Saturday, January 31, 2015

Habakkuk 2:20

But the Lord is in his holy temple;
   let all the earth keep silence before him! 

Silence …

You beckon

in the quiet light,

and I enter

the great silence,

truest home,

your presence,

knowing you calm,

at peace in the soul’s

inner room, immense

space, invisible

to the eye, filled

with nothing

that can be seen,

a place that is no place

feet can walk; releasing

all, sinking into utter

welcome, knowing you

ever waiting for me …

for me to arrive

and know you in this

temple of awareness

within, where no word

is or can be spoken

for your Fullness fills

all in your holy temple,

restoring the self

lost in living that life

can be … once more.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, January 30, 2015

John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’

How long, O Light?

Holy One, my friend. I need you in these morning hours … and all the day long. My soul cries out for you, for you alone.

How long will I look for grace where it cannot be found? How long will I seek my food and health in the words of others … and not in the light of your face?

You light shines where it will. You shine in every grace and beauty, in every word of encouragement and act of love, in each moment of quiet understanding when eye meets eye and the heart knows what it needs to know to live, to love, to shout with joy at the sheer exultation of existence.

How I hunger for that freedom this day when arrows from unexpected hands strike and wound the heart. I hunger for what you alone can give, so here I am again, aching for your voice.

“Turn from all that is not me,” I hear you say. “I am light. Look for light where I chose to shine on your heart. People will disappoint. Their needs and desires will turn them from you and against you.

“But not me. I am light, and I shine through eyes that love and hearts that know and treasure what I have done in yours. So go there; be there. Bask in the grace that receives and enables you to be the soul you are, giving little thought to those who will not or cannot provide what your heart requires.

"They are not the food and drink you need. You will fail to find what your heart needs in the hearts of those who serve. They cannot sustain you. Heart wounds heal in the light I am. Find your place in the sun of my grace. Seek nothing else, and you will live."

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Mark 1:14-18

They went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him

Love casts them out

What is new is the lack of fear that required boundaries to separate clean and unclean, acceptable and from that which must not be touched.

Jesus wades in where angels fear to tread, lest they get their pretty white robes soiled.

No fear of being soiled in Jesus. He goes where human minds and hearts are trapped by forces they do not understand and from which they cannot free themselves.

Old prohibitions—do not touch, do not walk, do not cross that line—do not bear on his mind or prevent him from going places from which others turn their faces and hurry away.

He goes where demons enslave, where we create thick walls to protect us from situations and troubles we fear. Don’t get too close the evil might infect you!

Evil is suddenly not to be feared or avoided but met with the determination of the love that heals. He talks to the destructive addictions and powers that enslave souls and commands them to leave.

I do not know how he did it exactly. But I know that the love in him … and the love he is in us … drives out a host of demons and fears, heals wounds and casts out haunting memories so that we may begin to see ourselves as he sees us, precious and worthy of care, full of beauty he would release from our hiddenness.

This … I know.

I have seen it happen. I have done it to others, and I have had it done to me, releasing the love and beauty trapped within to bless others.

“Fear not,” Jesus says. “Love drives out the demons and fears that enslave. That’s the way love is. And I am Love.”

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday January 26, 2015

Psalm 62:1-2

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from him comes my salvation. 
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall never be shaken. 

Knowing silence

Quiet is the space where

I sit and wait; house noises

surround, soft furnace

purring, giving warmth;

keyboard keys click beneath

fumbling fingers, wood frame

creaks in winter’s cold as

white candle flickers radiant

and near, promising the Presence

of light beyond its own.

No scripture word attracts

or brings light; only silence

appeals this day. Too many words

I have spoken and heard; the heart

hungers for the word silence

speaks at the deep inner point

where the heart knows what

it knows and rests in the love

it hears, knowing all is well,

knowing the love that knows

you … and wants you still.

Yet, strangely it is words

I do not control, flowing

through my fumbling

fingers from heart’s deep inner

room that carry me into the

knowing silence that speaks what

I want and need, illumining

the heart with light that is light

and love that is love, bringing rest

and assurance that the promise

of candle light is true …

always true.

Pr. David L. Miller