Today's text
Matthew 3:16-17
And when Jesus had been baptized he at once came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on him.”
Prayer
An image appears as I pray, Jesus. My prayer is nothing more than this image. I did not summon or conjure it from feeble imagination. It comes of its own accord—or yours, and I hold it before my mind’s eye, savoring the healing joy I see.
We stand in the water of your baptism, soaking wet, you and I—and one more with whom I seek healing. But the image is not that of seeking but of celebrating. We are joined in a tiny circle of three, soaking wet in the river’s current.
And we smile. We laugh, holding each other, circling in the water, united and at peace, in joy. It is you who brings us together, transcending the differences and tensions that fan anxieties and keep us leery of each others intentions.
So tell me: Is this an image of the future? Of my hope? Of yours? Of the grace and communal life to which you invite us?
It is of course all of this and more. It is an image of the holy future into which you draw all of us in the healing waters that swirl about you.
May we stand in the water with you and share your smile.
Grant our hearts gracious calm that we may live into the blessed vision of your future.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
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Friday, January 11, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Today's text
Matthew 3:16-17
And when Jesus had been baptized he at once came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on him.”
Prayer
How do you stand, my Brother? Do you look to the heavens as you receive the pronouncement of divine favor? Or are your eyes down on the water, your head drenched, your shoulders sloping beneath the weight of the words and what they will bring?
Or perhaps you look ahead and smile, enjoying the grace of total union with the Loving Mystery who calls you the Beloved. I don’t know, but I imagine that you smiled at the words. Certainly, there is joy in them.
The voice speaks a mystery beyond us. You are not just any beloved, but the one, the exception to the fracturing that divides all other human hearts. In you the Holy One dwells undiluted, as you sing in perfect rhythm and time with the music of eternity.
Surely, you smile to know such union with the love that made the stars and greens earth. Surely, you must have warmed at the thought of drawing human hearts to the living flame of love that lights you from within. Surely, you imagined the faces of those, like me, who would crowd near you to feel the warmth of abiding with the One who fills you.
So I crowd near and hope many others will, too, that your living flame may melt the brittle ice of our hardness and make us all human, like you.
Warm our community with the living flame of your love.
Pr. David L. Miller
Matthew 3:16-17
And when Jesus had been baptized he at once came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on him.”
Prayer
How do you stand, my Brother? Do you look to the heavens as you receive the pronouncement of divine favor? Or are your eyes down on the water, your head drenched, your shoulders sloping beneath the weight of the words and what they will bring?
Or perhaps you look ahead and smile, enjoying the grace of total union with the Loving Mystery who calls you the Beloved. I don’t know, but I imagine that you smiled at the words. Certainly, there is joy in them.
The voice speaks a mystery beyond us. You are not just any beloved, but the one, the exception to the fracturing that divides all other human hearts. In you the Holy One dwells undiluted, as you sing in perfect rhythm and time with the music of eternity.
Surely, you smile to know such union with the love that made the stars and greens earth. Surely, you must have warmed at the thought of drawing human hearts to the living flame of love that lights you from within. Surely, you imagined the faces of those, like me, who would crowd near you to feel the warmth of abiding with the One who fills you.
So I crowd near and hope many others will, too, that your living flame may melt the brittle ice of our hardness and make us all human, like you.
Warm our community with the living flame of your love.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Today's text
Matthew 3:13-15
Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade him, with the words, “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should in this way, do all that uprightness demands.” Then John gave in to him.
Prayer
I see your hand on John’s arm. “Let it be so,” you say. John is confused; your composure complete. You know something that he does not grasp. And you know fully, with all your being, from the virginal point of your soul where you are one with the One who sent you.
You know: righteousness demands you, Jesus, all of you.
You did not need a baptism for forgiveness of sins. And even John says you had a better baptism to give than his own. But you submit calmly, with no fuss or second thought, certain that it is right.
Your certainty moves me. It marks your total surrender to a mission and a way. You give yourself without reserve or condition to the mission of God’s reign, prepared to live a way that allows you to hold nothing back. Even if it means your destruction and pain.
You stand in the stream, utterly given to this Loving Mystery, utterly given to human messiness and rejection for the sake of world to be born. You stand there for me, that I may know the One who is Love Untold.
Grant that I may know that love and share your calm assurance. May I stand with you amid the messiness, the heartache and the joy of serving you, quietly surrendering to your invitation, “Come.”
Pr. David L. Miller
Matthew 3:13-15
Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade him, with the words, “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should in this way, do all that uprightness demands.” Then John gave in to him.
Prayer
I see your hand on John’s arm. “Let it be so,” you say. John is confused; your composure complete. You know something that he does not grasp. And you know fully, with all your being, from the virginal point of your soul where you are one with the One who sent you.
You know: righteousness demands you, Jesus, all of you.
You did not need a baptism for forgiveness of sins. And even John says you had a better baptism to give than his own. But you submit calmly, with no fuss or second thought, certain that it is right.
Your certainty moves me. It marks your total surrender to a mission and a way. You give yourself without reserve or condition to the mission of God’s reign, prepared to live a way that allows you to hold nothing back. Even if it means your destruction and pain.
You stand in the stream, utterly given to this Loving Mystery, utterly given to human messiness and rejection for the sake of world to be born. You stand there for me, that I may know the One who is Love Untold.
Grant that I may know that love and share your calm assurance. May I stand with you amid the messiness, the heartache and the joy of serving you, quietly surrendering to your invitation, “Come.”
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, January 07, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Today's text
Matthew 3:13-15
Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade him, with the words, “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should in this way, do all that uprightness demands.”
Prayer
What did you see, Jesus, when you came to the river? John’s fiery voice fills the air with denunciations of the powerful and demands for changed lives. The small and great come to him. And he rails at them all, also painting you in terms that don’t seem to fit: a pitchfork in your hand and a heart eager to burn the chaff.
Then you appear, in silence and simplicity. No fanfare, no announcement, no fire. You step from the desert and from among the crowd and crawl down the bank into the water. Or had all the others left John for a while when you appeared? Did all this happen when no one was watching?
I don’t know, but my heart falls silent as I watch you wade toward this wild man. You stand in the muddy stream where all the others stood, assuming no position of privilege, giving yourself to our human messiness.
Giving yourself: that is what I see, surrender to a wild and holy cause. You give yourself not only to us but to the untamed will of the One who burns to bring a kingdom where love displaces threat and fear, and Earth shimmers with divine glory.
And standing in the stream, you extend your hand to me. “Come,” you say. “Stand by me in the messiness.” A gracious and fearful invitation into your way of being.
And I come, again today. Whatever happens, just let me be with you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Matthew 3:13-15
Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade him, with the words, “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should in this way, do all that uprightness demands.”
Prayer
What did you see, Jesus, when you came to the river? John’s fiery voice fills the air with denunciations of the powerful and demands for changed lives. The small and great come to him. And he rails at them all, also painting you in terms that don’t seem to fit: a pitchfork in your hand and a heart eager to burn the chaff.
Then you appear, in silence and simplicity. No fanfare, no announcement, no fire. You step from the desert and from among the crowd and crawl down the bank into the water. Or had all the others left John for a while when you appeared? Did all this happen when no one was watching?
I don’t know, but my heart falls silent as I watch you wade toward this wild man. You stand in the muddy stream where all the others stood, assuming no position of privilege, giving yourself to our human messiness.
Giving yourself: that is what I see, surrender to a wild and holy cause. You give yourself not only to us but to the untamed will of the One who burns to bring a kingdom where love displaces threat and fear, and Earth shimmers with divine glory.
And standing in the stream, you extend your hand to me. “Come,” you say. “Stand by me in the messiness.” A gracious and fearful invitation into your way of being.
And I come, again today. Whatever happens, just let me be with you.
Pr. David L. Miller
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