Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Call Comes to You in the Midst of Life

The Call comes to you in the midst of life


The Call comes to you in the midst of life


The Call comes to you in the midst of life

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The presence of the Holy Spirit

I’m starting 2011 as sick as I’ve been in many years … probably since high school when I landed in the hospital sick as a dog for some undiagnosed reason … Whatever the symptoms, the real culprit is definitely stress – it was then and it is now.

This past year has been a roller coaster of emotions … in my personal life, in corporate worship, and in my family. And I’ve been begging to get off the ride.

Two things have made me face reality:  a trip to Disney with a friend over New Year’s Eve which found me facing my fears and going on rides … which I found oddly not nearly as frightening as I anticipated because I was facing them with a friend… and preaching about the baptism of Jesus and realizing that even Jesus didn’t get to escape the roller coaster of life … in one pericope he’s hearing, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,” and in the very next pericope he’s in the wilderness facing temptation and loneliness. And the presence of the Holy Spirit is found in both places.

I really wanted to hear that I had spent my year on the roller coaster ride and would be allowed to jump off in 2011. But if anything, the heights seem much higher and the drops seem much steeper.

May the Holy Spirit be present and may I continually claim the calm assurance that Jesus still speaks, “Peace, be still.”

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Come …..

We ask for all
In trouble
Not knowing where to turn
We ask for a miracle
Come break through
Come dawn
Breath
Deep peace
Love diving
Grace unbound
Relieve your children's
Burden and pain
Come fill us
Center us in
Prayer
Silence
Companionship
Shared space

by
Annette Joseph
Strong, Maine

Joseph, Annette. "Come." Lifting Women's Voices: Prayers to Change the World. Ed. Margaret Rose, Jenny Te Paa, Jeanne Person, Abagail Nelson. NY: Morehouse Publishing, 2009. 264.