Today’s text
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”
Prayer
According to your will, you say. Whatever we ask … according to your will … we will receive. And what is your will other than what you are? You are love, and you are glorified in words and deeds of love. These reveal you. They glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet. This is your will, and this prayer you never turn away. You always answer.
The longer I live the more I believe that, Holy One. The longer I live the more I know I need that prayer. Faces pass through my life, my office, crossing my path with human pain and joy beyond my capacity to understand. I listen agnostically, knowing only that I do not know their want, their need or their wounds.
And I pray: Help me to love this person. Help me to love this person …and the unique journey that brought them to my door. Truly, my Lord, I want nothing more than this.
Then I wait, and you answer. Of that, I am certain.
So I boldly pray again, over this and every day, over each person I shall meet today: Let me love them, regardless how pleasant or troubling they may be to me. May my words and deeds glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet, making you more present. That is your will, and for that I shall pray. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
Posts
All Comments
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:13
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Prayer
There are some things I know, O Nameless Love. I know the breath in my lungs. I know the sound of the crickets and tree frogs as I sit long evenings on the patio. I know the beauty of human souls surrendered to a great love for which they are willing to suffer.
And I know all these are your dance in the emptiness of time and space.
I know that all love and life, all beauty and wonder, all self-sacrifice and true generosity, all kindness and gentleness, all joy and peace are the fullness of your Being playing a holy game, coaxing me to join in that I might live.
I know it brings you joy to lift human souls into the fullness of the Love you are, where we find fullness of life and joy.
In all of this, I know you. And knowing you is eternal life. Thanks for letting me know. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:13
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Prayer
There are some things I know, O Nameless Love. I know the breath in my lungs. I know the sound of the crickets and tree frogs as I sit long evenings on the patio. I know the beauty of human souls surrendered to a great love for which they are willing to suffer.
And I know all these are your dance in the emptiness of time and space.
I know that all love and life, all beauty and wonder, all self-sacrifice and true generosity, all kindness and gentleness, all joy and peace are the fullness of your Being playing a holy game, coaxing me to join in that I might live.
I know it brings you joy to lift human souls into the fullness of the Love you are, where we find fullness of life and joy.
In all of this, I know you. And knowing you is eternal life. Thanks for letting me know. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:10-12
“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Prayer
Eternal life is in you, my blessed brother. And the life that is in you is in me, for you are in me. What is it to have you, to have life?
You are the incandescent burning of a love that has no name. You are the visible face of impenetrable eternity. You are the human features of infinite wonder. You are the unceasing love of the Father’s unfathomable heart.
To have you is to have this love, this life abiding in the depths of one’s being. It is to be in-dwelt by a divine abiding in which one’s heart can finally rest and abide. This awareness, this reality is eternal life.
I have no idea what it was like for you, my Jesus, to know the fullness of this life in your mortality. There must have been as much sorrow as joy as you witnessed what we do to each other and your creation. But joy is unmistakable, in you and even in my sad soul.
So, too, are freedom of heart and mind and a peace that comes as love abiding melts sadness and doubt and fills with the awareness that you are love; you are always love and you fill me with the love you are.
In moments of fullness, the only possible sadness is the knowledge that, too soon, I will lose awareness of you and revert to ordinary consciousness, not knowing your exquisite nearness. But in those moments I know you; I know myself, and I know what life is for. Let me, let none of us, ever forget. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:10-12
“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Prayer
Eternal life is in you, my blessed brother. And the life that is in you is in me, for you are in me. What is it to have you, to have life?
You are the incandescent burning of a love that has no name. You are the visible face of impenetrable eternity. You are the human features of infinite wonder. You are the unceasing love of the Father’s unfathomable heart.
To have you is to have this love, this life abiding in the depths of one’s being. It is to be in-dwelt by a divine abiding in which one’s heart can finally rest and abide. This awareness, this reality is eternal life.
I have no idea what it was like for you, my Jesus, to know the fullness of this life in your mortality. There must have been as much sorrow as joy as you witnessed what we do to each other and your creation. But joy is unmistakable, in you and even in my sad soul.
So, too, are freedom of heart and mind and a peace that comes as love abiding melts sadness and doubt and fills with the awareness that you are love; you are always love and you fill me with the love you are.
In moments of fullness, the only possible sadness is the knowledge that, too soon, I will lose awareness of you and revert to ordinary consciousness, not knowing your exquisite nearness. But in those moments I know you; I know myself, and I know what life is for. Let me, let none of us, ever forget. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:6-9
“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son.”
Prayer
I can’t say that I quite understand this, My Lord Christ, dearest friend. Does water refer to your baptism in human flesh? Does blood point to your death, faithful to God at the hands of those who hated and feared you? And the Spirit? Shall I think of this elusive constant one as that vitality of life and joy, who evermore recreates the face of the Earth--and me--in the divine image you reveal and are?
These three agree, giving God’s own witness that you are Lord, the revelation of God, the human, incarnate face of Eternal Wonder. You are the smile of God on the madness of the world. You are the knowing face of eternity turned in love to me amid all the unruliness of my life.
The water, the blood and the Spirit of joy that attends me each time I think of you: these invite me to know you, not merely as human friend but as abiding, divine presence, attending my every breath. Breathing in, I know you. I know you as the love of the Holy One who wants to known by every heart, by all that lives and by each spoonful of matter. Constant divine desire.
And I? I come to the close of another chapter, another semester, changed, deeper I hope. But you remain unchanged, constantly making witness to the love you are through our brother Jesus, the Christ.
Give us eyes and ears to receive your witness as we go our ways. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:6-9
“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son.”
Prayer
I can’t say that I quite understand this, My Lord Christ, dearest friend. Does water refer to your baptism in human flesh? Does blood point to your death, faithful to God at the hands of those who hated and feared you? And the Spirit? Shall I think of this elusive constant one as that vitality of life and joy, who evermore recreates the face of the Earth--and me--in the divine image you reveal and are?
These three agree, giving God’s own witness that you are Lord, the revelation of God, the human, incarnate face of Eternal Wonder. You are the smile of God on the madness of the world. You are the knowing face of eternity turned in love to me amid all the unruliness of my life.
The water, the blood and the Spirit of joy that attends me each time I think of you: these invite me to know you, not merely as human friend but as abiding, divine presence, attending my every breath. Breathing in, I know you. I know you as the love of the Holy One who wants to known by every heart, by all that lives and by each spoonful of matter. Constant divine desire.
And I? I come to the close of another chapter, another semester, changed, deeper I hope. But you remain unchanged, constantly making witness to the love you are through our brother Jesus, the Christ.
Give us eyes and ears to receive your witness as we go our ways. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)