In God’s schema, survival of the weakest is the rule. God always stands on the side of the weak and it is there, among the weak, that we find God.
Given the truth of that, we might occasionally pray the Lord’s Prayer in this way:
Our Father . . . who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn and those who, by victim of circumstance, bear the heat of the day.
Who art in heaven . . . where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well.
Hallowed be thy name . . . may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting that your ways are not our ways, your standards are not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbour.
Your kingdom come . . . help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other.
Your will be done . . . open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor.
On earth as in heaven . . . may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and the structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth.
Give . . . life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right and that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but because our own health depends upon our giving to them.
Us . . . the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different than the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally.
This day . . .not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity.
Our daily bread . . . so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clean air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus.
And forgive those who trespass against us . . . help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed, and ignored us.
And do not put us to the test . . . do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimized the poor. Spare us this test for none of us can stand before your gospel scrutiny. Give us, instead, more days to mend our ways, our selfishness, and our systems.
But deliver us from evil . . . that is, from the blindness that lets us continue to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more.
Amen.
Want to donate to any of the projects we're going to work on or to help us get there? Contact a member of the group and we'll let you know what to do next.
Can't donate but you really want us to know you care? Commit to praying for us in the time leading up to the trip and while we're there. Your prayers are invaluable to us!
Not so much into the praying thing? Commit to telling one friend about what we’re doing and how important water is to communities. We’ll post stats soon to help you spread the news.
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