Thursday, August 16, 2007

Today’s text

Luke 12:35-37

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when me comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.”

Prayer

You offer no threat in these words, dear Friend, only invitation and promise. You come, that’s the promise. You come; that’s your promise. You come and are eager to bless, giving yourself in holy and humble service to we who hold our breath for your arrival.

You are always coming, Jesus. You come to a virgin’s womb. You come to the unknown and unheralded. You come to the hungry and lost. You come to your friends and your enemies. And you come from your tomb, risen and new, so that your coming transcends time and space. You come to every time and place at once, past, future and now to me in this quiet space. You come and always will.

Your invitation is to light a lamp and keep our hearts and eyes open. For you appear at times and in guises we cannot predict: Maybe in the news that a faraway colleague has died that moves you to sudden tears and prayer. Maybe the guy who helps broken old folks into the clinic on 55th, or the vibrant voice on the phone that leaves you a little more alive. You often surprise me, Jesus, coming in word, a story, a face that glows with a grace transparent to the eternal.

You come. It does not matter how. What matters is opening heart and mind to receive you. For in receiving you, you serve us, giving life, healing heart and soul, feeding us with a bread that satisfies that hunger that finds fulfillment no where else.

Pr. David L. Miller