Today’s text
3 John 1:11a-12
“Whoever does what is good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.”
Prayer
Who is this faithful soul to whom the truth and your beloved saints testify? Is he a community leader? Perhaps the messenger who carried this little letter into the congregation? Is he just one more faceless name in 20 centuries of those who have loved and hoped in you, dearest Jesus?
But he is not faceless is he, Holy Mystery? His faithfulness and care, his love and service shine with the crystalline illumination of your holy face, a face no one has seen.
Yet I have seen. We have seen you many times in the care and justice, love and peace of faithful souls alight with your wonder. Their faces shine in our hearts and memories. We have been loved into life by them, and through them we have received you, grace upon grace.
So if may, my Lord, let me speak to Demetrius and to all who now rest in paradise with you, enjoying that beatific vision that is yet denied me: Thank you for your faithful witness. Thank you that your lives shined with a love as ancient as eternity. Thank you that your flesh became for me the flesh of my friend and brother Jesus. Thank you.
And thank you, Loving Mystery, for taking flesh and soul in the lives of your beloved, from Demetrius through all generations, and in me. I, too, bear your wonder. Thank you. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
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Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:11
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”
Prayer
All rests upon seeing you, Blessed Goodness. The shattering image of absolute goodness, whole and true, pure and undiluted dissolves and washes clean the encrustations of evil on the human heart.
You are whole-hearted and full, given utterly to life itself, taking delight in all that is, weeping tears of joy at the beauty of earth and its sorrow, wanting nothing more or less than to wrap all that is in the loving joy ecstatically dancing in your inner life.
I have no words for this. How dare I speak of your inner life, for you have no inner or outer? You are pure Being Itself, life without limit. You simply are. And you are goodness, that eternal ecstatic dance of love within and beyond our human time and space. Forgive my presumption, my daily assaults on your immense majesty, my constant failure to bring to words the loving wonder of your goodness.
But how can I not speak of that intuition of your loving presence that never goes away? It is always there, however vague or obscure. How can I not seek to capture the dancing fire of your life, since it is my greatest need, a need you fashioned in my depths?
I hunger to see and snare with words the goodness you are. When I see you I am free and full and finally myself, that expression of your love that you intend in creating me, light of heart and walking lightly upon your earth.
So let me capture with mere words something of your undiluted goodness, that, seeing you, I may join the dance of your delight in my little moment of your eternity. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:11
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”
Prayer
All rests upon seeing you, Blessed Goodness. The shattering image of absolute goodness, whole and true, pure and undiluted dissolves and washes clean the encrustations of evil on the human heart.
You are whole-hearted and full, given utterly to life itself, taking delight in all that is, weeping tears of joy at the beauty of earth and its sorrow, wanting nothing more or less than to wrap all that is in the loving joy ecstatically dancing in your inner life.
I have no words for this. How dare I speak of your inner life, for you have no inner or outer? You are pure Being Itself, life without limit. You simply are. And you are goodness, that eternal ecstatic dance of love within and beyond our human time and space. Forgive my presumption, my daily assaults on your immense majesty, my constant failure to bring to words the loving wonder of your goodness.
But how can I not speak of that intuition of your loving presence that never goes away? It is always there, however vague or obscure. How can I not seek to capture the dancing fire of your life, since it is my greatest need, a need you fashioned in my depths?
I hunger to see and snare with words the goodness you are. When I see you I am free and full and finally myself, that expression of your love that you intend in creating me, light of heart and walking lightly upon your earth.
So let me capture with mere words something of your undiluted goodness, that, seeing you, I may join the dance of your delight in my little moment of your eternity. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:9-10
“I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.”
Prayer
We are guests here, my Lord. The earth is not mine. I did not make it. The soil with its fruit and flowers of myriad and unlikely color, the sun’s warm caress, the rain wearing resistant rock into rich loam, gentling the ground that seed may spring from the darkness: all this awaited my appearance in time and space, carefully prepared by your genius through unnumbered millennia that life might spring forth in abundance, delight to the eye and strength for body and soul.
Nor did I create the structures of society that allow my common and ordered life. Long generations preceded me, struggling against chaos with the mind and good will that is the breath of your Spirit in every generation, moving us to seek that More for which we know we are made.
And the community of faith in which my hungry heart finds its home, there, too, I am a guest. I receive what you have done in loving hospitality through the resurrection of my brother, Jesus, welcoming me to know the life that appears in him, ever inviting, “Come you who labor. Abide in me.”
And I come, finding again the hospitality that meets me in every place of my habitation, discovering again that I am always a guest, dependent on an unnamed hospitality for each breath, each step, each of the millions of tiny acts and occurrences that make my life possible and worth living.
Thank you. Those two words are the quintessential prayer. I know of no better. Thank you, dearest Loving Mystery, for your immense hospitality throughout all ages, creating life abundant and giving your life eternal through Jesus, our brother. Your great and continuous giving fills me with gratitude that I, with all your saints, may become the face of your resplendent hospitality, shining in the face of Jesus the Christ, your beloved and mine. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:9-10
“I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.”
Prayer
We are guests here, my Lord. The earth is not mine. I did not make it. The soil with its fruit and flowers of myriad and unlikely color, the sun’s warm caress, the rain wearing resistant rock into rich loam, gentling the ground that seed may spring from the darkness: all this awaited my appearance in time and space, carefully prepared by your genius through unnumbered millennia that life might spring forth in abundance, delight to the eye and strength for body and soul.
Nor did I create the structures of society that allow my common and ordered life. Long generations preceded me, struggling against chaos with the mind and good will that is the breath of your Spirit in every generation, moving us to seek that More for which we know we are made.
And the community of faith in which my hungry heart finds its home, there, too, I am a guest. I receive what you have done in loving hospitality through the resurrection of my brother, Jesus, welcoming me to know the life that appears in him, ever inviting, “Come you who labor. Abide in me.”
And I come, finding again the hospitality that meets me in every place of my habitation, discovering again that I am always a guest, dependent on an unnamed hospitality for each breath, each step, each of the millions of tiny acts and occurrences that make my life possible and worth living.
Thank you. Those two words are the quintessential prayer. I know of no better. Thank you, dearest Loving Mystery, for your immense hospitality throughout all ages, creating life abundant and giving your life eternal through Jesus, our brother. Your great and continuous giving fills me with gratitude that I, with all your saints, may become the face of your resplendent hospitality, shining in the face of Jesus the Christ, your beloved and mine. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:9-10
“I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.”
Prayer
What greater blessing is there than to lose ourselves in you, free, free, free from ravages of driven ego? What greater grace can I enjoy than to disappear in you so that all I know is your encircling love, stilling all want and desire in a holy nearness where we are one and anxious need is abolished?
Fully encompassed within your enveloping embrace, most of what I think I am disappears. All that remains is that which holds and is held by your loving, and I am that loving.
I occupy less space than I normally require in my daily places and conversations. Rapt in you, I grow small but real, secure but brave, gentle but capable of greatness, for I am that which I am only in your love, filled with the substance of your divine life, able to give whatever your abiding grace requires of me.
And the need to be first evaporates; the urge to exclude that I may be greater dissolves vaporous illusions. For I know what is real and true, and that is you who are love, who fill me and all that is with life unimaginable, known now in moments of graced oneness, exquisitely heralding eternity in your embrace. Thank you that I should taste eternity and know the freedom you intend. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:9-10
“I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.”
Prayer
What greater blessing is there than to lose ourselves in you, free, free, free from ravages of driven ego? What greater grace can I enjoy than to disappear in you so that all I know is your encircling love, stilling all want and desire in a holy nearness where we are one and anxious need is abolished?
Fully encompassed within your enveloping embrace, most of what I think I am disappears. All that remains is that which holds and is held by your loving, and I am that loving.
I occupy less space than I normally require in my daily places and conversations. Rapt in you, I grow small but real, secure but brave, gentle but capable of greatness, for I am that which I am only in your love, filled with the substance of your divine life, able to give whatever your abiding grace requires of me.
And the need to be first evaporates; the urge to exclude that I may be greater dissolves vaporous illusions. For I know what is real and true, and that is you who are love, who fill me and all that is with life unimaginable, known now in moments of graced oneness, exquisitely heralding eternity in your embrace. Thank you that I should taste eternity and know the freedom you intend. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, July 16, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:6b-8
“You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ; accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore we ought to support such people so that we may become co-workers with the truth.”
Prayer
What is truth that we should become coworkers with it? How shall we discern between truth and appearance, except through time? The true is solid and lasting, dependable and enduring. It is solid rock on which we plant our feet, assured the ground will not shift beneath us.
But what is truth; what can it be, if not you? And what are you, if not this mad and gentle love that wears the face of my brother Jesus?
This love neither fails nor fades. It endures from eternity to eternity, stretching through my little moment of time, connecting me with that which is ever certain, unending, unfailing, unceasing, a constantly flowing stream through all reality and time.
All else fades, fails and crumbles. The years roll on, crushing the goods and passions that demand our attention and exhaust our labors. But today’s necessity soon disappears, dropped and forgotten in an infinite sea of eternity.
But you, your incarnate love, full of grace and truth, remain. You always remain. You are truth, and your truth is that love that ever flows: an eternal, life-giving spring that runs not dry. When all I depend upon seems uncertain and all my certainties dissolve in the shifting currents of time, you are. You are truth. And you are mine.
So let me dwell in your truth and do the truth you are, expressing your mad and gentle love in my flesh. Though it may seem foolish and out of touch with the fashions of the day, I hunger to labor with you, Gentle and Eternal Love. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:6b-8
“You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ; accepting no support from non-believers. Therefore we ought to support such people so that we may become co-workers with the truth.”
Prayer
What is truth that we should become coworkers with it? How shall we discern between truth and appearance, except through time? The true is solid and lasting, dependable and enduring. It is solid rock on which we plant our feet, assured the ground will not shift beneath us.
But what is truth; what can it be, if not you? And what are you, if not this mad and gentle love that wears the face of my brother Jesus?
This love neither fails nor fades. It endures from eternity to eternity, stretching through my little moment of time, connecting me with that which is ever certain, unending, unfailing, unceasing, a constantly flowing stream through all reality and time.
All else fades, fails and crumbles. The years roll on, crushing the goods and passions that demand our attention and exhaust our labors. But today’s necessity soon disappears, dropped and forgotten in an infinite sea of eternity.
But you, your incarnate love, full of grace and truth, remain. You always remain. You are truth, and your truth is that love that ever flows: an eternal, life-giving spring that runs not dry. When all I depend upon seems uncertain and all my certainties dissolve in the shifting currents of time, you are. You are truth. And you are mine.
So let me dwell in your truth and do the truth you are, expressing your mad and gentle love in my flesh. Though it may seem foolish and out of touch with the fashions of the day, I hunger to labor with you, Gentle and Eternal Love. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, July 13, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:6b-7
“You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ; accepting no support from non-believers.”
Prayer
What can we possibly do that is worthy of you, Gracious One? What work of hand or heart qualifies? You are ever more, beyond reach of our humanity. Our thoughts are always sullied by sin, and our finest deeds are double-minded. They do not measure against the single-hearted holiness that is full and complete in all that you do and are.
You are love, and all that you do is love, full-hearted, undiluted, undivided, totally given in grace to such as us. You extend the hospitality of your own life, inviting us to come and rest, abide and know that you desire to share all that you have and are with us, all love, all forgiveness, all mercy, all wisdom, all justice, all compassion, all eternity, all.
You invite us into your own being, which is love itself, where we know, finally that we have arrived home, our final destination. There, you transform us, mind and soul, that we might become the great generosity you are, extending that hospitality of love and life we find in you.
Just so, your life shines in our inhospitable world, fulfilling your holy desire to be all in all. May it come soon, My Lord, for that will mean the salvation of all has arrived. Until then, may we reveal its coming in deeds of grace and hospitality that your joy and ours may be complete. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:6b-7
“You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; for they began their journey for the sake of Christ; accepting no support from non-believers.”
Prayer
What can we possibly do that is worthy of you, Gracious One? What work of hand or heart qualifies? You are ever more, beyond reach of our humanity. Our thoughts are always sullied by sin, and our finest deeds are double-minded. They do not measure against the single-hearted holiness that is full and complete in all that you do and are.
You are love, and all that you do is love, full-hearted, undiluted, undivided, totally given in grace to such as us. You extend the hospitality of your own life, inviting us to come and rest, abide and know that you desire to share all that you have and are with us, all love, all forgiveness, all mercy, all wisdom, all justice, all compassion, all eternity, all.
You invite us into your own being, which is love itself, where we know, finally that we have arrived home, our final destination. There, you transform us, mind and soul, that we might become the great generosity you are, extending that hospitality of love and life we find in you.
Just so, your life shines in our inhospitable world, fulfilling your holy desire to be all in all. May it come soon, My Lord, for that will mean the salvation of all has arrived. Until then, may we reveal its coming in deeds of grace and hospitality that your joy and ours may be complete. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:5-6a
“Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends; even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church.”
Prayer
I give you thanks, Gracious One, for words of gratitude about your beloved. You privilege me to live among a community of your saints, a favor I value too little. Forgive me for dishonoring and discounting this gift that surrounds me day to day.
You allow me to hear words of appreciation and gratitude for your saints. The words often surprise, expressing joy and praise for souls I had disregarded or discounted, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not.
The words and laughter of gratitude for these souls startles me into repentance. They undermine my assumptions and quick conclusions about those whose beauty, truth and faithfulness I refused to see because I was so sure that I understood. I could not see because I was so certain that their weakness or fault defined them.
Just so, I missed seeing you alive in their flesh, stirring their struggle to be that which you would bring to life in them. Others see what I did not. And you used their words to reveal my cold stony heart and to turn me from the way of death. Thank you.
Give me a heart slow to judge and eyes eager to see and celebrate the beauty and faithfulness of your children, especially those who are difficult for me. Let me peaceably and faithfully do for others the work you have appointed to me. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:5-6a
“Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends; even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church.”
Prayer
I give you thanks, Gracious One, for words of gratitude about your beloved. You privilege me to live among a community of your saints, a favor I value too little. Forgive me for dishonoring and discounting this gift that surrounds me day to day.
You allow me to hear words of appreciation and gratitude for your saints. The words often surprise, expressing joy and praise for souls I had disregarded or discounted, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not.
The words and laughter of gratitude for these souls startles me into repentance. They undermine my assumptions and quick conclusions about those whose beauty, truth and faithfulness I refused to see because I was so sure that I understood. I could not see because I was so certain that their weakness or fault defined them.
Just so, I missed seeing you alive in their flesh, stirring their struggle to be that which you would bring to life in them. Others see what I did not. And you used their words to reveal my cold stony heart and to turn me from the way of death. Thank you.
Give me a heart slow to judge and eyes eager to see and celebrate the beauty and faithfulness of your children, especially those who are difficult for me. Let me peaceably and faithfully do for others the work you have appointed to me. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1: 3-4
“I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely, how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Prayer
What is it to walk in the truth if not to walk in you, Gracious One? What can it be, if not to express your beauty, to share in your giving, to live--in some small or great way--the love whom you are?
This is life. This is living. All else misses the point and fails to satisfy the soul’s deep hunger. You fulfill our hunger as we share what you give in the daily round of our life, with the soul in the bed, the heart who hungers for acknowledgement, the friend or family member who doubts her own goodness as your child, the vacant eyes who can no longer hope for wholeness or joy.
We find joy as we receive and share your blessing. You complete our joy as we know and celebrate the lives of those near or even complete strangers who incarnate your life in their living. But if they bear your life, they are not strangers at all, are they?
Let us walk in the truth this day that we may honor you and bring your joy to those who long for your beauty. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1: 3-4
“I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely, how you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
Prayer
What is it to walk in the truth if not to walk in you, Gracious One? What can it be, if not to express your beauty, to share in your giving, to live--in some small or great way--the love whom you are?
This is life. This is living. All else misses the point and fails to satisfy the soul’s deep hunger. You fulfill our hunger as we share what you give in the daily round of our life, with the soul in the bed, the heart who hungers for acknowledgement, the friend or family member who doubts her own goodness as your child, the vacant eyes who can no longer hope for wholeness or joy.
We find joy as we receive and share your blessing. You complete our joy as we know and celebrate the lives of those near or even complete strangers who incarnate your life in their living. But if they bear your life, they are not strangers at all, are they?
Let us walk in the truth this day that we may honor you and bring your joy to those who long for your beauty. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”
Prayer
How good it is, how pleasant when we live together in harmony. It fills the soul with peace and quiet joy.
And it fulfills your purpose, Blessed Triune One. Our harmony reveals the loving unity of your inner life. The wonder of unity bears the final future into the present that we may know the completion of life in your kingdom. We taste eternal life, and know the goodness to which we move.
Harmony among my sisters and brothers of the faith, of the flesh, of friendship comforts and completes my heart, Dear Friend. Seeing human souls live a single moment in harmony and care-full unity can move me to tears. I know why.
Tears come at the appearance of souls finding a home where they might rest, revealing my own hunger and promising its fulfillment. More than a promise, such a sight allows me to rest, knowing my home is ever in you, in the love you are, the love you incarnate in frail human relationships.
May it happen again today. And may I see it. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”
Prayer
How good it is, how pleasant when we live together in harmony. It fills the soul with peace and quiet joy.
And it fulfills your purpose, Blessed Triune One. Our harmony reveals the loving unity of your inner life. The wonder of unity bears the final future into the present that we may know the completion of life in your kingdom. We taste eternal life, and know the goodness to which we move.
Harmony among my sisters and brothers of the faith, of the flesh, of friendship comforts and completes my heart, Dear Friend. Seeing human souls live a single moment in harmony and care-full unity can move me to tears. I know why.
Tears come at the appearance of souls finding a home where they might rest, revealing my own hunger and promising its fulfillment. More than a promise, such a sight allows me to rest, knowing my home is ever in you, in the love you are, the love you incarnate in frail human relationships.
May it happen again today. And may I see it. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, July 02, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Today’s text
3 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”
Prayer
I wake in the morning to find a love already stirring my soul. Who put it there? How did it get in me … and grow, so that it is not at my command? It bubbles from a place beyond reach of conscious willing. Apparently, I bear a Spirit beyond my own that has its own desire and purpose.
Joy accompanies this love, suggesting there is no need to resist. It draws me to faces, past and present, the fleeting thought of which stirs warming gratitude though I’ve not seen some of them for decades. But I carry them with me whether I know it or not, even as I bear the mystery of this love.
The mystery is you, Dear Friend. You are the love that bubbles from source unseen in 21st century souls. You are the same now as when Gaius opened this little letter to find loving gratitude spilling from the heart of a friend, pouring out words of blessing for which we all thirst. At least I do.
I thirst not only to hear them but to find them already whole and formed in my heart, ready to share. For then my heart is filled with you, filled with blessing and joyous consolation and eager to share. I don’t think there is greater joy than this.
And that is the joy I wake to find this day. You answer my heart’s great need before I have words to pray it. But finding the words also blesses and brings joy. Thank you. I know you intend to pull all of us into the joy of your loving--the ancient elder, Gaius, me, the faces that flit through my heart, all of us.
Let us never stray for this awareness. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
3 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.”
Prayer
I wake in the morning to find a love already stirring my soul. Who put it there? How did it get in me … and grow, so that it is not at my command? It bubbles from a place beyond reach of conscious willing. Apparently, I bear a Spirit beyond my own that has its own desire and purpose.
Joy accompanies this love, suggesting there is no need to resist. It draws me to faces, past and present, the fleeting thought of which stirs warming gratitude though I’ve not seen some of them for decades. But I carry them with me whether I know it or not, even as I bear the mystery of this love.
The mystery is you, Dear Friend. You are the love that bubbles from source unseen in 21st century souls. You are the same now as when Gaius opened this little letter to find loving gratitude spilling from the heart of a friend, pouring out words of blessing for which we all thirst. At least I do.
I thirst not only to hear them but to find them already whole and formed in my heart, ready to share. For then my heart is filled with you, filled with blessing and joyous consolation and eager to share. I don’t think there is greater joy than this.
And that is the joy I wake to find this day. You answer my heart’s great need before I have words to pray it. But finding the words also blesses and brings joy. Thank you. I know you intend to pull all of us into the joy of your loving--the ancient elder, Gaius, me, the faces that flit through my heart, all of us.
Let us never stray for this awareness. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, June 29, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
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
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
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
Friday, June 22, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:7-8
“Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist! Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive the full reward."
Prayer
You are our full reward, one we receive even now in water and word, flesh and blood. I will not deny your flesh, for that would be to deny my own flesh and the flesh of those who have been holy sacraments of your life for me, touching me with your divine love in flesh and blood, sweat and tears.
You appear in the flesh, Impenetrable Mystery, putting a face on the hunger for that More we could never fully name. Only in seeing you, touching you, hearing words carried by finite human breath, can we say, “Yes, this--you--is that which I have always wanted and needed.”
You, Loving Mystery, Divine Darkness, appear in our brother Jesus who reveals the fullness of your desire to pour blessing onto all creation, and more: In him we discover the mystery of our own life. You pour your life into us, en-fleshing yourself, each of us an expression of your divine delight, each a particular articulation of your love and creative joy, each a partial expression of the wonder no eye has seen.
Stir the presence and power of your Spirit within us this day that we may fulfill the holiness and reveal the eternal beauty you would speak in and through our flesh. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:7-8
“Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist! Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive the full reward."
Prayer
You are our full reward, one we receive even now in water and word, flesh and blood. I will not deny your flesh, for that would be to deny my own flesh and the flesh of those who have been holy sacraments of your life for me, touching me with your divine love in flesh and blood, sweat and tears.
You appear in the flesh, Impenetrable Mystery, putting a face on the hunger for that More we could never fully name. Only in seeing you, touching you, hearing words carried by finite human breath, can we say, “Yes, this--you--is that which I have always wanted and needed.”
You, Loving Mystery, Divine Darkness, appear in our brother Jesus who reveals the fullness of your desire to pour blessing onto all creation, and more: In him we discover the mystery of our own life. You pour your life into us, en-fleshing yourself, each of us an expression of your divine delight, each a particular articulation of your love and creative joy, each a partial expression of the wonder no eye has seen.
Stir the presence and power of your Spirit within us this day that we may fulfill the holiness and reveal the eternal beauty you would speak in and through our flesh. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1: 5-6
“But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you heard it from the beginning--you must walk in it.”
Prayer
You are our commandment, Hidden Spring. You are love, and we are alive with your being. You are Being itself, the infinite, bubbling, blessed source of our souls, the living spring of all that is. We are alive with your life, a life which is love, unceasing, unfailing, ever-seeking, constantly-generating, self-giving love.
The command of our very being is the love you are. The secret of our joy and all lasting satisfaction is to obey you, to be true to the need to love with which you fill us.
We know your command. It is as alive in us as the life we live, for it is the life we live. It is your life, the life of the boundless spring of unceasing love.
To walk in your way is a blessed gift, for it is to know the love in which you made us, the love that surrounds and embraces us, the love the bubbles, too, in our secret depths where you continue to pour yourself into us that we may live.
So let us walk in your commandment, true to the particular love you have given us to share. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1: 5-6
“But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you heard it from the beginning--you must walk in it.”
Prayer
You are our commandment, Hidden Spring. You are love, and we are alive with your being. You are Being itself, the infinite, bubbling, blessed source of our souls, the living spring of all that is. We are alive with your life, a life which is love, unceasing, unfailing, ever-seeking, constantly-generating, self-giving love.
The command of our very being is the love you are. The secret of our joy and all lasting satisfaction is to obey you, to be true to the need to love with which you fill us.
We know your command. It is as alive in us as the life we live, for it is the life we live. It is your life, the life of the boundless spring of unceasing love.
To walk in your way is a blessed gift, for it is to know the love in which you made us, the love that surrounds and embraces us, the love the bubbles, too, in our secret depths where you continue to pour yourself into us that we may live.
So let us walk in your commandment, true to the particular love you have given us to share. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:4-5
“I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.”
Prayer
You are truth, and the truth that you are is love. All that is flows from your divine heart, the boundless fountain of being, a river of overflowing generosity.
From you the cosmos explodes into life from an infinitesimal grain expanding even now into myriad forms of magnificence. Life and matter, color and impenetrable darkness, intricate worlds invisible to human eye, the vast immensity of space that staggers the soul: all of it fills us with wonder that it--that anything--should be.
Why is there anything, if not for you? Your creative love births a billion worlds and raises human consciousness that the universe might know and name and praise you, the Unspeakable Wonder.
And you are not done. We do not know what forms of life and awareness you may yet raise from the dust to humble our human presumption that we are highest and greatest.
What is it to walk in the truth in such a universe? What can it mean but to tenderly love and care for all you continue to make, for each other, and for our own fragile souls? Fill us with wonder and gratitude for all that is, for life itself--and for all you must be, Unspeakable One. For you are truth, and we would walk in the truth of your overflowing heart. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:4-5
“I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.”
Prayer
You are truth, and the truth that you are is love. All that is flows from your divine heart, the boundless fountain of being, a river of overflowing generosity.
From you the cosmos explodes into life from an infinitesimal grain expanding even now into myriad forms of magnificence. Life and matter, color and impenetrable darkness, intricate worlds invisible to human eye, the vast immensity of space that staggers the soul: all of it fills us with wonder that it--that anything--should be.
Why is there anything, if not for you? Your creative love births a billion worlds and raises human consciousness that the universe might know and name and praise you, the Unspeakable Wonder.
And you are not done. We do not know what forms of life and awareness you may yet raise from the dust to humble our human presumption that we are highest and greatest.
What is it to walk in the truth in such a universe? What can it mean but to tenderly love and care for all you continue to make, for each other, and for our own fragile souls? Fill us with wonder and gratitude for all that is, for life itself--and for all you must be, Unspeakable One. For you are truth, and we would walk in the truth of your overflowing heart. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:3
“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.”
Prayer
You give such promise for the day, Joyous One, a reason to go forward with great expectation. I sense your smile, your joy, in these words, and they evoke lightness of soul and being in my body as well.
Your grace, mercy and peace will be with us. The gifts of your life will attend us on our various journeys through the routines and surprises of the day, this day. There is no uncertainty here, only purest assurance of your blessed nearness and of the joy you take in blessing those you love.
You will be with us. And we will know you, blessed Jesus. We will know you as the truth and love of the great Loving Mystery whose immensity makes beggars of all us who try to name what our minds cannot grasp.
The prospect of living the day with you fills me with delight and the delicious joy of anticipation. Is this joy an expression of the joy I sense in you, Holy One? Are we and all creation intended to be enrapt in this joy? Is this your purpose?
You smile. It is true. This is your desire. Lift our souls with your grace, mercy and peace that we may share and shimmer with your divine joy. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:3
“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.”
Prayer
You give such promise for the day, Joyous One, a reason to go forward with great expectation. I sense your smile, your joy, in these words, and they evoke lightness of soul and being in my body as well.
Your grace, mercy and peace will be with us. The gifts of your life will attend us on our various journeys through the routines and surprises of the day, this day. There is no uncertainty here, only purest assurance of your blessed nearness and of the joy you take in blessing those you love.
You will be with us. And we will know you, blessed Jesus. We will know you as the truth and love of the great Loving Mystery whose immensity makes beggars of all us who try to name what our minds cannot grasp.
The prospect of living the day with you fills me with delight and the delicious joy of anticipation. Is this joy an expression of the joy I sense in you, Holy One? Are we and all creation intended to be enrapt in this joy? Is this your purpose?
You smile. It is true. This is your desire. Lift our souls with your grace, mercy and peace that we may share and shimmer with your divine joy. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, June 15, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”
Prayer
Do we love that which abides in us, Holy One? Do we adore that truth which roots itself deeply in our souls, springing from seeds long since sown?
If so, you have sown seeds of beauty in my soul, for it is beauty that enchants me, filling my heart again and again on these summer days. It comes in many forms: the delicate yellow roses near my chair, the playful smile and shimmering dark eyes of a two-year old who dares me to catch him, a human soul embracing the crazy, unpredictable given-ness of her life as the precious gift that it is.
All of it beautiful. All of it fills the soul with joy. Does this mean the beauty I behold in each of them dwells also in me? If so, thank you, for the beauty I behold is you who are Beauty Itself.
You are the sower of the holy seed. You are the beauty that grows. You are the truth that abides, filling and moving us to love … you, and to love you in all the infinite disguises in which you are pleased to appear.
So abide Hidden Mystery. Abide here in us forever that our souls forever may be filled with love for you and all that shimmers with your beauty. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”
Prayer
Do we love that which abides in us, Holy One? Do we adore that truth which roots itself deeply in our souls, springing from seeds long since sown?
If so, you have sown seeds of beauty in my soul, for it is beauty that enchants me, filling my heart again and again on these summer days. It comes in many forms: the delicate yellow roses near my chair, the playful smile and shimmering dark eyes of a two-year old who dares me to catch him, a human soul embracing the crazy, unpredictable given-ness of her life as the precious gift that it is.
All of it beautiful. All of it fills the soul with joy. Does this mean the beauty I behold in each of them dwells also in me? If so, thank you, for the beauty I behold is you who are Beauty Itself.
You are the sower of the holy seed. You are the beauty that grows. You are the truth that abides, filling and moving us to love … you, and to love you in all the infinite disguises in which you are pleased to appear.
So abide Hidden Mystery. Abide here in us forever that our souls forever may be filled with love for you and all that shimmers with your beauty. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Today’s text
2 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”
Prayer
I praise you this day for your irresistible presence. My heart is no immovable object. You know how to move me and you do so again and again.
Your truth abides and resides here in us, in me. I hear the stories and struggles of your children, and in each one you call to me: “Speak, write, witness. Gather up the fullness of your heart, and speak from the incomprehensible depths of my love.”
Your words fill my heart with desire and tears of yearning until I witness again to a love that refuses to release me--or any of your beloved. Your grasp on our hearts is strong, and the longing in our hearts is your longing living and abiding in us, filling us with knowledge of the love you are and the pain you bear.
This truth abiding in us will be with us forever. For you are eternal, and our lives are caught up in your eternal longing. The deep well of desire of my heart tells me at least this much.
Thank you for that longing, for in it I know you, the incomprehensible, the irresistible, the love I cannot name.
Thank you for allowing me to know your beloved chosen ones, to hear their stories which fill me with your love for them in all their pain and beauty. There, too, I know you, and I see your abiding as you take shape in the contours of their faces. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
2 John 1:1-2
“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”
Prayer
I praise you this day for your irresistible presence. My heart is no immovable object. You know how to move me and you do so again and again.
Your truth abides and resides here in us, in me. I hear the stories and struggles of your children, and in each one you call to me: “Speak, write, witness. Gather up the fullness of your heart, and speak from the incomprehensible depths of my love.”
Your words fill my heart with desire and tears of yearning until I witness again to a love that refuses to release me--or any of your beloved. Your grasp on our hearts is strong, and the longing in our hearts is your longing living and abiding in us, filling us with knowledge of the love you are and the pain you bear.
This truth abiding in us will be with us forever. For you are eternal, and our lives are caught up in your eternal longing. The deep well of desire of my heart tells me at least this much.
Thank you for that longing, for in it I know you, the incomprehensible, the irresistible, the love I cannot name.
Thank you for allowing me to know your beloved chosen ones, to hear their stories which fill me with your love for them in all their pain and beauty. There, too, I know you, and I see your abiding as you take shape in the contours of their faces. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
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