Today’s text
2 John 1:13
“The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.”
Prayer
Another goodbye: a farewell speaking simple words of grace from one life to the heart of others. I quickly pass over such words, Gracious One. They feel pro forma, a necessary formality with little meaning. I race by them in disregard, whether here in sacred text or in daily life. Life is busy; I must hurry to the next thing.
Greetings carry more weight in traditional cultures. The touch of a hand to the heart, a bow, hands brought together before the breast: these give honor and show respect or even affection.
I wonder: how much of your love and grace do I miss as I race through life? How much consolation and blessing do I push aside in my hurry to get on with it? I fear that I often miss your grace in the gentle hospitalities of those I meet each day.
I miss not only the goodness of human souls, but you. And of all the things I would miss in life, it grieves me most to miss you. For it is you for whom I most hunger. It is your gracious voice I most need to hear. Without it, my soul withers and dies.
Grant me grace to walk slowly, to pause amid the feverishness of life to hear and savor words of common hospitality and humanity. And give me a heart to know you in each one. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
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Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:12
“Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”
Prayer
That our joy may be complete: This is your desire for us, Holy Joy, the ecstasy of face-to-face communion with you and your beloved. From the beginning, Blest Christ, you dwelt in face-to-face communion with the One you call ‘Father,’ rapt in a joyous eternal dance of mutual love and sharing.
This is what you want for us. You made us and all creation for such communion. In the mutual sharing of hearts and hands and in the meeting of minds, we encounter much more than the hands and eyes of those before us. We commune with you.
In the most mundane exchanges of hospitality and help, of giving and receiving our needs, we taste the communal ecstasy of your own divine life. We share your joy here and now in our little corner of existence, to be completed in the fullness of eternity.
You made us for the ecstasy of this holy communion, which we know as we share goodness and pain with each other, incarnating your own trinitarian life in our time and space.
Give us eyes and ears to perceive this mystery in every face and encounter that our joy and yours may be complete. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:12
“Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”
Prayer
That our joy may be complete: This is your desire for us, Holy Joy, the ecstasy of face-to-face communion with you and your beloved. From the beginning, Blest Christ, you dwelt in face-to-face communion with the One you call ‘Father,’ rapt in a joyous eternal dance of mutual love and sharing.
This is what you want for us. You made us and all creation for such communion. In the mutual sharing of hearts and hands and in the meeting of minds, we encounter much more than the hands and eyes of those before us. We commune with you.
In the most mundane exchanges of hospitality and help, of giving and receiving our needs, we taste the communal ecstasy of your own divine life. We share your joy here and now in our little corner of existence, to be completed in the fullness of eternity.
You made us for the ecstasy of this holy communion, which we know as we share goodness and pain with each other, incarnating your own trinitarian life in our time and space.
Give us eyes and ears to perceive this mystery in every face and encounter that our joy and yours may be complete. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:10-11
“Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.”
Prayer
These words are hard, Holy One. They say things I do not want to hear, bearing a message contrary to the welcoming love I know that you are. “Abide in me,” you never tire of saying to my heart. “Come make your home in me, and I will make my home in you.” Your invitation is so different from this warning.
But even here I sense your loving concern. Your heart grieves that we should lose the life eternal you are pleased to share. You would not have us miss drinking from the cool stream of your soul and find refreshment on our sometimes weary ways.
So you warn us not to welcome anything that would distract us from intimacy with you, anything that obscures the faith that is the path of fellowship in your love.
But what of those who do not know the mystery of your purpose to be incarnate and real in all that is, deifying the entire universe? What of those who deny that you appear in the flesh of our brother Jesus, out of love for a world you always intended to enter? What of those who mistake and refuse the wonder of this mystery?
I understand this warning, but does your love not burn also for these? Would not holy hospitality reveal the wonder of your growing enfleshment in the lives of those who share intimacy with you?
I will live with this question, Dearest Friend, enjoying your hospitality that welcomes even me. Help me to know when to welcome and when to stay clear for the good of my soul and the fulfillment of your purpose. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:10-11
“Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.”
Prayer
These words are hard, Holy One. They say things I do not want to hear, bearing a message contrary to the welcoming love I know that you are. “Abide in me,” you never tire of saying to my heart. “Come make your home in me, and I will make my home in you.” Your invitation is so different from this warning.
But even here I sense your loving concern. Your heart grieves that we should lose the life eternal you are pleased to share. You would not have us miss drinking from the cool stream of your soul and find refreshment on our sometimes weary ways.
So you warn us not to welcome anything that would distract us from intimacy with you, anything that obscures the faith that is the path of fellowship in your love.
But what of those who do not know the mystery of your purpose to be incarnate and real in all that is, deifying the entire universe? What of those who deny that you appear in the flesh of our brother Jesus, out of love for a world you always intended to enter? What of those who mistake and refuse the wonder of this mystery?
I understand this warning, but does your love not burn also for these? Would not holy hospitality reveal the wonder of your growing enfleshment in the lives of those who share intimacy with you?
I will live with this question, Dearest Friend, enjoying your hospitality that welcomes even me. Help me to know when to welcome and when to stay clear for the good of my soul and the fulfillment of your purpose. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, June 25, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:8-9
“Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive the full reward. Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
Prayer
Where can I fly to go beyond you? To what ends can I strive to reach where you are not? Can I move back in time to the darkness that existed before the light of life burst from your infinitely fertile womb? Can I race the light, running ahead to wait for you to arrive?
There is no going beyond you for you are beginning and end. Where I go you are there waiting. You wait in the flesh of all that is. You shine with the light of tomorrow in the lives of all whose hearts consent to your in-dwelling love. Made in your image, you bring that likeness, your living word to life in us, revealing again the mystery of your way.
And that? To regenerate yourself again and again in hard resistant matter and in the tender flesh of all you create. You seek in every moment to birth your life again, to make Word flesh so that we may know you--and have you.
The thought transcends imagination and coaxes tears from eyes that only now are beginning to believe that it is true. It takes a lifetime, I think. But it comes with such joy: We have you. The light and love you are dwells also in us.
Let us consent to your love on every occasion that you might shine in us, as in our brother Jesus. Your world needs it. And more than anything, we need to know that we have you. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:8-9
“Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive the full reward. Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
Prayer
Where can I fly to go beyond you? To what ends can I strive to reach where you are not? Can I move back in time to the darkness that existed before the light of life burst from your infinitely fertile womb? Can I race the light, running ahead to wait for you to arrive?
There is no going beyond you for you are beginning and end. Where I go you are there waiting. You wait in the flesh of all that is. You shine with the light of tomorrow in the lives of all whose hearts consent to your in-dwelling love. Made in your image, you bring that likeness, your living word to life in us, revealing again the mystery of your way.
And that? To regenerate yourself again and again in hard resistant matter and in the tender flesh of all you create. You seek in every moment to birth your life again, to make Word flesh so that we may know you--and have you.
The thought transcends imagination and coaxes tears from eyes that only now are beginning to believe that it is true. It takes a lifetime, I think. But it comes with such joy: We have you. The light and love you are dwells also in us.
Let us consent to your love on every occasion that you might shine in us, as in our brother Jesus. Your world needs it. And more than anything, we need to know that we have you. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
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