Friday, April 11, 2008

Today’s text

John 10:7-10

Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold. All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.

Prayer

I rise again, my Friend. I have rested secure in your heart. Thank you.

Yesterday brought more joy than expected. Far more. Today will bring tears of remembrance and sober awareness of our human state. Again we will find that the power of our love (so mighty) cannot prevent tragedy and the passing of golden days we wanted never to end.

I pass through you into this day. I acknowledge your nearness as I walk through the gate of early morning into a world less calm and embracing than this quiet cell where I raise my heart to you.

I wish I could say I passed into every day this way. I don’t. But today I do, hearing you say that, no matter what befalls, I walk into fields of promise where I will find nurture. Pasture, you call it.

And as you do a thousand images of the rolling hills of Northwest Illinois come into view. And I am there on the land that made me much of what I am. Thank you for this too.

But it is not the land for which I most thank you or the gifts it continues to give me. I most thank you for your abiding. I thank you that I may pass into every new day through you, hearing your voice telling me that it is for abundance you come.

And it is the abundance of your divine heart that I will find on all the fields of my life, as I enter each day through you.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Today’s text

John 10:1-5

[Jesus said] 'In all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit. He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.'

Prayer

I am moved, dear Friend, by this most intimate familiarity. You call us by name, one by one. You know us. You want us. You desire our presence, our nearness, our following.

And we, blessed to hear you, draw near because we know the sound of your voice. We know you. We want to be with you, for here we are safe. Regardless what befalls us, we are safely enrapt in a love eternal and true.

Jesus, the timbre of your words creates a gracious circle of divine love. And we dwell at the center of that circle, knowing: No one who dwells within that gentle space shall ever be in death’s clutches. Not now. Not ever. You promised.

I know what it is to hear a voice I love, a voice that loves me. My whole being settles into a holy space where I know what you intend every human soul to know. The heart finds its home.

So today I see myself and my beloved at the center of that holy circle, and I listen to your voice calling our names. One by one. And I know: we are safe in a love we shall never fathom.

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Today’s text

John 10:1-5

[Jesus said] 'In all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit. He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.'

Prayer

How is that we know the voice of the shepherd, Jesus, your voice? What gives it away? And why do many not recognize your voice as the resounding of Deep calling to deep?

Perhaps the answer to the riddle is right there. Dwelling far from the deep cry of their own souls, their hearts do not resonate at the sight of you as mine does.

There is no self-congratulation in those words, Jesus, only gratitude. The reality that something in me actually can and does hear you is a mystery well beyond my comprehension.

But this I know: When I hear of you, when I look at you, Deep does in fact call to deep. It is as if there is a space in me that only you fit … or fill, and in knowing you I become whole, no longer needing something I cannot name.

So I long to hear your voice, not voices merely speaking about you. That’s no substitute for you.

I am made for you. You made me for yourself. And I wonder: Are you, too, more whole when I am at home in your heart and not off wandering in far places? I often think so.

Please consider that no disrespect. I have no desire to diminish the confounding wonder you are to me. I am simply aware that you seem to want me as much as I need you.

Pr. David L. Miller