Heaven opens

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened … . (Luke 3:21)

Reflection

This is the way it is. In prayer, real prayer, in opened-hearted, radical honesty, heaven opens, and we enter the Holy Presence where nothing else matters but being with you, Holy One.

Such is your eternal invitation: “Come, be with me. There is no need for you to be … or to feel alone. There is a place here beside me.”

Jesus sits on bank of the stream where he’d been baptized and prays, his heart open to the Eternal Presence which fills him, a holy knowing in the depth of soul.

The empty place beside him beckons. This is our space, the place of belonging and knowing the Everlasting Love who lights him from within.

It is the place of prayer, where nothing is out of bounds, where everything can be said and all that we are is welcome. Anger, feelings of failure, the joys for which we hope and the fulfillments that elude, pain and confusion about who we are and what we really need—everything.

Prayer may be peaceful as a gentle stream or a bitter struggle to find something to hold onto in the tempest of living lest we drown in a sea of restless emotion.

So come, bring whatever you are and everything that is in you to Christ who bids you to sit in that empty place beside him.

Release everything. Heaven will open, and you soon will rest in the Love who always has a place … for you.

Pr. David L. Miller

It's enough

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3:21-22)

Reflection

Me, too. I am well pleased, blessed to know that Jesus stands in the water with all the others who came to John the Baptist.

For this means he stands with me, with all that I am and all that I want to be but am not, with my hopes and fears, with dreams that can never be and wounds that will never quite heal in this life.

He is there … beside me, and this enough for me. It is enough to know this great and unsurpassable love who chooses to stand should-to-shoulder with me, where I am, with all that is in me.

It frees the heart and releases tears of joy that praise God in ways no words ever can.

The baptism of Jesus by John was a problem for early Christians. Did this mean John was greater than Jesus? Did it mean he needed to repent of his sins like those who came out to be baptized?

No, it meant Jesus stands with all those who hope for a better world where all things are bound together in love, peace and justice, where the great love of God is at the center of everything.

Jesus chooses to be there, standing in the water, with us, sharing our hurts and hopes … and the love that heals.

It is enough.

Pr. David L. Miller

Starlight

When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11-12)

Reflection

There is a stain glass window across the sanctuary from where I sit. I look at it nearly every Sunday, especially this time of year after Christmas.

The window is a modern depiction of two abstract figures, Mary and Joseph, kneeling beside a manger. The tiny hands of a child appear barely over the brown manger’s edge.

A great starburst explodes in the sky above them, and a pronounced angle of light descends directly to the child in the manger. The low angle of the winter sun illumines colors of glistening white and gold through the window and sets the star ablaze.

Everything I need to know … about Jesus and about the Light that illumines all history and every heart … is captured for me in this image.

The window speaks to my heart of a Light who has shined in all history, a Light of life and creation, of mercy and care, of everything that is good and right and beautiful in the world.

It tells me this Light takes a human face that I may see and touch, imagine and know the Love who is the Source of my life and of all that lives in this and every universe.

I look and wait for the light to illumine that star, and I smile every time I see it, more and more as the years pass. It awakens the joy of knowing the Light of Love God is, and opens the eyes of my heart to the Light who shines in every time and place.

Like the Magi, watch for starlight, and joyfully give yourself to the love the Light awakens.

Pr. David L. Miller

Saturday, January 5, 2019

John 1:38-39

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.

Each day

A day is not enough, not nearly. We need and want to be with him every day. This, exactly, is Jesus’ invitation, Come and see, not once or twice but each day.

Come and be with me, Jesus says. Set aside silence to give me your heart, whatever is there. I want you to be with me that you may see and know, feel and be transformed into that which I am, a living expression of the Everlasting Love who has no beginning and who is the end to whom all things go.

Knowing this Love every day we truly feel like and become the human beings we are. We are made by and for this Love who is beyond all names.

Resolutions for the new year quickly fail amid the routine demands of living, but make this one central to your year:

Each day resolve to spend time alone listening to your heart and offering what is there to God. Speak to Jesus as one friend to another and rest in the presence of the Love who wants you.

Each day make a conscious effort to bless someone through a touch, kind words or actions. Each time you do this, you place yourself in the flow of God, the current of Love that springs from the depth of the divine heart and flows through all creation.

Each day this year, come and see the Loving Mystery who hungers for you. At year’s end, you will be more alive and more yourself than you have ever been.

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, January 3, 2018

Luke 2:49

‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’

The air we breathe

The house of the Father is anywhere we can truly be with God.

God doesn’t dwell in a house made by human hands, but in the universe fashioned by Eternal Love. God is the Love who is everywhere … seeking to be known in everything.

We, on the other hand, are always embodied somewhere … in this place or that. And some places distract us from what is most essential to the joy we desire to know.

But there are places where our hearts attune more easily to see and know, to commune and enter relationship with the Loving One who is everywhere at once.

So, it is important to know what the Father’s house is … for you. Where are the places you can truly be with the Loving Mystery and hear the voice of the One who so desperately wants to be heart-to-heart with you?

We need ways and places to be silent and listen to our soul. The Father’s house is a quiet place where the noise of the world fades and doesn’t intrude.

But it may also be the local pub, a living room, time with good friends, walking a busy street where love fills you.

The Father’s house appears anywhere human hearts share what’s in them, knowing it is okay to be wrong and that there is no special prize for being right. All that matters is knowing … love, for every love breathes the Love God is.

For each of us, the Father’s house is any place and every place where Love is the air we breathe.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, December 31, 2018

Luke 2:48-49

When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ 

Knowing and knowing

Joy appears as I imagine the boy, Jesus, sharing and questioning among great teachers in his Father’s house, the temple. It is the joy of those who know God and yet know there is so much more that they do not know.

The Holy One is a great Loving Mystery. Blessed by God’s presence, we experience this Love flowing in, through and among us. It fills the heart, but we are not fully satisfied or perhaps only for brief moments.

For Love awakens the awareness that there is so much more that we do not know, more Love, more presence, more hope, more joy, more blessing to know and share. God is always more than we think or imagine.

Every word of knowledge, every experience of the Loving Presence in and among us opens the heart and excites hunger for more of the inexhaustible Love God is.

A new year is but hours away. Be grateful for all the knowing the years have given. Let it fill you with an ecstatic hope for more of the Love you know. The inexpressible wonder of our loving God will be present in every moment of the year to come.

It will be an adventure. Every year is an adventure, if you open your heart. Love always comes to teach you … more.

Pr. David L. Miller

Sunday, December 30, 2018

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Can you hear me?

Joy comes when we are filled to overflowing with love. And every day, the Word of God’s ever-present voice speaks. It sings to us and in us that we may know and enter the joy for which our hearts long.

The Word is not mere words but God’s loving power present in everything—all things and all people and in our own souls. When it catches your ear it awakens loving joy in your heart.

The voice of the Word is most clear in who we celebrate at Christmas, this infant Jesus.

In him, the Word becomes become a human being. He will heal and bless, pour out forgiveness and command justice for the oppressed. He will touch the broken with loving hands and wash the feet of undeserving followers. He will love them and all humanity to the very last, surrendering his life for those who fail to accept or understand him.  

At each step, God is saying “Look! Do you get it now? Do you understand what the Word has been saying in every love, every word of wisdom, every glimmer of starlight, every frosty morning, in everything light and life, beauty, grace, compassion and laughter you have ever known? Can you hear me now?”

I was recently in NICU, visiting parents and their premature infant, tiny, less than five pounds. I watched the parents and a nurse who was at the child’s side every moment. A physician entered to examine the child, listen to her heart and hold out a pinky finger so this fragile little girl could grasp it. There was so much tenderness and care, all awakened by this tiny new life.

In Jesus, the Word becomes a human being, a fragile infant, to awaken such love in us.

Open your eyes to see and your ears to hear. There is no place he is not, nowhere his love is absent, no place he does not speak … that you may know the joy of his presence.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

John 1:2-4

He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

Wintersong

Mid-morning. The sun hangs low, making its weak winter trek across the southern horizon. White-gold cirrus clouds diffuse the light. Tiny stars sparkle brilliant, purest white on frosted brown stems of reeds and cattails in the marshy shallows of the pond.

A thin sheaf of ice coats the pond, shimmering with light, revealing yet-green water lilies frozen beneath, framed there, a portrait of winter’s art.

What is it saying? I want to know, for it awakens an intuition of love within.

I want to hear, for it is not the pond or the light but you who speak to my soul in this place. No, not speak, but sing. Love is better sung than spoken. And here you sing your wintersong … that I may know.

Everything that is came into being through you. All that is receives its ‘isness,’ its existence from you. Everything reveals and expresses the character of your divine heart, a heart of infinite generosity through which you give existence to that which doesn’t exist.

And why? So that all life may know the exhilaration of living, the glory of beauty, the sweet wonder of loving. You bring life to be and give it to each of us that we may know love, which is to say … you.

And here, again, at this insignificant pond, I hear your wintersong, sung in sparkling frosty stars on reeds frozen stiff in December’s cold.

But I am not. For I am here … with you.

Pr. David L. Miller

Saturday, December 22, 2018

Luke 2:8-10

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.

The first word

What is the first word we hear? What is the first word divine messengers say to terrified human beings?

Do not be afraid.

In one form or another, this message occurs 365 times in Scripture, one for every day in the year.

It occurs in almost every scene in biblical Christmas stories. It is the first word heard by Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, the first word heard by Mary, Mother of our Lord, and the first word heard by Joseph.

Again and again, as if this is the most important thing we can ever know: Don’t be afraid. God is God, and God is all light and love.

Do not imagine you are alone with the fears and pains of your heart. God surrounds you even now. The sacraments of the Loving Mystery are always closer than you imagine, breathing peace and care into your heart through souls who truly know the Love who is, the Love who has one message in this holy time.

Do not be afraid.

Breathe and know: The Holy One is utter love, unlimited compassion and constant presence.

The things you fear can and will happen, but they are nothing to fear. For Love endures to meet you on every path you will ever walk, clothing itself in flesh to touch yours.

And in every touch, you will know.

Be not afraid.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, December 17, 2018

Matthew 1:17

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

An unknown way

It is a long path from Abraham’s desert wanderings to the birth of a peasant child in Bethlehem. But not for you, Holy One.

You are eternal, everlasting. You see the entire stretch of human time in an instant, all at once. Everything that happened in the centuries before Jesus’ birth and everything since is not even a moment to you, but eternally present.

But not we, mortals, for whom time itself is a mystery. We wander through our years, planning, yes, but never knowing what comes next and often doubting whether our hoped-for fulfillment will come to us.

We walk an unknown way, just like all those who heard promises of the Messiah but wondered if the Beloved for whom they hoped would ever arrive.

But you, my Beloved Lord, you know. Our ways and paths are all known to you. You see how all things fit together and are working to bring your salvation, your living and loving presence, to each us.

You work through every moment and each second of time, through every misstep, every forgotten event, success or set-back to accomplish your purpose.

And your purpose is that we may meet and see, know and love the Love revealed in ancient Bethlehem … that he may live in us.

So we wait and hope as we walk the unknown way, knowing everything is in your loving hands … and we always will be.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, December 14, 2018

 Isaiah 12:3-4

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted. (Isaiah 12:3-4)

That you may know

Joy is an inside job. It is not the rush of emotional energy released in moments of victory or success. Nor is it the happiness that sweeps through us when good fortune surprises. Joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. It is deeper, rooted in the soul.

It rises when the heart is warmed and filled by the presence of love … of God … living within us. This love is always there. It is our truest self. We are made in the image of an immeasurable love.

But most days we live far from this awareness, which is why prayer needs to be a daily, hourly, moment-to-moment experience.

It is also why Christmas is central to our faith and spiritual lives. At Christmas, we meet the transcendent God, the Infinite Love who always was and will be, coming to us in infant form, so that we may see and know the love God is.

Seeing him, we know: God is pleased to come to us, not to inspire fear but to awaken the love within us that is our true nature. We, created in the image of Love, commune heart-to-heart with the Love who made us ... and become the Love God is.

In this communion, whether silent ... or speaking friend-to-friend, we are filled with the simple joy of being. God fills us, as water fills a glass to overflowing, washing away all cynicism and fear, boredom and bitterness, all greed and guilt.

All that remains is the gentle joy of being alive and knowing the Love who is and was and is to come, the love shining in the face of Christ ... and in us.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Isaiah 35:3-4

Strengthen the weak hands,
   and make firm the feeble knees. 
 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
   ‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God. 

Reflection 

I enjoy visiting people in the hospital. It’s not that I want to see people sick or hurting, but real conversations happen there.

Most patients are pleased to have a visitor because time and worry weigh heavily on their mind. There is also no hiding or pretending that there is nothing wrong. So we talk. Talking leads to honesty, and honesty leads to prayer.

It’s an intimate moment, hands holding hands, hearts joined in hope for healing and strength. Tears sometime appear. The grip of hand-on-hand tightens as hopes and fears are offered in love to the God who is Love. Strength flows through held hands and buoys the heart for whatever might come.

But what has already come ... is the God who is expressed in our flesh, as love and blessing are shared. No one needs to ask, ‘Where is Christ?’ because Christ is right there, in our hands.

We call it incarnation. This is what we celebrate in this holy season: God becomes incarnate, flesh, a body we can see and touch, know and love. In the touching, weak hands find strength, and fearful hearts know God is present, with them.

The incarnation of God most certainly appeared in a Bethlehem stable. Here is our God, cradled in Mary’s arms. Jesus is the human face of the Loving Mystery we cannot see.

But the Incarnation doesn’t stop there. It is not time limited. Incarnation goes on. The Holy One becomes flesh to see and touch, know and love wherever and whenever Love takes on flesh.

And it happens everywhere.

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Romans 10:12b-13

[T]he same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Everyone

There is no one God refuses to hear. No one is too broken, too lost, too confused, too doubting, too non-Christian or too anything to be unwelcome in the circle of God’s grace. No sin is so great, no life so wayward and no opinion or understanding of life and God so wrong-headed that the Loving Mystery turns away.

The Holy One longs to live in intimate, heart-to-heart oneness with you. God is waiting, eager to hear your voice calling out to be heard.

It is only our arrogance, resistance and failure to pray that prevents us from entering and abiding in loving union with God

So turn from the assumption that you can or should be able to navigate your life without God’s help. Take the risk of trusting that you are loved beyond measure by the ever-generous Source of your existence.

Call out to God with whatever is in you. Seek blessing when you are hurting, lost and alone. Cry out for forgiveness when you know you are wrong and for deliverance when you are threatened and trapped. In moments of joy, exclaim your gratitude to One who longs for you to share your heart.

Don’t let pride or doubt stop you. The invitation is for everyone and most certainly for you.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, November 26, 2018

Romans 13:11-12

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light ….

Day has come

I always check the time when I leave the house for my morning walks. I note when the sun will rise then choose the route I follow to Feather Sound. I want to arrive at the west bank of the pond as the sun appears over the water.

The light may be clear and bright or filtered through clouds. Some days the purple, mottled sky reflects perfectly on the face of the water or glistens cold and pink on snowfall. Other days I see only a gray smudge in eastern sky.

It is never the same. Each day is a unique experience of light coming again to my little place on this earth, telling me … once more … where I live and when.

I live in a world where day has come, where the light of Christ has shined and shines still. Night has passed. Day has come. We have seen the face of God. We have witnessed the light of the divine heart illumining our world.

Morning light awakens the heart, a smile and a prayer of thanks for the light of Christ that lives in us and in this world at the dawning of each new day.

So lay aside all sadness and fear. The light of Christ has dawned and will again, igniting a hope as pure and clear as candles soon lit on our Advent wreaths.

Pr. David L. Miller

Saturday, November 24, 2018

John 6:27

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

Soul food

Eternity kisses the soul in moments when love floods our inmost being. Surety fills heart and mind as we know the One who made us living within, filling us.

This is eternal life, the life of eternity … now.

We cannot give ourselves this life of joy and hope. It comes as a gift Jesus is pleased to give as we draw near and feast on his words, as we open our hands to receive the blessed sacrament of his body and blood, as we pray knowing our hearts are heard, and as we live the love he awakens in our souls.

His singular invitation is for us to know him, know the truth and the life in his words and actions. In knowing Jesus, the life he is awakens in us, filling us with the wonder of the divine life in him.

Seek this every new day. Set aside time to listen to him, to imagine him as he speaks and walks among his disciples and as he reaches out in compassion for the broken.

Do not let the busyness of life distract you from seeking what your heart most needs. For what we most need is to know him.

Simply sit and imagine his face looking at you, his eyes filled with desire to give you everything that is in him. Such is his desire, his love for you.

Find your private space, your holy place and just be with him. He will give you food that endures.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, November 23, 2018

Philippians 4:4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Knowing joy

Joy arises from the presence of knowing love within the heart.

The warmth of joy is not the rush of emotional energy that fills us in a moment of victory or success, nor even when good fortune surprises us in some way. Joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. It is deeper, rooted in the soul.

It rises when the heart is warmed by the presence of the Love … of God … living within us. This Love is there, always. It is our truest self, as we are made in the image of an immeasurable love.

We live far from this awareness most days, which is why prayer needs to be a daily, hourly, moment-to-moment experience. Turing again and again to speak to the One who is always near, friend-to-friend, moments come when we are filled with the simple joy of being. For we know the One who is Love living within, filling us as water fills a glass to overflowing.

In such moments no one needs to tell us how we are to live, for all cynicism and fear, boredom and low esteem, all greed and guilt and bitterness are washed away.

All that remains is the gentle joy of being alive and knowing the Love who is, the Love who shines for each of us in the face of Christ, the Love who is always near.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Revelation 22:20

The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

With eager expectation

The prophet, John of Patmos, was surely wrong … and always right.

He expected the immanent return of our Lord Jesus to call down the curtain on human history and make all things new. But it did not happen.

History wends its weary way with no end in sight, and still we pray “Come Lord Jesus,” just like those who first received the book of Revelation. We do so because our Lord is always coming to us.

God is love and love always comes, seeking to touch and grace and walk with the beloved. The Lord Jesus is always near to accompany us throughout our journey. We experience the return of Christ each time we open our heart to him in prayer and extend our hands to receive him in the sacrament.

He comes each time we cry out from the depth of our longing for the Lord to heal the hunger and hurts and hatreds of our world, each time we plead for him to come to the injustice and destruction that destroys the lives of millions.

Jesus is always coming near because he is love and love needs to give itself away.

So we do not fall asleep or into apathy. We do not live in doubt or sorrow but with eager expectation, knowing our Lord comes not only at the end of time, but here, now, today, to bless us with the presence of the Love for which our hearts long.

Pr. David L. Miller