Today’s text
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
Posts
All Comments
Friday, June 01, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:16-17
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.”
Prayer
I do not know what mortal sin means, Dearest One. I cannot grasp it. I know only that sin kills, right here and now. It is the illusion of separation from you. It is living without awareness that I and all that is are always in you, and you are in us. We exist only because we bear your Being. We are never separate from you, from your life, from your wonder, from the vitality and love you are.
Such awareness brings gratitude and calm. Anxiety flees the field, leaving the assurance that I am alive with you. The life I live is your life breathed into flesh. Every breath resonates with the peace that I have all I need in life and death. For, I am alive with you, the Boundless Spring of love and being itself.
What can mortal sin be but the determination to live in the illusion that this is not so? Your divine life has come in the flesh of my brother Jesus--and continues to come in and to the flesh of all you love? And you all love all you have made. Is mortal sin this dualism that separates you from our common life, denying that you are here, present and knowable in every moment?
If so, I will pray for those who fall into such sin including myself, for it is a terrible darkness.
Awaken our senses, Abiding Presence. Evaporate the illusion that clouds our vision so that we may know every breath we take draws in your creative love as you seek to fill us and all that is. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:16
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal.”
Prayer
I know sin all too well. My heart is not singular and pure. My soul does not shine with the crystalline clarity of your divine heart. Each intricate facet of your Being glimmers with the unsullied, undiluted purity of the Love whom you are. Who can gaze into light so pure, so piercing?
I am nothing like this. My sin is the source of most of my pain and sadness, my weakness and worry. I would love and trust you, finding strength and calmness of heart amid the feverishness of life. But on too many days I turn from the plentitude of your provision and quickly am trapped in anxiety about my want of skill and time, insight and ability. My incompetence and inadequacy for the tasks of your calling mock me.
In abject need, I turn and fall again into the fullness of your love, and my soul is enveloped in a cloud of knowing assurance. I am certain again, not of me, but of you, of the constant presence of your love, of the infinitely abundant reality that I dwell in the atmosphere of a love that will never abandon me to my own devices.
My heart is filled my life, eternal life, which is to say, with you. And I live. Oh, that I could always live like this. This alone is life, a life you give to sinners and wanderers like me. Pour your loving nearness on all of us this day that we may glow with a glory not our own. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:16
“If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one--to those whose sin is not mortal.”
Prayer
I know sin all too well. My heart is not singular and pure. My soul does not shine with the crystalline clarity of your divine heart. Each intricate facet of your Being glimmers with the unsullied, undiluted purity of the Love whom you are. Who can gaze into light so pure, so piercing?
I am nothing like this. My sin is the source of most of my pain and sadness, my weakness and worry. I would love and trust you, finding strength and calmness of heart amid the feverishness of life. But on too many days I turn from the plentitude of your provision and quickly am trapped in anxiety about my want of skill and time, insight and ability. My incompetence and inadequacy for the tasks of your calling mock me.
In abject need, I turn and fall again into the fullness of your love, and my soul is enveloped in a cloud of knowing assurance. I am certain again, not of me, but of you, of the constant presence of your love, of the infinitely abundant reality that I dwell in the atmosphere of a love that will never abandon me to my own devices.
My heart is filled my life, eternal life, which is to say, with you. And I live. Oh, that I could always live like this. This alone is life, a life you give to sinners and wanderers like me. Pour your loving nearness on all of us this day that we may glow with a glory not our own. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”
Prayer
According to your will, you say. Whatever we ask … according to your will … we will receive. And what is your will other than what you are? You are love, and you are glorified in words and deeds of love. These reveal you. They glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet. This is your will, and this prayer you never turn away. You always answer.
The longer I live the more I believe that, Holy One. The longer I live the more I know I need that prayer. Faces pass through my life, my office, crossing my path with human pain and joy beyond my capacity to understand. I listen agnostically, knowing only that I do not know their want, their need or their wounds.
And I pray: Help me to love this person. Help me to love this person …and the unique journey that brought them to my door. Truly, my Lord, I want nothing more than this.
Then I wait, and you answer. Of that, I am certain.
So I boldly pray again, over this and every day, over each person I shall meet today: Let me love them, regardless how pleasant or troubling they may be to me. May my words and deeds glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet, making you more present. That is your will, and for that I shall pray. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”
Prayer
According to your will, you say. Whatever we ask … according to your will … we will receive. And what is your will other than what you are? You are love, and you are glorified in words and deeds of love. These reveal you. They glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet. This is your will, and this prayer you never turn away. You always answer.
The longer I live the more I believe that, Holy One. The longer I live the more I know I need that prayer. Faces pass through my life, my office, crossing my path with human pain and joy beyond my capacity to understand. I listen agnostically, knowing only that I do not know their want, their need or their wounds.
And I pray: Help me to love this person. Help me to love this person …and the unique journey that brought them to my door. Truly, my Lord, I want nothing more than this.
Then I wait, and you answer. Of that, I am certain.
So I boldly pray again, over this and every day, over each person I shall meet today: Let me love them, regardless how pleasant or troubling they may be to me. May my words and deeds glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet, making you more present. That is your will, and for that I shall pray. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:13
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Prayer
There are some things I know, O Nameless Love. I know the breath in my lungs. I know the sound of the crickets and tree frogs as I sit long evenings on the patio. I know the beauty of human souls surrendered to a great love for which they are willing to suffer.
And I know all these are your dance in the emptiness of time and space.
I know that all love and life, all beauty and wonder, all self-sacrifice and true generosity, all kindness and gentleness, all joy and peace are the fullness of your Being playing a holy game, coaxing me to join in that I might live.
I know it brings you joy to lift human souls into the fullness of the Love you are, where we find fullness of life and joy.
In all of this, I know you. And knowing you is eternal life. Thanks for letting me know. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:13
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Prayer
There are some things I know, O Nameless Love. I know the breath in my lungs. I know the sound of the crickets and tree frogs as I sit long evenings on the patio. I know the beauty of human souls surrendered to a great love for which they are willing to suffer.
And I know all these are your dance in the emptiness of time and space.
I know that all love and life, all beauty and wonder, all self-sacrifice and true generosity, all kindness and gentleness, all joy and peace are the fullness of your Being playing a holy game, coaxing me to join in that I might live.
I know it brings you joy to lift human souls into the fullness of the Love you are, where we find fullness of life and joy.
In all of this, I know you. And knowing you is eternal life. Thanks for letting me know. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:10-12
“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Prayer
Eternal life is in you, my blessed brother. And the life that is in you is in me, for you are in me. What is it to have you, to have life?
You are the incandescent burning of a love that has no name. You are the visible face of impenetrable eternity. You are the human features of infinite wonder. You are the unceasing love of the Father’s unfathomable heart.
To have you is to have this love, this life abiding in the depths of one’s being. It is to be in-dwelt by a divine abiding in which one’s heart can finally rest and abide. This awareness, this reality is eternal life.
I have no idea what it was like for you, my Jesus, to know the fullness of this life in your mortality. There must have been as much sorrow as joy as you witnessed what we do to each other and your creation. But joy is unmistakable, in you and even in my sad soul.
So, too, are freedom of heart and mind and a peace that comes as love abiding melts sadness and doubt and fills with the awareness that you are love; you are always love and you fill me with the love you are.
In moments of fullness, the only possible sadness is the knowledge that, too soon, I will lose awareness of you and revert to ordinary consciousness, not knowing your exquisite nearness. But in those moments I know you; I know myself, and I know what life is for. Let me, let none of us, ever forget. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:10-12
“Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Prayer
Eternal life is in you, my blessed brother. And the life that is in you is in me, for you are in me. What is it to have you, to have life?
You are the incandescent burning of a love that has no name. You are the visible face of impenetrable eternity. You are the human features of infinite wonder. You are the unceasing love of the Father’s unfathomable heart.
To have you is to have this love, this life abiding in the depths of one’s being. It is to be in-dwelt by a divine abiding in which one’s heart can finally rest and abide. This awareness, this reality is eternal life.
I have no idea what it was like for you, my Jesus, to know the fullness of this life in your mortality. There must have been as much sorrow as joy as you witnessed what we do to each other and your creation. But joy is unmistakable, in you and even in my sad soul.
So, too, are freedom of heart and mind and a peace that comes as love abiding melts sadness and doubt and fills with the awareness that you are love; you are always love and you fill me with the love you are.
In moments of fullness, the only possible sadness is the knowledge that, too soon, I will lose awareness of you and revert to ordinary consciousness, not knowing your exquisite nearness. But in those moments I know you; I know myself, and I know what life is for. Let me, let none of us, ever forget. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:6-9
“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son.”
Prayer
I can’t say that I quite understand this, My Lord Christ, dearest friend. Does water refer to your baptism in human flesh? Does blood point to your death, faithful to God at the hands of those who hated and feared you? And the Spirit? Shall I think of this elusive constant one as that vitality of life and joy, who evermore recreates the face of the Earth--and me--in the divine image you reveal and are?
These three agree, giving God’s own witness that you are Lord, the revelation of God, the human, incarnate face of Eternal Wonder. You are the smile of God on the madness of the world. You are the knowing face of eternity turned in love to me amid all the unruliness of my life.
The water, the blood and the Spirit of joy that attends me each time I think of you: these invite me to know you, not merely as human friend but as abiding, divine presence, attending my every breath. Breathing in, I know you. I know you as the love of the Holy One who wants to known by every heart, by all that lives and by each spoonful of matter. Constant divine desire.
And I? I come to the close of another chapter, another semester, changed, deeper I hope. But you remain unchanged, constantly making witness to the love you are through our brother Jesus, the Christ.
Give us eyes and ears to receive your witness as we go our ways. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:6-9
“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son.”
Prayer
I can’t say that I quite understand this, My Lord Christ, dearest friend. Does water refer to your baptism in human flesh? Does blood point to your death, faithful to God at the hands of those who hated and feared you? And the Spirit? Shall I think of this elusive constant one as that vitality of life and joy, who evermore recreates the face of the Earth--and me--in the divine image you reveal and are?
These three agree, giving God’s own witness that you are Lord, the revelation of God, the human, incarnate face of Eternal Wonder. You are the smile of God on the madness of the world. You are the knowing face of eternity turned in love to me amid all the unruliness of my life.
The water, the blood and the Spirit of joy that attends me each time I think of you: these invite me to know you, not merely as human friend but as abiding, divine presence, attending my every breath. Breathing in, I know you. I know you as the love of the Holy One who wants to known by every heart, by all that lives and by each spoonful of matter. Constant divine desire.
And I? I come to the close of another chapter, another semester, changed, deeper I hope. But you remain unchanged, constantly making witness to the love you are through our brother Jesus, the Christ.
Give us eyes and ears to receive your witness as we go our ways. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, May 18, 2007
Friday May 18, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 5:3b-5
“And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
Prayer
What is of the world but that which binds my heart and prevents me from loving? And why should I remain so attached to that which enslaves and dehumanizes? I don’t know why, but I do.
Mysteries, these are, but deeper still is the eternal which also is born in us, a newness that battles the ravages of ego and restless anger, coaxing and cajoling us to a humanity that is real and true, bearing the marks of our brother Jesus.
We are born of you Dearest One, brought forth in love, by love and for loving. So help us hear, trust and love that other inner voice which hungers for a humanity and mercy beyond our capacities to create.
Our hunger signals not your absence but your present Spirit healing and humanizing, revealing that we bear a treasure we shall never exhaust, neither in this life nor in that into which we shall one day disappear.
We are born of you, bearing a wonder and a grace, a mercy and a life for which we shall yearn until the most unruly and enslaved parts of our being are altogether new, born of God, fresh and free as a spring morning.
May we taste that newness this day and forever. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 5:3b-5
“And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
Prayer
What is of the world but that which binds my heart and prevents me from loving? And why should I remain so attached to that which enslaves and dehumanizes? I don’t know why, but I do.
Mysteries, these are, but deeper still is the eternal which also is born in us, a newness that battles the ravages of ego and restless anger, coaxing and cajoling us to a humanity that is real and true, bearing the marks of our brother Jesus.
We are born of you Dearest One, brought forth in love, by love and for loving. So help us hear, trust and love that other inner voice which hungers for a humanity and mercy beyond our capacities to create.
Our hunger signals not your absence but your present Spirit healing and humanizing, revealing that we bear a treasure we shall never exhaust, neither in this life nor in that into which we shall one day disappear.
We are born of you, bearing a wonder and a grace, a mercy and a life for which we shall yearn until the most unruly and enslaved parts of our being are altogether new, born of God, fresh and free as a spring morning.
May we taste that newness this day and forever. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Tuesday May 15, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:17-18
“We love because God first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not see. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters.”
Prayer
I wake in the morning and begin the day with you for you make the morning. And when the sun lies low on its evening horizon, you are there. May my heart praise you then, too. And when the Earth’s good star fades and grows cold, when the sun’s golden rays wane and blink out, when it collapses and is a dark hole in infinite space, long after we and the stars of night have exhausted our substance and Earth’s fair beauty, too, is forgotten, even then you will be there, and you will be love. And you will not forget.
You are first, the love from which all things come and to which they go. You are the love who creates in joy and saves in holy passion. Your love is first in all things, setting life in motion and calling us to yourself in our brother Jesus who wore our mortal flesh and the eternity of your love.
Apart from you nothing is, for you are first, and you are love, a love that is the last word, too, the final reality into which all that is--and I--shall disappear, becoming one, at last, with the love that is the first movement in all life and creation.
Against your eternity it is hard to see that I and anything I do should matter. But it does, you say. The command you write on my being is be the love I receive, the love in which you fashioned and made me, the love that meets me in the morning and will awaken me to eternity, the love you are.
You are first; you are love. Let us know and be that love in our little moment of time. We will pass away, but the love we live will endure for eternity. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:17-18
“We love because God first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not see. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters.”
Prayer
I wake in the morning and begin the day with you for you make the morning. And when the sun lies low on its evening horizon, you are there. May my heart praise you then, too. And when the Earth’s good star fades and grows cold, when the sun’s golden rays wane and blink out, when it collapses and is a dark hole in infinite space, long after we and the stars of night have exhausted our substance and Earth’s fair beauty, too, is forgotten, even then you will be there, and you will be love. And you will not forget.
You are first, the love from which all things come and to which they go. You are the love who creates in joy and saves in holy passion. Your love is first in all things, setting life in motion and calling us to yourself in our brother Jesus who wore our mortal flesh and the eternity of your love.
Apart from you nothing is, for you are first, and you are love, a love that is the last word, too, the final reality into which all that is--and I--shall disappear, becoming one, at last, with the love that is the first movement in all life and creation.
Against your eternity it is hard to see that I and anything I do should matter. But it does, you say. The command you write on my being is be the love I receive, the love in which you fashioned and made me, the love that meets me in the morning and will awaken me to eternity, the love you are.
You are first; you are love. Let us know and be that love in our little moment of time. We will pass away, but the love we live will endure for eternity. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, May 14, 2007
Monday May 14, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:17-18
“We love because God first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not see. The commandment we have from him is this those who love God must love their brothers and sisters.”
Prayer
I do not want my life to be a lie, Holy One. For you are truth, and more than anything I want to dwell in you, my heart living in face-to-face unity with your divine heart so that there will be nothing false in me.
There is, of course, for I am not pure of heart; my eye is not singular, given to you alone. Unjust anger, snap judgments and rejection of others come far too easily to my mind and well before I truly listen and know the truth of others lives and hearts. I value others for what they can give me, not as you love them, a flowing fountain of compassion whose reach knows no limit.
This is how you love each of us and me. You forgive my divided heart and the hard words that live in me, spoken or not, awakening again the desire of heart that never left, that was always there: to love as you love, to embrace all reality and every face with compassion that flows also in me when I know myself in you.
This is your will, the holy work you never abandon. Thank you.
Show me what is to love and not just in word or thought. Teach me how to love each face I meet. Give me a seeking heart that seeks this alone from you its only source. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:17-18
“We love because God first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not see. The commandment we have from him is this those who love God must love their brothers and sisters.”
Prayer
I do not want my life to be a lie, Holy One. For you are truth, and more than anything I want to dwell in you, my heart living in face-to-face unity with your divine heart so that there will be nothing false in me.
There is, of course, for I am not pure of heart; my eye is not singular, given to you alone. Unjust anger, snap judgments and rejection of others come far too easily to my mind and well before I truly listen and know the truth of others lives and hearts. I value others for what they can give me, not as you love them, a flowing fountain of compassion whose reach knows no limit.
This is how you love each of us and me. You forgive my divided heart and the hard words that live in me, spoken or not, awakening again the desire of heart that never left, that was always there: to love as you love, to embrace all reality and every face with compassion that flows also in me when I know myself in you.
This is your will, the holy work you never abandon. Thank you.
Show me what is to love and not just in word or thought. Teach me how to love each face I meet. Give me a seeking heart that seeks this alone from you its only source. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday May 10, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:17-18
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment; and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.”
Prayer
My love is hardly perfect, but you, Blessed One are. You are perfect love, whole and true, constant and unwavering, without beginning or end, a deep current flowing in the eddies of our little moment of time that we may know you. Thank you. You are our life.
You, Incarnate One, are the love that called us to know you, inviting us each to grow into what we may be, flesh and blood articulations of your loving desire, each of us giving particular expression of your divine heart.
Your all-possessing stream brought us to this place and carries us on to experiences and faces unknown. Let us ever abide in you wherever we are or go.
Abiding in you, fear evaporates, an illusion of human aloneness. You never leave us alone. We are always in you, having our being in your abiding. May we rest in the currents of your living nearness.
Perfect us in your love. Leave no part of our being untouched, unwashed, unpossessed that as you are, we may be: eternity in time, the love that casts out fear. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:17-18
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment; and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.”
Prayer
My love is hardly perfect, but you, Blessed One are. You are perfect love, whole and true, constant and unwavering, without beginning or end, a deep current flowing in the eddies of our little moment of time that we may know you. Thank you. You are our life.
You, Incarnate One, are the love that called us to know you, inviting us each to grow into what we may be, flesh and blood articulations of your loving desire, each of us giving particular expression of your divine heart.
Your all-possessing stream brought us to this place and carries us on to experiences and faces unknown. Let us ever abide in you wherever we are or go.
Abiding in you, fear evaporates, an illusion of human aloneness. You never leave us alone. We are always in you, having our being in your abiding. May we rest in the currents of your living nearness.
Perfect us in your love. Leave no part of our being untouched, unwashed, unpossessed that as you are, we may be: eternity in time, the love that casts out fear. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Monday May 9, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:15-16
“God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them.”
Prayer
You do not Love, Holy One. You are love. To say less is heresy and lie. I will not cheat my soul from its singular consolation, so I say again: You do not love. You are love. And you love me, filling this cold heart with the liquid fire of your own life.
And I know you, such as a human heart can. I know you as love enveloping body and being entire, embraced, possessed, lifted, carried, filled, lighter than air and needing nothing. Heart and mind fall silent and satisfied, at rest in final Sabbath, the soul’s journey done. Home at last, I rest.
You abide within as the true and pure substance of soul, uncut and unadulterated, the eternal triunity of the Love you are. Here.
You are love, and you abide. Abiding in you, words and deeds flow from that truest self that is entirely gift and not of my making, and I, too, am love. Not unadulterated perhaps, but … still. May it be so today. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:15-16
“God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them.”
Prayer
You do not Love, Holy One. You are love. To say less is heresy and lie. I will not cheat my soul from its singular consolation, so I say again: You do not love. You are love. And you love me, filling this cold heart with the liquid fire of your own life.
And I know you, such as a human heart can. I know you as love enveloping body and being entire, embraced, possessed, lifted, carried, filled, lighter than air and needing nothing. Heart and mind fall silent and satisfied, at rest in final Sabbath, the soul’s journey done. Home at last, I rest.
You abide within as the true and pure substance of soul, uncut and unadulterated, the eternal triunity of the Love you are. Here.
You are love, and you abide. Abiding in you, words and deeds flow from that truest self that is entirely gift and not of my making, and I, too, am love. Not unadulterated perhaps, but … still. May it be so today. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, May 07, 2007
Monday May 7, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:13-15
“By this we know that we abide in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.”
Prayer
Sleep refuses to clear from consciousness. Early morning fogs my mind, yet my soul seeks you, not by any conscious movement but by a willing I do not command. Open thou my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.
I will declare it for you awaken my heart’s deep desire before my lethargic will can shake its slumber. My desire is for you long before conscious willing can catch up to whatever it is, whomever it is that long ago took possession of this heart of mine.
But I know who it is, for it is you, who neither slumber nor sleep. Thank you.
You abide in those whose hearts and lives testify to Jesus. That testimony, even through the befuddled haze of stuperous morning mind, reveals again that I am not my own. I am yours.
I know of no better thought with which to start the day.
You abide, and I can no more escape you than I can shed my skin. I am possessed of the desire to say again, “May Jesus Christ be praised in the morning, every morning, in this and every human heart.”
May my words reveal you to all I meet this day, and to my own sleepy self. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:13-15
“By this we know that we abide in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.”
Prayer
Sleep refuses to clear from consciousness. Early morning fogs my mind, yet my soul seeks you, not by any conscious movement but by a willing I do not command. Open thou my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.
I will declare it for you awaken my heart’s deep desire before my lethargic will can shake its slumber. My desire is for you long before conscious willing can catch up to whatever it is, whomever it is that long ago took possession of this heart of mine.
But I know who it is, for it is you, who neither slumber nor sleep. Thank you.
You abide in those whose hearts and lives testify to Jesus. That testimony, even through the befuddled haze of stuperous morning mind, reveals again that I am not my own. I am yours.
I know of no better thought with which to start the day.
You abide, and I can no more escape you than I can shed my skin. I am possessed of the desire to say again, “May Jesus Christ be praised in the morning, every morning, in this and every human heart.”
May my words reveal you to all I meet this day, and to my own sleepy self. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, May 04, 2007
Friday May 4, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:11-12
“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Prayer
I wake and try to catch you with words. This is my day. It is like trying to snatch dancing flames to put them in a jar. I grasp at the air. The flame singes my hand, but when I open it my hand is empty. Again I capture nothing. My words fall flat to the floor. And my soul burns at my failure to catch and share some small beauty of your dance in time and space.
All in all, I would prefer to say nothing. Simply remain silent. I crave the silent knowing of your love in moments when there is no need to say a thing, just be. Then I know only you, undistracted by my weakness and failures.
So today, just let me watch and wait and listen in the silence for the slightest stirring of soul in which I know the dancing flame of your love living in me and in this people among whom I dwell.
That will be enough for me. But I lie; it is not enough. Inevitably, I will again try to catch fire in a jar. Forgive my failures, and make my hand quicker. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:11-12
“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
Prayer
I wake and try to catch you with words. This is my day. It is like trying to snatch dancing flames to put them in a jar. I grasp at the air. The flame singes my hand, but when I open it my hand is empty. Again I capture nothing. My words fall flat to the floor. And my soul burns at my failure to catch and share some small beauty of your dance in time and space.
All in all, I would prefer to say nothing. Simply remain silent. I crave the silent knowing of your love in moments when there is no need to say a thing, just be. Then I know only you, undistracted by my weakness and failures.
So today, just let me watch and wait and listen in the silence for the slightest stirring of soul in which I know the dancing flame of your love living in me and in this people among whom I dwell.
That will be enough for me. But I lie; it is not enough. Inevitably, I will again try to catch fire in a jar. Forgive my failures, and make my hand quicker. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Thursday May 3, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:9-10
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Prayer
“That we might live,”… can I want more than this? I want to live. This burning desire from the depth of my soul makes me average. You create me and all that is with the desire for yourself. You are Life Abundant, and our souls are born on fire with the awareness that we are intended for More, for a great and surpassing love, for the mystery from which we spring. Failing to find this, we do not live in fullness for which you made us.
I did not spark this hungry flame. You did, making us in the image of your own desire.
But you do not make us search for the love of our yearning. You come to us. Your fullness wears the face of Jesus, our brother. Contemplating his every word and act, our senses come alive to More, to the surpassing love from which and for which we are made.
Knowing him is life, for the fullness of your divine love fills him. Savoring that fullness fills me also, bubbling up, spilling over, leaving no empty spaces. And in that moment, I am alive as in no other. I live. And the life I bear is your own eternity, satisfying the ancient desire of every soul … and of mine. But the hunger returns. So fill me that I may live. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:9-10
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Prayer
“That we might live,”… can I want more than this? I want to live. This burning desire from the depth of my soul makes me average. You create me and all that is with the desire for yourself. You are Life Abundant, and our souls are born on fire with the awareness that we are intended for More, for a great and surpassing love, for the mystery from which we spring. Failing to find this, we do not live in fullness for which you made us.
I did not spark this hungry flame. You did, making us in the image of your own desire.
But you do not make us search for the love of our yearning. You come to us. Your fullness wears the face of Jesus, our brother. Contemplating his every word and act, our senses come alive to More, to the surpassing love from which and for which we are made.
Knowing him is life, for the fullness of your divine love fills him. Savoring that fullness fills me also, bubbling up, spilling over, leaving no empty spaces. And in that moment, I am alive as in no other. I live. And the life I bear is your own eternity, satisfying the ancient desire of every soul … and of mine. But the hunger returns. So fill me that I may live. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, April 30, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
Love is as love as, Holy One. You are Love, and you do. You act, loving not in word alone but in deed and truth, giving your world its daily breath and the breadth of your mercy in our brother Jesus.
Love lives not in word alone but in actions. Your love allow us to enter the safe and wide space where our souls can breathe in the atmosphere of freedom, knowing we are well, no matter our circumstance, for we yours. We dwell in the precinct of your unchanging love and nothing can change this central reality of our lives.
So let us know you are love and become the love you are, safe spaces where other souls may breathe and find truest humanity. May our deeds and being provide welcome space where others might live and know the love that beats at heart of the universe and in your children.
And in our loving, may we know not only the freedom, the open space of soul you give, but you. We would know not merely your benefits but the Surpassing Wonder you are that we again may know that you are Love itself, seeking to restore in us your blessed image. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
Love is as love as, Holy One. You are Love, and you do. You act, loving not in word alone but in deed and truth, giving your world its daily breath and the breadth of your mercy in our brother Jesus.
Love lives not in word alone but in actions. Your love allow us to enter the safe and wide space where our souls can breathe in the atmosphere of freedom, knowing we are well, no matter our circumstance, for we yours. We dwell in the precinct of your unchanging love and nothing can change this central reality of our lives.
So let us know you are love and become the love you are, safe spaces where other souls may breathe and find truest humanity. May our deeds and being provide welcome space where others might live and know the love that beats at heart of the universe and in your children.
And in our loving, may we know not only the freedom, the open space of soul you give, but you. We would know not merely your benefits but the Surpassing Wonder you are that we again may know that you are Love itself, seeking to restore in us your blessed image. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, April 27, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
It sounds so simple, Holy Simplicity. And it is, for you. Or so I think. For your heart is simple, pure, given to the one reality, the one truth, the one thing whom you are. You are pure of heart, simple to the core. You do not spin off in a million directions but are eternally the One Love abiding simultaneously in every time and every space, a living unity of love in which nothing else is mixed or confused.
You are love. In you is no complexity, only impenetrable simplicity of heart and desire.
No wonder I can’t understand you, for I am not simple or pure at heart. My heart is drawn and driven by forces from within and without. My mind is tossed by conflicting winds of desire, some holy, many self-serving and most beyond conscious awareness.
But there are times of sublime simplicity when, if only for a moment, all other desire falls away, and I want only one thing. Rapt in your simplicity, only one thing matters, only one can be expressed, only one is possible. One desire fills the empty spaces of my soul, evaporating all confliction of heart. And I know the love you are, the love you would have me be.
This alone matters. All else is so much noise. So let it be. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
It sounds so simple, Holy Simplicity. And it is, for you. Or so I think. For your heart is simple, pure, given to the one reality, the one truth, the one thing whom you are. You are pure of heart, simple to the core. You do not spin off in a million directions but are eternally the One Love abiding simultaneously in every time and every space, a living unity of love in which nothing else is mixed or confused.
You are love. In you is no complexity, only impenetrable simplicity of heart and desire.
No wonder I can’t understand you, for I am not simple or pure at heart. My heart is drawn and driven by forces from within and without. My mind is tossed by conflicting winds of desire, some holy, many self-serving and most beyond conscious awareness.
But there are times of sublime simplicity when, if only for a moment, all other desire falls away, and I want only one thing. Rapt in your simplicity, only one thing matters, only one can be expressed, only one is possible. One desire fills the empty spaces of my soul, evaporating all confliction of heart. And I know the love you are, the love you would have me be.
This alone matters. All else is so much noise. So let it be. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
Grant me the most sublime of blessings, Loving Mystery. Grant me love’s knowledge of you who are Love itself. For love is knowledge; anything less is mere mental grasping, feeling about in the dark. Only love knows.
Only when I love does my heart open to see and know you. For how can a heart that does not love know you who are Love itself? And how can a heart love unless Love itself dwells in its depths? In loving we know you; in knowing you we love. The circle of loving begins and ends in you.
We see what we are, and we are what we see. I would see you, for you are love and only love allows me to savor your wonder and grace in the midst of a cynical and brutal age. Only love opens my soul to see you and to see as you see.
When I know you my soul opens up to embrace all you have made, like a spring flower awakened, drinking in the warmth of life and the grace of air to become beauty simply by basking in the gifts you give. Creation rushes into my senses to be embraced by a holy affection larger and more resonant than any I can produce. You love your world in me, and I know you in the loving.
I have no words that capture the truth of this ecstatic loving awareness. I only know that in such moments I know truth. I know you. So let me love. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:7-8
“Beloved, let us love on another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Prayer
Grant me the most sublime of blessings, Loving Mystery. Grant me love’s knowledge of you who are Love itself. For love is knowledge; anything less is mere mental grasping, feeling about in the dark. Only love knows.
Only when I love does my heart open to see and know you. For how can a heart that does not love know you who are Love itself? And how can a heart love unless Love itself dwells in its depths? In loving we know you; in knowing you we love. The circle of loving begins and ends in you.
We see what we are, and we are what we see. I would see you, for you are love and only love allows me to savor your wonder and grace in the midst of a cynical and brutal age. Only love opens my soul to see you and to see as you see.
When I know you my soul opens up to embrace all you have made, like a spring flower awakened, drinking in the warmth of life and the grace of air to become beauty simply by basking in the gifts you give. Creation rushes into my senses to be embraced by a holy affection larger and more resonant than any I can produce. You love your world in me, and I know you in the loving.
I have no words that capture the truth of this ecstatic loving awareness. I only know that in such moments I know truth. I know you. So let me love. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:3-6
“Little children, you are from God and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
Prayer
Give me ears to hear the resonance of your speaking in all speaking, Holy Silence. I would listen to you amid the sound and fury of my little moment in time that I may know what is real and true. Otherwise, I lose myself … and you.
There is a silent spot in my soul with which I so often lose touch. Many voices distract me from the deep silence where you abide. The worst distraction is my own anxious voice, filling the empty spaces where I can truly listen and hear.
Close my mouth, and open my heart. Let me retreat to that silent space of soul to rest and listen for the cry of your Spirit enfleshed in these many lives I daily meet. You are there. I hear you often in cries of joy or sorrow, yearning or consolation. And I would listen to you more. Only so, hearing your voice in the voices, do I know you. And that is life.
So let me listen. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:3-6
“Little children, you are from God and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
Prayer
Give me ears to hear the resonance of your speaking in all speaking, Holy Silence. I would listen to you amid the sound and fury of my little moment in time that I may know what is real and true. Otherwise, I lose myself … and you.
There is a silent spot in my soul with which I so often lose touch. Many voices distract me from the deep silence where you abide. The worst distraction is my own anxious voice, filling the empty spaces where I can truly listen and hear.
Close my mouth, and open my heart. Let me retreat to that silent space of soul to rest and listen for the cry of your Spirit enfleshed in these many lives I daily meet. You are there. I hear you often in cries of joy or sorrow, yearning or consolation. And I would listen to you more. Only so, hearing your voice in the voices, do I know you. And that is life.
So let me listen. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, April 23, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Today’s text
1 John 4:3-6
“Little children, you are from God and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Prayer
Greater are you, Holy One. Greater are you than the powers of death that stalk the Earth, greater than the fears of human souls, greater than the coarse judgments others make on us or that we heap upon ourselves, greater than the grief that grips our hearts over losses we must bear, greater than the sins and failures that haunts us, greater than the voices that deny your nearness, greater than the nihilism and cynicism that forsake love for power.
You are greater. And you are mine. That you are greater does not surprise me. What startles is the awareness that I bear you within as holy gift and possession from which my heart may fully live. Only in this awareness do I live fully; all else is half-life, grainy shadow in which the contours of beauty and joy are lost to soul.
But when I am aware that I bear a life that is Life, every moment becomes sacrament, and all life speaks with your voice, resonating with an uncreated love that is greater, always greater. Deus semper major. You are always more than mind or imagination, more than sorrow or struggle. May it be so today. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
1 John 4:3-6
“Little children, you are from God and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Prayer
Greater are you, Holy One. Greater are you than the powers of death that stalk the Earth, greater than the fears of human souls, greater than the coarse judgments others make on us or that we heap upon ourselves, greater than the grief that grips our hearts over losses we must bear, greater than the sins and failures that haunts us, greater than the voices that deny your nearness, greater than the nihilism and cynicism that forsake love for power.
You are greater. And you are mine. That you are greater does not surprise me. What startles is the awareness that I bear you within as holy gift and possession from which my heart may fully live. Only in this awareness do I live fully; all else is half-life, grainy shadow in which the contours of beauty and joy are lost to soul.
But when I am aware that I bear a life that is Life, every moment becomes sacrament, and all life speaks with your voice, resonating with an uncreated love that is greater, always greater. Deus semper major. You are always more than mind or imagination, more than sorrow or struggle. May it be so today. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)