Today’s text
Mark 10:17-21
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Reflection
What if … ?
What if you woke every morning eager for the day, excited and ready to go, knowing the day held a gift?
What if you didn’t know (which you don’t) what that gift is, when it will appear or where?
What if your senses stood on tip toe, on alert, ready to receive the gift, whatever it was?
What if each day were received as a gift of life, complete with moments of joy, of tenderness, with food savory in your mouth and people who wanted to see you and talk with you?
What if you began to experience life in its goodness as a grace from the Great Giver from whose hearts flows the wonder of autumn colors, the beauty of harvested fields and the brisk bite of fall on your cheeks?
What if you experienced the simple goodness of living, of being able to give and receive love, of touching the face of someone you cherish, of seeing the smile of a treasured heart who has known sorrow?
What if you were washed over and filled to the brim by a wave of knowing that you are loved and treasured, always were and always will be, from the first day of your life until the day you leave this earth and enter the fullness of God’s grace?
What if you lived awake and utterly aware of the love of the One who is good all time, The One who loves to give and loves you? What if you breathed in this awareness until it filled your lungs with life and your soul with happiness?
What if?
You would taste eternal life. You would have the treasure of heaven, the treasure the heart wants and seeks in all it tries to accomplish and possess, the treasure we need more than any other.
But possessing, getting more--money, status, power, amusement, success, stuff--doesn’t bring this treasure. You can’t inherit this treasure. You can’t gain it or earn it. It can only be received.
This requires a dramatic shift in consciousness.
A man comes to Jesus, asking to gain eternal life. We normally think of that as something that comes when we are done with this life, and that’s not correct. Eternal life, the life of eternity, is a state we enter here and now, in this life and time, or we do not enter it at all.
Why does he come to Jesus? He comes for the same reason people sometimes come to me. They know something is wrong. Something is missing. Like this man, they need healing, but they can’t name their disease.
Their prayer life has gone dead, if it ever was much alive. Or their life is going well but there is a whole in their soul that craves filling. Or they have destructive things--or suffered such pain from others, and they want to touch and taste something, a healing, a fullness that money can’t buy and working harder can’t bring.
They hunger to know the treasure of heaven, eternal life. This is the life human hearts crave whether they can name it or not. Without it, we feel incomplete.
So what must I do? Give up everything; give it all to the poor, Jesus tells the young man, and us.
We think he must be kidding. Certainly, his words have to understood in some symbolic way. We need to live. We need our stuff to survive. We accumulate what we need and hold onto it tightly.
Too tightly, for life is not about accumulating things, and this becomes abundantly clear at the conclusion of our earthly lives.
Twice in recent weeks I have listened, shared stories and tears with those who have just lost beloved family members. As I listened, I was moved by the rich tapestry of what they shared with their loved on in decades of knowing and loving each other.
The words and stories that evoked tears, the things that were most meaningful had nothing to do with the job, wealth or accomplishments of those who had died.
What mattered, … all that really mattered was the river of love and grace, giving and care that flowed from the hearts of their loved one to them and back again.
A river of grace and goodness, giving and care flowed among them, a stream that begins in the heart of God, the Great Giver, and seeks to pull us all into its joy.
This is what the young man was missing. This accounts for the hole in his heart. His life was gift, not something gained through his strenuous effort to be good.
Eternal life, the treasure of heaven could be felt in his soul and make him truly alive only when he released what he held so tightly and surrendered to the flow of generosity coursing from God’s heart and seeking to pull him along.
When he surrendered to that holy flow he would become part of the river of grace that flowed through the conversations of those to whom I recently ministered in their grief. Then, he would know eternal life, the treasure of heaven.
Until then, all he did and his wealth and all he accomplished would be an impediment to him. You see, wealth, money and what you have accumulated can bring happiness … when it is shared and becomes part of the flow.
Our hearts know this. We feel it every time we share what we have, what we own and who we are. For when we do we know the treasure of heaven, and eternal life fills our hearts.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
Posts
All Comments
Friday, October 12, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 10:23-26
Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.' They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved? Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.'
Reflection
Jesus is having fun, and so should we. The eye of a needle might be understood as the tiny opening through which a seamstress passes thread as he prepares to sew. It is strictly a ‘no camel zone.’
But it was also the name of a low gate into the city of Jerusalem through which camels could not pass unless they got down on their knees and wriggled through, also needing to lose the payload on their backs. There was no other way they could pass through.
The camel gate speaks to me. Just more than four years ago, I returned to parish ministry after nearly 22 years doing other work, and I was carrying a load.
I carried a load of hurt and wounds from criticism and judgment endured while working in highly public positions. I carried a load of insecurity, wondering if I could still do parish work, wondering also if I really wanted to serve a congregation.
Could it be I only wanted to escape from the pain of criticism and nagging inner doubts about whether I had failed?
There was also a load of pride that made me anxious to share what I had done, who I’d met and the places I’d been. I was eager to be taken seriously because of past accomplishments and significant events in which I’d participated.
But this mattered far less to the new faces I met than I wanted. Few cared much about where I’d been or what I’d done.
I was disappointed by this. I wanted something different, some measure of acknowledgment from them. No more. Today, I remember this, and a strange but most welcome wave gratitude washes through my soul and fills me, bringing tears of thanks.
Realizing, however slowly, that past deeds and victories mattered little to those I had come to serve, I began to drop my load and realize that life is now and here, not then and there.
I began to learn to live … again. (Do we ever get it right?).
Learning to live meant being where I was, letting go of the anxious need to secure my identity and reputation by what once was. It means seeing and attending to what is front of you, no longer interjecting the load of the past into the present.
Being present, being in the now, the wounds of yesterday begin to fade, the self-imposed weight of needing to be taken seriously falls away and one finds freedom, the freedom to receive and share the grace and need of the present.
One enters a new way of being and living called the kingdom of God, which is always the kingdom of the present moment, which invites us to receive what is, to be open to what comes, knowing the love of God is in this moment no matter what else comes.
To know and find such love is to enter God’s kingdom and taste sweet salvation right here and now.
The kingdom is here and now, as I discovered it once more … when I dropped my load.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 10:23-26
Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.' They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved? Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.'
Reflection
Jesus is having fun, and so should we. The eye of a needle might be understood as the tiny opening through which a seamstress passes thread as he prepares to sew. It is strictly a ‘no camel zone.’
But it was also the name of a low gate into the city of Jerusalem through which camels could not pass unless they got down on their knees and wriggled through, also needing to lose the payload on their backs. There was no other way they could pass through.
The camel gate speaks to me. Just more than four years ago, I returned to parish ministry after nearly 22 years doing other work, and I was carrying a load.
I carried a load of hurt and wounds from criticism and judgment endured while working in highly public positions. I carried a load of insecurity, wondering if I could still do parish work, wondering also if I really wanted to serve a congregation.
Could it be I only wanted to escape from the pain of criticism and nagging inner doubts about whether I had failed?
There was also a load of pride that made me anxious to share what I had done, who I’d met and the places I’d been. I was eager to be taken seriously because of past accomplishments and significant events in which I’d participated.
But this mattered far less to the new faces I met than I wanted. Few cared much about where I’d been or what I’d done.
I was disappointed by this. I wanted something different, some measure of acknowledgment from them. No more. Today, I remember this, and a strange but most welcome wave gratitude washes through my soul and fills me, bringing tears of thanks.
Realizing, however slowly, that past deeds and victories mattered little to those I had come to serve, I began to drop my load and realize that life is now and here, not then and there.
I began to learn to live … again. (Do we ever get it right?).
Learning to live meant being where I was, letting go of the anxious need to secure my identity and reputation by what once was. It means seeing and attending to what is front of you, no longer interjecting the load of the past into the present.
Being present, being in the now, the wounds of yesterday begin to fade, the self-imposed weight of needing to be taken seriously falls away and one finds freedom, the freedom to receive and share the grace and need of the present.
One enters a new way of being and living called the kingdom of God, which is always the kingdom of the present moment, which invites us to receive what is, to be open to what comes, knowing the love of God is in this moment no matter what else comes.
To know and find such love is to enter God’s kingdom and taste sweet salvation right here and now.
The kingdom is here and now, as I discovered it once more … when I dropped my load.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Tuesday, October 8, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 10:17-21
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Reflection
Commentators have spilled a great deal of ink saying Jesus wasn’t demanding that it isn’t necessary to give everything away to follow him.
But maybe he was, at least to this man.
Perhaps Jesus read enough of his heart to know that accumulating and possessing wealth was at the center of his soul, and only radical surgery could free him from his addiction.
He called the man to radical reorientation of his vision, a new consciousness in which acquisition was no longer the purpose of living.
There is nothing to suggest the man was greedy. Had we known him we likely would have considered him just and decent, a well-off guy who was careful about living a just life and keeping God’s commandments.
But living the kingdom would always be second or third for him, just as it is for most Christians today, perhaps especially in developed Western countries.
Knowing God, loving God, worshiping and giving yourself to the purposes of God are spare time activities, done when there might be a spare moment.
It is too easy to distance oneself from this wealthy man, thinking that I … that we are not like him. But radical surgery is needed for all of us sometimes and most of us much of the time.
The shift in consciousness for which Jesus called is to seek him and the kingdom in all things, at all times. Knowing life is utter gift and the love of God is always ours, we need earn nothing but only respond to the central reality of life.
That reality is the wonder of God, the miracle of a love who makes worlds and places us among them to know and share the beauty and joy of being alive, human and aware of the gift of one’s life and all that is.
In modern life, a thousand forgettable, insignificant elements of living soak up our time, divert our attention and commandeer our souls so that this central reality no longer shapes our hearts and days.
Life is not about getting more, Jesus says, whether that is more education, money, status, success or amusements. Life is awareness of the giftedness of all things, the joy of receiving and sharing the love that emanates from the Infinite Source from which we receive our breath … every moment.
All that hinders such awareness makes us poor, no matter how much we’ve got.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 10:17-21
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Reflection
Commentators have spilled a great deal of ink saying Jesus wasn’t demanding that it isn’t necessary to give everything away to follow him.
But maybe he was, at least to this man.
Perhaps Jesus read enough of his heart to know that accumulating and possessing wealth was at the center of his soul, and only radical surgery could free him from his addiction.
He called the man to radical reorientation of his vision, a new consciousness in which acquisition was no longer the purpose of living.
There is nothing to suggest the man was greedy. Had we known him we likely would have considered him just and decent, a well-off guy who was careful about living a just life and keeping God’s commandments.
But living the kingdom would always be second or third for him, just as it is for most Christians today, perhaps especially in developed Western countries.
Knowing God, loving God, worshiping and giving yourself to the purposes of God are spare time activities, done when there might be a spare moment.
It is too easy to distance oneself from this wealthy man, thinking that I … that we are not like him. But radical surgery is needed for all of us sometimes and most of us much of the time.
The shift in consciousness for which Jesus called is to seek him and the kingdom in all things, at all times. Knowing life is utter gift and the love of God is always ours, we need earn nothing but only respond to the central reality of life.
That reality is the wonder of God, the miracle of a love who makes worlds and places us among them to know and share the beauty and joy of being alive, human and aware of the gift of one’s life and all that is.
In modern life, a thousand forgettable, insignificant elements of living soak up our time, divert our attention and commandeer our souls so that this central reality no longer shapes our hearts and days.
Life is not about getting more, Jesus says, whether that is more education, money, status, success or amusements. Life is awareness of the giftedness of all things, the joy of receiving and sharing the love that emanates from the Infinite Source from which we receive our breath … every moment.
All that hinders such awareness makes us poor, no matter how much we’ve got.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, October 08, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 10:17-21
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.'
Reflection
Some days are designed to alter your consciousness. This is what Sabbath is to be, a day to re-enter your right mind so you might dwell there through the week. Autumn days, too, seem intended for this change of mind.
We travel streets of fading color, reminded that the beauty we are and see does not last forever. It beckons the eye to linger, to take in the best show in town that comes for free.
While it carries the melancholy awareness that summer ends and we do, too, it speaks a deeper truth.
The beauty that surrounds us, the beauty we each are, is given. Life and color comes without our asking as the first and original blessing of the One who loves to bless.
Autumn days and Sabbath time bring awareness that we do nothing to gain life’s goodness. We can only receive with gratitude from the One whose goodness is spoken in every leaf on every tree and in every breath we take.
Awareness of the towering goodness of the One who is all good, and the good in all, arises with each conscious breath. It comes in each moment of awareness that we are surrounded by splendor we did not make.
Each conscious breath: Jesus calls us from sleep to consciousness awareness that there is One who is good and who is giver of life. Look at that One. Look for that One. Feel that One in every … single … breath. Touch that One every moment that love and beauty touches you.
Be amazed that you are alive and your skin can feel the brisk bite of autumn days. Hear the whisper of the breeze. It awakens awareness of the love of the One who is good. Breathe it in until it fills your lungs with life and your soul with happiness.
Awakened souls know: You do nothing to inherit life, and you do nothing to inherit the treasure of heaven. All is gift from the One who is good.
Look and pray to see the wonder of it all.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 10:17-21
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.'
Reflection
Some days are designed to alter your consciousness. This is what Sabbath is to be, a day to re-enter your right mind so you might dwell there through the week. Autumn days, too, seem intended for this change of mind.
We travel streets of fading color, reminded that the beauty we are and see does not last forever. It beckons the eye to linger, to take in the best show in town that comes for free.
While it carries the melancholy awareness that summer ends and we do, too, it speaks a deeper truth.
The beauty that surrounds us, the beauty we each are, is given. Life and color comes without our asking as the first and original blessing of the One who loves to bless.
Autumn days and Sabbath time bring awareness that we do nothing to gain life’s goodness. We can only receive with gratitude from the One whose goodness is spoken in every leaf on every tree and in every breath we take.
Awareness of the towering goodness of the One who is all good, and the good in all, arises with each conscious breath. It comes in each moment of awareness that we are surrounded by splendor we did not make.
Each conscious breath: Jesus calls us from sleep to consciousness awareness that there is One who is good and who is giver of life. Look at that One. Look for that One. Feel that One in every … single … breath. Touch that One every moment that love and beauty touches you.
Be amazed that you are alive and your skin can feel the brisk bite of autumn days. Hear the whisper of the breeze. It awakens awareness of the love of the One who is good. Breathe it in until it fills your lungs with life and your soul with happiness.
Awakened souls know: You do nothing to inherit life, and you do nothing to inherit the treasure of heaven. All is gift from the One who is good.
Look and pray to see the wonder of it all.
Pr. David L. Miller
Saturday, October 06, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Today’s text
Hebrews 1:1-3
At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages. He is the reflection of God's glory and bears the impress of God's own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.
Reflection
I stare sleepless at the ceiling of the bedroom; shadows from a street light fix my gaze on the far corner where wall meets wall and touches the ceiling. Sleep won’t come for some time.
So I lie still and watch as the blessings of my life appear in the dim light. They pass before me, and I am happy to be awakened at this early hour for no good reason except to see and pray.
My soul reaches out to the Great Soul who speaks in every blessing, my heart moved from within by a Spirit far greater than my own. Prayer comes too easily for it to be my creation. It flows from the Spirit who seeks me in the darkness of night.
And I understand: I am wanted far more than I can understand.
The God of heaven and earth seeks to be known. The Loving Mystery who speaks in all time and every space, including the small space of my mind and heart, calls me to know the Love that is ever for me, the Love who constantly wants and seeks me.
God hungers to be known by me, in the darkness and in the light, in the day and in the night, in the many and various ways God speaks, and certainly in the face of Jesus where what God says in other moments becomes more clear.
What moves me is that the desire of the Voice in the Night is so much like the desire of the human heart, my heart, to know and be taken in by the Love that fashions the worlds and cherishes them all. My soul is an image of the Great Soul who made the ages.
In the darkness, I see again the face of Jesus, the visible of image of the One who wakes me in the night, finding there a welcoming love who forgives the failures of my soul and invites to simply rest, breathe and know him.
And seeing, I am eager for the morning, knowing what awaits me every morning.
Pr. David L. Miller
Hebrews 1:1-3
At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages. He is the reflection of God's glory and bears the impress of God's own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.
Reflection
I stare sleepless at the ceiling of the bedroom; shadows from a street light fix my gaze on the far corner where wall meets wall and touches the ceiling. Sleep won’t come for some time.
So I lie still and watch as the blessings of my life appear in the dim light. They pass before me, and I am happy to be awakened at this early hour for no good reason except to see and pray.
My soul reaches out to the Great Soul who speaks in every blessing, my heart moved from within by a Spirit far greater than my own. Prayer comes too easily for it to be my creation. It flows from the Spirit who seeks me in the darkness of night.
And I understand: I am wanted far more than I can understand.
The God of heaven and earth seeks to be known. The Loving Mystery who speaks in all time and every space, including the small space of my mind and heart, calls me to know the Love that is ever for me, the Love who constantly wants and seeks me.
God hungers to be known by me, in the darkness and in the light, in the day and in the night, in the many and various ways God speaks, and certainly in the face of Jesus where what God says in other moments becomes more clear.
What moves me is that the desire of the Voice in the Night is so much like the desire of the human heart, my heart, to know and be taken in by the Love that fashions the worlds and cherishes them all. My soul is an image of the Great Soul who made the ages.
In the darkness, I see again the face of Jesus, the visible of image of the One who wakes me in the night, finding there a welcoming love who forgives the failures of my soul and invites to simply rest, breathe and know him.
And seeing, I am eager for the morning, knowing what awaits me every morning.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Today’s text
Psalm 8:3-6
I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm- what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty, made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet.
Reflection
Again I wake into the world filled with wonder that I am, amazed that I breathe and have senses that fill me with delight in every season, and most certainly in autumn splendor.
At the core of faith, at least for me, is amazement at life, at the immensity of the cosmos and my own smallness. Staggered, I gaze into the night sky realizing this is my gift. I get to take in the vast sprinkling of the Milky Way, millions of stars dusting the clear night as loons call to each other across the darkness.
Light from millions of years ago finally touches my eyes after its cold journey through yawning reaches of space, delighting my heart, moving me to wonder what each one is like.
Wonder is closer yet, near as trees electric with golden light in the October morning, moving me to thanks that I might live on this tiny planet, at this place and this time to see this tree that reminds me once more how graced I am to know the colors of a single moment. Any moment, but most certainly this one.
Open your eyes and see. The world is a wonder. Life is a mystery and miracle no words can express. And love, love for this precious life and the loves we are given, who knows how it happens?
Who can point to the moment, to the word, the turn of head, the smile, the understanding glance and laughter that ignites the heart with the joy of knowing oneness with another?
It’s all wonder, our lives, this earth, the universe, the surprising experience of being alive … able to know and feel life within and around us. None of this can be taken for granted by people who did not create themselves or a single molecule of matter.
All that fills my senses on autumn mornings flows from an Infinite Source who loves life … and me. The stars tell me so. The loons’ haunting cries echo my prayer to know the nearness of this Love who speaks in night skies and autumn trees aglow as if lit from within.
This Love wears a face who was even more enamored of golden mornings than am I, the face of the Love Eternal who seeks me every morning, the face of Jesus.
Today, I join him in the wonder of living, knowing, feeling the One who speaks through it all.
Pr. David L. Miller
Psalm 8:3-6
I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm- what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty, made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet.
Reflection
Again I wake into the world filled with wonder that I am, amazed that I breathe and have senses that fill me with delight in every season, and most certainly in autumn splendor.
At the core of faith, at least for me, is amazement at life, at the immensity of the cosmos and my own smallness. Staggered, I gaze into the night sky realizing this is my gift. I get to take in the vast sprinkling of the Milky Way, millions of stars dusting the clear night as loons call to each other across the darkness.
Light from millions of years ago finally touches my eyes after its cold journey through yawning reaches of space, delighting my heart, moving me to wonder what each one is like.
Wonder is closer yet, near as trees electric with golden light in the October morning, moving me to thanks that I might live on this tiny planet, at this place and this time to see this tree that reminds me once more how graced I am to know the colors of a single moment. Any moment, but most certainly this one.
Open your eyes and see. The world is a wonder. Life is a mystery and miracle no words can express. And love, love for this precious life and the loves we are given, who knows how it happens?
Who can point to the moment, to the word, the turn of head, the smile, the understanding glance and laughter that ignites the heart with the joy of knowing oneness with another?
It’s all wonder, our lives, this earth, the universe, the surprising experience of being alive … able to know and feel life within and around us. None of this can be taken for granted by people who did not create themselves or a single molecule of matter.
All that fills my senses on autumn mornings flows from an Infinite Source who loves life … and me. The stars tell me so. The loons’ haunting cries echo my prayer to know the nearness of this Love who speaks in night skies and autumn trees aglow as if lit from within.
This Love wears a face who was even more enamored of golden mornings than am I, the face of the Love Eternal who seeks me every morning, the face of Jesus.
Today, I join him in the wonder of living, knowing, feeling the One who speaks through it all.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
Reflection
There is a time to receive and a time to give, a time be blessed and a time to bless.
I have reached the time to bless, the time to give, Jesus time. More on that in a moment.
One might object that it is always time to bless and give, just as it is always time to receive blessing and grace from others
Early in one’s life there is more blessing be received than given. It is the natural way of life, easily seen when we are children. We need to receive--food, clothing, teaching and encouragement. You get the idea.
Aging, we take on greater responsibility for ourselves and others--children, students, younger less experienced people at our jobs and in our professions. We pass on what we know; sharing the wisdom and grace we have received in living.
I recently had a birthday with a ‘0’ in it … 60.
The number doesn’t bother me at all, nor does having reached an age that I couldn’t imagine being when I was younger. I don’t look or feel anything like I imagined 60 would be.
In younger years, I thought of what it would be like to reach this age, but I didn’t think I would have this much energy or joy. I didn’t imagine the sense of purpose I feel or the anticipation of what is to come. I didn’t think I’d have this much desire to grow richer and deeper in mind and heart. I thought such growth in would largely be done. Not so.
The big change I notice is that I need less and want to give more.
I devoted so much … too much of my life to filling holes in my heart, proving I was competent, a worthwhile human being to be taken seriously. I was hungry for encouragement and affirmation, needing to know I was okay, accepted and acceptable. I needed a great deal approval and worked hard (ridiculously so) to earn it.
It was never enough. What I needed was to know … and accept … blessing, the blessing of love that cherished me, no matter if I was doing well or not.
There were those beloved hearts along the way who blessed me. Often, I treated their blessing as if it were something I earned (or needed to earn) by my efforts, not as a gift of grace from those--friends, family, spouse--who wanted only that I should be myself, the soul I am and receive the grace they gave.
Somewhere on the way to 60 (I am a slow learner) enough blessing has seeped into my heart that there are fewer holes in me that need filling.
I feel richer, more complete and full of the grace that is the substance of God’s own heart. I have certainly given much to others and blessed them in the course of my life and ministry. But I have reached a point where blessing others, not being blessed is primary.
Grace received has topped the reservoir of my heart and spills out more naturally. This is not an accomplishment but the consequence of receiving the grace and love God through prayer and from other lives for many years.
This is a very good and consoling place to be.
I know what Jesus felt when he took children into his arms and blessed them. He did not feel less. He did not feel depleted.
He experienced the loving grace of an Infinite Soul filling and flowing out him, raising smiles and beauty on the faces of others. And when he was done blessing them, he felt more full than when he started.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
Reflection
There is a time to receive and a time to give, a time be blessed and a time to bless.
I have reached the time to bless, the time to give, Jesus time. More on that in a moment.
One might object that it is always time to bless and give, just as it is always time to receive blessing and grace from others
Early in one’s life there is more blessing be received than given. It is the natural way of life, easily seen when we are children. We need to receive--food, clothing, teaching and encouragement. You get the idea.
Aging, we take on greater responsibility for ourselves and others--children, students, younger less experienced people at our jobs and in our professions. We pass on what we know; sharing the wisdom and grace we have received in living.
I recently had a birthday with a ‘0’ in it … 60.
The number doesn’t bother me at all, nor does having reached an age that I couldn’t imagine being when I was younger. I don’t look or feel anything like I imagined 60 would be.
In younger years, I thought of what it would be like to reach this age, but I didn’t think I would have this much energy or joy. I didn’t imagine the sense of purpose I feel or the anticipation of what is to come. I didn’t think I’d have this much desire to grow richer and deeper in mind and heart. I thought such growth in would largely be done. Not so.
The big change I notice is that I need less and want to give more.
I devoted so much … too much of my life to filling holes in my heart, proving I was competent, a worthwhile human being to be taken seriously. I was hungry for encouragement and affirmation, needing to know I was okay, accepted and acceptable. I needed a great deal approval and worked hard (ridiculously so) to earn it.
It was never enough. What I needed was to know … and accept … blessing, the blessing of love that cherished me, no matter if I was doing well or not.
There were those beloved hearts along the way who blessed me. Often, I treated their blessing as if it were something I earned (or needed to earn) by my efforts, not as a gift of grace from those--friends, family, spouse--who wanted only that I should be myself, the soul I am and receive the grace they gave.
Somewhere on the way to 60 (I am a slow learner) enough blessing has seeped into my heart that there are fewer holes in me that need filling.
I feel richer, more complete and full of the grace that is the substance of God’s own heart. I have certainly given much to others and blessed them in the course of my life and ministry. But I have reached a point where blessing others, not being blessed is primary.
Grace received has topped the reservoir of my heart and spills out more naturally. This is not an accomplishment but the consequence of receiving the grace and love God through prayer and from other lives for many years.
This is a very good and consoling place to be.
I know what Jesus felt when he took children into his arms and blessed them. He did not feel less. He did not feel depleted.
He experienced the loving grace of an Infinite Soul filling and flowing out him, raising smiles and beauty on the faces of others. And when he was done blessing them, he felt more full than when he started.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
Reflection
Many times this story excited craving and brought tears to my eyes. I yearned to be the child Jesus blessed.
I was that child. I hungered for the blessing of his hands. There were wounds old and new crying out to be tenderly touched. My heart longed for Jesus’ gentle welcome.
Savoring this story, I saw his hands reach out to touch and bless me, to receive me into the arms of divine love. As he did, peace flowed into over hidden crevices of my soul where wounds festered, wounds from feeling unwelcome in so many places and occasions of my life. Healing came, at least for the time of meditation.
I remember those days and wonder why this day is different. Tears pool at the corners of my eyes, but the emotion is not as intense now. My need is less. My soul is quieter, placid, lacking the agitation once stirred by this little story of blessing.
Is this a lack, a loss? Maybe. Maybe my heart has grown apathetic, having lost its zeal. But then maybe not.
Maybe my anxious need has subsided because my heart has received enough love and grace to still the needy craving of my heart.
Maybe my heart can rest, no longer crazy hungry for the next graced moment when Jesus welcome breaks through because my heart finally ‘gets it.’
I have felt the embrace that received the children receiving me so many times and in so many ways that I know I am forever wanted and welcome by the Love that has haunted me from the earliest days of my life.
Today, I look at the story again. I see the open arms of Jesus, his arms enfolding me, his hands touching my head, and I know he welcomes me and wants me and always will.
I need not hurry into those arms as if starved for what every human heart needs. I am one who knows, thanks be to God. So, I step quietly toward him, and my heart rests in quiet knowing.
Pr. David L. Miller
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:38-50
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward. 'But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck. And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out. And if your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out. For everyone will be salted with fire.
Reflection
Not a week goes by that I don’t hear a misuse … a misunderstanding … an abuse of my faith. Not a week passes that the name of God, the sweet name of Jesus isn’t used to judge or condemn, insult, curse or exclude.
It’s ugly. It’s blasphemy, and it’s a lie. Every time.
And every time I hear the voice of my professors, Duane Priebe. He often said, “Every time you draw a line between who is in and who is out, who is in Jesus’ circle and who is out, you’ll find Jesus on the other side staring back at you.”
A man visits his dieing mother and reads Scripture to her. “You’ve got to believe this,” he says. You’ve got to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, or you’re going to go to Hell.”
I hear this and wince. The name of God’s most welcoming love is used as a club, a threat to bring fear, and Jesus’ name is no longer an invitation to come home to the love that cherishes us more than we can know.
I go to a website I visit several times a week and suddenly find a voter’s guide for the presidential election. “Who is the real Christian? Who is the real Catholic?” reads one heading. The article compares the two vice presidential candidates, both catholic Christians.
One stands against abortion and gay unions; the other does not. One is has a strong concern and position on health care, immigration reform and the poor. The first is praised as standing on Jesus side of the issues; the other is denounced. Is this right? Is this a faithful representation of who Jesus is and the way to which he calls us?
If you didn’t know who Jesus is, or are already turned a little off by Christianity and the church, aren’t such fights one more reason to turn away, a stumbling block to understanding and faith? So, too, are the ways Christians use the name of Jesus to exclude others or arrogantly act as if they possess the truth and nothing but the truth.
Long ago I lost interest in many things different kinds of churches and Christians fight about. I lost, too, most of my need to be right--or at least to convince others that I hold the correct information and views.
If faith is about fighting, if it is about being right and convincing others that you and your side are true and others are wrong, … I don’t want it, and neither do many others.
But it is not. Our faith is about the light of God shining in the face of Jesus and in the eyes of those who know and live his love. It is about the everlasting love of God that seeks the human heart through all time and in every circumstance of our days, inviting, cajoling and seducing us to come home and truly know who we are.
It is easy to forget who we are. Jesus first friends did, too. They lost their identity--their salt, their flavor, and they missed his mission.
“Stop him,” they implored Jesus, when they saw someone casting out demons in his name. The man was setting souls free, allowing them to live again, liberated from whatever it was that held them captive in less than human state. He did it in Jesus’ name, an extension of Jesus mission, and they wanted to stop him.
“Is this the way you treat my friends?” Jesus seemed to respond. “Don’t you know what I am about? Don’t you know what the kingdom of God is? Don’t you see how your attitude and your actions deny me and hinder the emergence of God’s loving kingdom on the face of the earth?”
God’s kingdom was right there in front of them but they missed it. They couldn’t see and feel it because they gave in to the temptation that is the curse of so much religion and virtually all our politics today.
They arrogated truth and goodness to themselves, discounting and denying the goodness and truth present in others--other churches, other faiths, other cultures, other political persuasions.
Just so, they … and we deny God’s cosmic project … and constant Presence.
There was too little humility in them--and often, in us--to look, listen and discover that truth is so much larger than we are, larger than we know.
The healing presence of Jesus is bigger than us, bigger than our church, bigger than our best theologies and deepest commitments. It is always more.
The kingdom of God’s healing is revealed far beyond us, even in small acts of mercy and hospitality, in deeds as small as sharing a cup of water.
We are a part of a great worldwide--no, cosmic--mission, to give, restore and celebrate life, a mission to wipe away tears, to pour out the mercy of the One who is all merciful, pushing back the forces that disfigure and destroy.
The mission is to gather all that is into intimate sharing with the Infinite Source of life who loves all creation.
The Holy One is at work everywhere, setting souls free, drawing hearts into the Divine Heart of Love, creating space for life to thrive with beauty.
Our privilege and blessing is to know ourselves as part of this great loving project, celebrating the power of God’s love and life wherever and in whomever it appears, knowing always that it will.
Jesus healing love surprises, showing up in people and places, in the hope and generous hearts of those you might imagine less, well, spiritual than you are, … less than you are.
Don’t be threatened by this. Don’t hinder or criticize it. Welcome it. Celebrate it.
Let the ever-present healing love of Jesus lift your soul to the heights, however and where ever it appears. For in that moment you are reminded again that his holy presence dwells also … in you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:38-50
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward. 'But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck. And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out. And if your foot should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should be your downfall, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell. where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out. For everyone will be salted with fire.
Reflection
Not a week goes by that I don’t hear a misuse … a misunderstanding … an abuse of my faith. Not a week passes that the name of God, the sweet name of Jesus isn’t used to judge or condemn, insult, curse or exclude.
It’s ugly. It’s blasphemy, and it’s a lie. Every time.
And every time I hear the voice of my professors, Duane Priebe. He often said, “Every time you draw a line between who is in and who is out, who is in Jesus’ circle and who is out, you’ll find Jesus on the other side staring back at you.”
A man visits his dieing mother and reads Scripture to her. “You’ve got to believe this,” he says. You’ve got to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, or you’re going to go to Hell.”
I hear this and wince. The name of God’s most welcoming love is used as a club, a threat to bring fear, and Jesus’ name is no longer an invitation to come home to the love that cherishes us more than we can know.
I go to a website I visit several times a week and suddenly find a voter’s guide for the presidential election. “Who is the real Christian? Who is the real Catholic?” reads one heading. The article compares the two vice presidential candidates, both catholic Christians.
One stands against abortion and gay unions; the other does not. One is has a strong concern and position on health care, immigration reform and the poor. The first is praised as standing on Jesus side of the issues; the other is denounced. Is this right? Is this a faithful representation of who Jesus is and the way to which he calls us?
If you didn’t know who Jesus is, or are already turned a little off by Christianity and the church, aren’t such fights one more reason to turn away, a stumbling block to understanding and faith? So, too, are the ways Christians use the name of Jesus to exclude others or arrogantly act as if they possess the truth and nothing but the truth.
Long ago I lost interest in many things different kinds of churches and Christians fight about. I lost, too, most of my need to be right--or at least to convince others that I hold the correct information and views.
If faith is about fighting, if it is about being right and convincing others that you and your side are true and others are wrong, … I don’t want it, and neither do many others.
But it is not. Our faith is about the light of God shining in the face of Jesus and in the eyes of those who know and live his love. It is about the everlasting love of God that seeks the human heart through all time and in every circumstance of our days, inviting, cajoling and seducing us to come home and truly know who we are.
It is easy to forget who we are. Jesus first friends did, too. They lost their identity--their salt, their flavor, and they missed his mission.
“Stop him,” they implored Jesus, when they saw someone casting out demons in his name. The man was setting souls free, allowing them to live again, liberated from whatever it was that held them captive in less than human state. He did it in Jesus’ name, an extension of Jesus mission, and they wanted to stop him.
“Is this the way you treat my friends?” Jesus seemed to respond. “Don’t you know what I am about? Don’t you know what the kingdom of God is? Don’t you see how your attitude and your actions deny me and hinder the emergence of God’s loving kingdom on the face of the earth?”
God’s kingdom was right there in front of them but they missed it. They couldn’t see and feel it because they gave in to the temptation that is the curse of so much religion and virtually all our politics today.
They arrogated truth and goodness to themselves, discounting and denying the goodness and truth present in others--other churches, other faiths, other cultures, other political persuasions.
Just so, they … and we deny God’s cosmic project … and constant Presence.
There was too little humility in them--and often, in us--to look, listen and discover that truth is so much larger than we are, larger than we know.
The healing presence of Jesus is bigger than us, bigger than our church, bigger than our best theologies and deepest commitments. It is always more.
The kingdom of God’s healing is revealed far beyond us, even in small acts of mercy and hospitality, in deeds as small as sharing a cup of water.
We are a part of a great worldwide--no, cosmic--mission, to give, restore and celebrate life, a mission to wipe away tears, to pour out the mercy of the One who is all merciful, pushing back the forces that disfigure and destroy.
The mission is to gather all that is into intimate sharing with the Infinite Source of life who loves all creation.
The Holy One is at work everywhere, setting souls free, drawing hearts into the Divine Heart of Love, creating space for life to thrive with beauty.
Our privilege and blessing is to know ourselves as part of this great loving project, celebrating the power of God’s love and life wherever and in whomever it appears, knowing always that it will.
Jesus healing love surprises, showing up in people and places, in the hope and generous hearts of those you might imagine less, well, spiritual than you are, … less than you are.
Don’t be threatened by this. Don’t hinder or criticize it. Welcome it. Celebrate it.
Let the ever-present healing love of Jesus lift your soul to the heights, however and where ever it appears. For in that moment you are reminded again that his holy presence dwells also … in you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:43
And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out.
Reflection
I wonder if any of us is capable of this kind or urgency. I have seen it, but it has been while, for it comes only in circumstances where all distractions are stripped away and matters of life and death take central place.
I think that is Jesus’ point. Life is all that matters, and all other matters are distraction from what should always be central.
And life, … life is to know God, to serve God’s kingdom, to give your heart and hand to knowing and living the Love that is the heart of God.
All that distracts must fall away.
This is our problem. Everything distracts so that life no longer has a center that pulls us back when we wander amid the myriad details of living that draw us from what really is and gives life.
I know people who know they are dying, and I love them.
The distractions of living fall away from their souls, and they are left with a single question: What do I need to pass from this life with peace and dignity?
What is necessary for me to know and do?
The answer, of course, is love. They need to share the love that is in them while they can, and receive the same grace from those most precious.
They want and need to flow in the currents of love that flows through their being from the Eternal Heart of the Universe. Everything else, all that occupied and preoccupied their days and years fades to the background, and the center of existence appears in clear relief.
Perhaps, then, it is predictable that more than one spiritual master of our faith advises us to take each important decision, each day’s duties to the point of our death.
Imagine you are at the point of death, they say. Seeing yourself there, what would you like to have done with this day? What would you like to have chosen with this decision, indeed, with your whole crazy, precious life?
The center of life appears more clearly at that point, answers, too. And they have to do with loving as best we are able.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:43
And if your hand should be your downfall, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that can never be put out.
Reflection
I wonder if any of us is capable of this kind or urgency. I have seen it, but it has been while, for it comes only in circumstances where all distractions are stripped away and matters of life and death take central place.
I think that is Jesus’ point. Life is all that matters, and all other matters are distraction from what should always be central.
And life, … life is to know God, to serve God’s kingdom, to give your heart and hand to knowing and living the Love that is the heart of God.
All that distracts must fall away.
This is our problem. Everything distracts so that life no longer has a center that pulls us back when we wander amid the myriad details of living that draw us from what really is and gives life.
I know people who know they are dying, and I love them.
The distractions of living fall away from their souls, and they are left with a single question: What do I need to pass from this life with peace and dignity?
What is necessary for me to know and do?
The answer, of course, is love. They need to share the love that is in them while they can, and receive the same grace from those most precious.
They want and need to flow in the currents of love that flows through their being from the Eternal Heart of the Universe. Everything else, all that occupied and preoccupied their days and years fades to the background, and the center of existence appears in clear relief.
Perhaps, then, it is predictable that more than one spiritual master of our faith advises us to take each important decision, each day’s duties to the point of our death.
Imagine you are at the point of death, they say. Seeing yourself there, what would you like to have done with this day? What would you like to have chosen with this decision, indeed, with your whole crazy, precious life?
The center of life appears more clearly at that point, answers, too. And they have to do with loving as best we are able.
Pr. David L. Miller
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:38-41
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward.
Reflection
Party spirit is the curse of much religion and virtually all politics. We arrogate truth and goodness to ourselves, discounting or denying the goodness and truth present in others--other churches, other faiths, other cultures, other political persuasions.
Just so, we deny God’s cosmic project … and Presence.
Why would Jesus’ disciples want to stop those who set a soul free with the power of Jesus’ name?
Why not go talk to the people healed and released from bondage? Why not celebrate the power of the life of God in the life of human souls?
The disciples react as if someone is poaching on their turf. They act as if the mystery of God’s loving power is a personal possession that makes them more important, as if it is something to be guarded and kept from others.
But it is not. God’s loving power is a call to enter the world of the broken to love and heal in Jesus’ name.
The healing presence of Jesus is bigger than us, bigger than our church, bigger than our theologies and our understanding of who bears and reveals his holy kingdom.
The kingdom of God’s healing is revealed far beyond us, even in small acts of mercy and hospitality, in deeds as small as sharing a cup of water.
We are a part of a great worldwide--no, cosmic--mission, to give, restore and celebrate life, a mission to wipe away tears, to pour out the mercy of the One who is all merciful, pushing back the forces that disfigure and destroy.
The mission is to gather all that is into intimate sharing with the Infinite Source of life who loves all creation.
The Holy One is at work everywhere, setting souls free, drawing hearts into the Divine Heart of Love, creating space for life to thrive with beauty.
Our privilege and blessing is to know ourselves as part of this great loving project, celebrating the power of God’s love and life wherever and in whomever it appears, knowing always that it will.
Jesus healing love surprises, showing up in people and places, in the hope and generous hearts of those you might imagine less, well, spiritual than you are.
Celebrate it. Let it lift your soul to the heights, for in that moment you are not threatened but reminded that his holy presence dwells also in you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:38-41
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. 'If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, then in truth I tell you, he will most certainly not lose his reward.
Reflection
Party spirit is the curse of much religion and virtually all politics. We arrogate truth and goodness to ourselves, discounting or denying the goodness and truth present in others--other churches, other faiths, other cultures, other political persuasions.
Just so, we deny God’s cosmic project … and Presence.
Why would Jesus’ disciples want to stop those who set a soul free with the power of Jesus’ name?
Why not go talk to the people healed and released from bondage? Why not celebrate the power of the life of God in the life of human souls?
The disciples react as if someone is poaching on their turf. They act as if the mystery of God’s loving power is a personal possession that makes them more important, as if it is something to be guarded and kept from others.
But it is not. God’s loving power is a call to enter the world of the broken to love and heal in Jesus’ name.
The healing presence of Jesus is bigger than us, bigger than our church, bigger than our theologies and our understanding of who bears and reveals his holy kingdom.
The kingdom of God’s healing is revealed far beyond us, even in small acts of mercy and hospitality, in deeds as small as sharing a cup of water.
We are a part of a great worldwide--no, cosmic--mission, to give, restore and celebrate life, a mission to wipe away tears, to pour out the mercy of the One who is all merciful, pushing back the forces that disfigure and destroy.
The mission is to gather all that is into intimate sharing with the Infinite Source of life who loves all creation.
The Holy One is at work everywhere, setting souls free, drawing hearts into the Divine Heart of Love, creating space for life to thrive with beauty.
Our privilege and blessing is to know ourselves as part of this great loving project, celebrating the power of God’s love and life wherever and in whomever it appears, knowing always that it will.
Jesus healing love surprises, showing up in people and places, in the hope and generous hearts of those you might imagine less, well, spiritual than you are.
Celebrate it. Let it lift your soul to the heights, for in that moment you are not threatened but reminded that his holy presence dwells also in you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, September 21, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:30-32
After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.' But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
Reflection
We know people like this, people who give themselves away in love and trust.
They love those they have been given to love, and they trust that the One, the Mystery who made them, will raise them up when they lose themselves, when for love’s sake they surrender to tasks that wither the life out of them … or even get them killed.
They are the souls who most clearly show us who Jesus is and what God is like, magnetically drawing us to be as they are and know what they know.
Names come to mind, great names, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., for example, but faces appear, too. And so many of those faces are not far away, nor are they people whose decisions and sacrifices show up in the daily news.
They are people who give themselves with care to the tiny tasks of the day, to each person they meet, to the situations that come, the needs that arise, and who struggle for patience and grace amid the set-backs, slights and frustrations that are part of living.
They are parents and grandparents who love us, the children who don’t run from the absorbing needs of aging parents, the teacher, the nurse, the helper, the friend or neighbor who cares for our loved one even as much as we do.
They are wives and husbands who forgive the failures of the imperfect people to whom they share their lives and who hang in there when the going is hard.
They are the ones who make food for the homeless and remember the lonely and forgotten who feel life has passed them by and no one cares.
They are us, not just the saints of old or the great ones whose deeds are known and celebrated by millions.
Jesus soul, the Soul of the all-merciful God, is different from yours and mine, yet this is the soul he seeks to give away and give to us, in two ways.
His soul is given to reveal God’s kingdom of divine love. He gives himself to this reality, this vision of a world not yet come, knowing his suffering and death will reveal it, making it real.
And he invites us to walk the path of loving, doing justice and giving ourselves in grace and care. Walking this path, the seed of the Christ Soul within us sprouts and grows so that we have and know the Soul who has us.
If you keep your eyes open, you just may see his great Soul, and amid tears you may find it within yourself.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:30-32
After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.' But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
Reflection
We know people like this, people who give themselves away in love and trust.
They love those they have been given to love, and they trust that the One, the Mystery who made them, will raise them up when they lose themselves, when for love’s sake they surrender to tasks that wither the life out of them … or even get them killed.
They are the souls who most clearly show us who Jesus is and what God is like, magnetically drawing us to be as they are and know what they know.
Names come to mind, great names, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., for example, but faces appear, too. And so many of those faces are not far away, nor are they people whose decisions and sacrifices show up in the daily news.
They are people who give themselves with care to the tiny tasks of the day, to each person they meet, to the situations that come, the needs that arise, and who struggle for patience and grace amid the set-backs, slights and frustrations that are part of living.
They are parents and grandparents who love us, the children who don’t run from the absorbing needs of aging parents, the teacher, the nurse, the helper, the friend or neighbor who cares for our loved one even as much as we do.
They are wives and husbands who forgive the failures of the imperfect people to whom they share their lives and who hang in there when the going is hard.
They are the ones who make food for the homeless and remember the lonely and forgotten who feel life has passed them by and no one cares.
They are us, not just the saints of old or the great ones whose deeds are known and celebrated by millions.
Jesus soul, the Soul of the all-merciful God, is different from yours and mine, yet this is the soul he seeks to give away and give to us, in two ways.
His soul is given to reveal God’s kingdom of divine love. He gives himself to this reality, this vision of a world not yet come, knowing his suffering and death will reveal it, making it real.
And he invites us to walk the path of loving, doing justice and giving ourselves in grace and care. Walking this path, the seed of the Christ Soul within us sprouts and grows so that we have and know the Soul who has us.
If you keep your eyes open, you just may see his great Soul, and amid tears you may find it within yourself.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:35-38
So he [Jesus] sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.' He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'
Reflection
A person sits down in the chair opposite me in my office. It is morning or evening, perhaps mid-day; it doesn’t matter. Each time is the same.
Their eyes may be moist or veiled by troubles they have yet to name. Sometimes they are full of joy at unexpected blessing or in expectation for life to begin with the young man or woman beside them.
Each time is the same even though their stories and emotions couldn’t be more different.
Each time I am invited to welcome them and enter to their story, however joy-filled or wracked with suffering I can do nothing about.
Each time I am invited to shut off the anxious, internal chatter in my mind and step into their world, hoping that somewhere in the process words, wisdom and grace will appear that will lighten their load or give reason and insight to help light their way.
Each time I wait for the Spirit to stir some clarity and blessing from the morass of my mind where I know I have very little in the way of wisdom or insight, although I do have a bit of grace to share.
Each time I am invited to welcome the child that sits before me.
No, they are not all children. Children seldom make it to my office for these kinds of conversations.
Yet they are children, as are all of us. They come with their humanity in their hands, leading with needs and wounds they can’t heal.
And I get to welcome them, enter their stories and embrace their humanity, which makes me one of the privileged.
Jesus placed a child before his friends and said, “Welcome this child, and you welcome me; you welcome the One Love who sent me.”
I know this is true. Our consciousness is transformed as we welcome the humanity of another.
Entering the world of another human being as needy as we are, we feel and know the open heart of Divine Love opening up in ourselves. Just so, we welcome the One who welcomes us and all, knowing a grace that goes beyond any we, ourselves, can give.
So take your time this day, and take care with each soul. Each person, each meeting, each need is the door through which we enter the Presence of the Heart who is our truest home.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:35-38
So he [Jesus] sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.' He then took a little child whom he set among them and embraced, and he said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.'
Reflection
A person sits down in the chair opposite me in my office. It is morning or evening, perhaps mid-day; it doesn’t matter. Each time is the same.
Their eyes may be moist or veiled by troubles they have yet to name. Sometimes they are full of joy at unexpected blessing or in expectation for life to begin with the young man or woman beside them.
Each time is the same even though their stories and emotions couldn’t be more different.
Each time I am invited to welcome them and enter to their story, however joy-filled or wracked with suffering I can do nothing about.
Each time I am invited to shut off the anxious, internal chatter in my mind and step into their world, hoping that somewhere in the process words, wisdom and grace will appear that will lighten their load or give reason and insight to help light their way.
Each time I wait for the Spirit to stir some clarity and blessing from the morass of my mind where I know I have very little in the way of wisdom or insight, although I do have a bit of grace to share.
Each time I am invited to welcome the child that sits before me.
No, they are not all children. Children seldom make it to my office for these kinds of conversations.
Yet they are children, as are all of us. They come with their humanity in their hands, leading with needs and wounds they can’t heal.
And I get to welcome them, enter their stories and embrace their humanity, which makes me one of the privileged.
Jesus placed a child before his friends and said, “Welcome this child, and you welcome me; you welcome the One Love who sent me.”
I know this is true. Our consciousness is transformed as we welcome the humanity of another.
Entering the world of another human being as needy as we are, we feel and know the open heart of Divine Love opening up in ourselves. Just so, we welcome the One who welcomes us and all, knowing a grace that goes beyond any we, ourselves, can give.
So take your time this day, and take care with each soul. Each person, each meeting, each need is the door through which we enter the Presence of the Heart who is our truest home.
Pr. David L. Miller
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:30-32
After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.' But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
Reflection
The gate to the kingdom of God’s holy love is the way of surrender. It is the way of giving yourself to the moments of your life, to the loves you are given to love, to the needs, great and small, of the precious souls life has given to you.
The kingdom opens before you as you refuse to flee the deep commitments of your life when they grow difficult or the way gets hard.
It is in such times that we begin to glow with the greatest beauty that shines from the human soul, the glorious light of losing yourself in love at the point of another’s need.
Just so, the needs of others, our commitments to one another as spouses and parents, our commitments to children and friends, relatives or strangers for that matter, are the door to resurrection and renewal.
I think of this every time I see a son or daughter standing fast at the bedside of their dieing mother or father, every time I see tears trickling down the cheeks of a parent burning with the desire to help their troubled child, knowing there is little they can do.
They shine with a glory beyond their own, having surrendered the idea that life is about seeking the most comfortable way--or that it is about making oneself important, … at least greater than the people to whom we tend to compare ourselves.
This is all gone. But it is not loss, as Jesus knows … and shows us.
In the surrender to love, for the sake of love, we throw ourselves into the Mystery of the Love who promises to raise us each time we fall, who assures that renewal and new life come exactly at the point where we seem to be losing what is most precious.
Jesus seeks to share this consciousness that is in him so that it might dwell also in us. Then, too, we can live each day with assurance, trusting the Divine Love who brings life out of death and new beginnings from ashes.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:30-32
After leaving that place they made their way through Galilee; and he [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, 'The Son of man will be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.' But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
Reflection
The gate to the kingdom of God’s holy love is the way of surrender. It is the way of giving yourself to the moments of your life, to the loves you are given to love, to the needs, great and small, of the precious souls life has given to you.
The kingdom opens before you as you refuse to flee the deep commitments of your life when they grow difficult or the way gets hard.
It is in such times that we begin to glow with the greatest beauty that shines from the human soul, the glorious light of losing yourself in love at the point of another’s need.
Just so, the needs of others, our commitments to one another as spouses and parents, our commitments to children and friends, relatives or strangers for that matter, are the door to resurrection and renewal.
I think of this every time I see a son or daughter standing fast at the bedside of their dieing mother or father, every time I see tears trickling down the cheeks of a parent burning with the desire to help their troubled child, knowing there is little they can do.
They shine with a glory beyond their own, having surrendered the idea that life is about seeking the most comfortable way--or that it is about making oneself important, … at least greater than the people to whom we tend to compare ourselves.
This is all gone. But it is not loss, as Jesus knows … and shows us.
In the surrender to love, for the sake of love, we throw ourselves into the Mystery of the Love who promises to raise us each time we fall, who assures that renewal and new life come exactly at the point where we seem to be losing what is most precious.
Jesus seeks to share this consciousness that is in him so that it might dwell also in us. Then, too, we can live each day with assurance, trusting the Divine Love who brings life out of death and new beginnings from ashes.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, September 17, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 9:35
So he [Jesus] sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.'
Reflection
I don’t think this is quite true. I do not think we can make ourselves servants of all, transcending our culture’s fascination with winning and being number one.
Letting go of the need to make much of ourselves for others to admire is a lifelong occupation, and we cannot do it alone.
Every child is born into the world hungry for connection, for food and shelter, for love and belonging. We each belonged in our mother’s womb only to be separated, cast out, never ceasing to need intimate connection with a love that nestles and feeds us, warms and assures us that we are wanted and belong.
When family and friends, home and school fail to provide such safety and esteem we seek it in other ways, trying to get others to look at us--to see and admire us so we know we are important, that we matter.
In a culture that celebrates individual achievement as much as ours, we seek to excel, to do something, almost anything, that will make people take notice and validate our life, our value, our existence.
Only quiet souls, souls who know they are loved and treasured can look beyond the burning need within and surrender to others, giving themselves to each moment, gifting it with their presence.
Their inner need is at rest, stilled and at peace by the inner knowledge of Love that tells them they have nothing to prove.
The inner Voice of Love says more. Again and again it, whispers the awareness that the truly valuable thing we need to do is to be ourselves, giving that self to each moment.
For each of us is a unique expression of the One Love who made us as a partial expression of God, the Eternal Wonder who always is and is always Love.
Listen to the Voice, and be what you are, who you are, where you are. Do not seek to win, to impress or gain more attention than that which easily and naturally comes through the simple sharing of what is in you.
Breathe and know. You are enough, for the Eternal Wonder is in you seeking expression in ways only you can offer.
The beauty of your life is the beauty of the Life who is in you. Trust it. It is enough for you simply to share that which you are, for the life you bear is the life of the One who is Beauty Itself.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 9:35
So he [Jesus] sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.'
Reflection
I don’t think this is quite true. I do not think we can make ourselves servants of all, transcending our culture’s fascination with winning and being number one.
Letting go of the need to make much of ourselves for others to admire is a lifelong occupation, and we cannot do it alone.
Every child is born into the world hungry for connection, for food and shelter, for love and belonging. We each belonged in our mother’s womb only to be separated, cast out, never ceasing to need intimate connection with a love that nestles and feeds us, warms and assures us that we are wanted and belong.
When family and friends, home and school fail to provide such safety and esteem we seek it in other ways, trying to get others to look at us--to see and admire us so we know we are important, that we matter.
In a culture that celebrates individual achievement as much as ours, we seek to excel, to do something, almost anything, that will make people take notice and validate our life, our value, our existence.
Only quiet souls, souls who know they are loved and treasured can look beyond the burning need within and surrender to others, giving themselves to each moment, gifting it with their presence.
Their inner need is at rest, stilled and at peace by the inner knowledge of Love that tells them they have nothing to prove.
The inner Voice of Love says more. Again and again it, whispers the awareness that the truly valuable thing we need to do is to be ourselves, giving that self to each moment.
For each of us is a unique expression of the One Love who made us as a partial expression of God, the Eternal Wonder who always is and is always Love.
Listen to the Voice, and be what you are, who you are, where you are. Do not seek to win, to impress or gain more attention than that which easily and naturally comes through the simple sharing of what is in you.
Breathe and know. You are enough, for the Eternal Wonder is in you seeking expression in ways only you can offer.
The beauty of your life is the beauty of the Life who is in you. Trust it. It is enough for you simply to share that which you are, for the life you bear is the life of the One who is Beauty Itself.
Pr. David L. Miller
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 8:34-35
He [Jesus] called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Reflection
This is not a terrible message. There is no dread here, but hope; however painful moments of loss, fear and change are for us.
No one wants to lose his life, the people and places to which we are most attached. We hold onto to things as they are, fearing the pain of letting go and entering a future we do not control.
The invitation of Jesus amid all such times is to trust, to trust more than we do, more than we believe we are capable of trusting. Trust and know.
Times of change and loss, of anxiety and uncertainty erode our ability to release our death-grip on what we have and all we think we need.
But every moment of life, and certainly our difficult moments, comes with the invitation to trust that every future lies in the hands of that Love that doesn’t let go of us, a Love who delights to bring resurrection, new life beyond the one to which we clutch.
“Let go, lose the life you have and trust me,” Jesus says. “Trust the divine Father who holds you and always will. That One opens doors you do not even see. But wait, you will.”
I remember meditating upon Jesus resurrection story in the Gospel of Mark several years ago. I imagined the scene in my mind’s eye for several days running, each day writing what I had seen.
Returning to those words now, I find great hope in Jesus words about losing my life for his sake. “Let go,” he says, “let go of all you think you need, all that you fear losing; trust, the way of the Spirit is the way of losing and finding, of dieing and rising.”
It is the way of letting go and letting God bring to my soul that which I need to live and breathe, love and know the Love for which my soul will always hunger--until the day I am fully enveloped in the Great Soul and my lifetime longing finds fulfillment that does not fade.
The image of resurrection which appeared in my long-ago meditations were of waves on the sea. Again and again, they lifted me, tossing me about, high and low then lifting again, joyously rolling me about until I laughed in sheer abandonment.
Drenched through, I was, with the awareness that nothing and no part of me is separated from the resurrected love of Jesus.
Soaked to the soul, I knew every moment is held, that I am held, in an eternal, all encompassing, restlessly joyous embrace.
Knowing this, there is no need to grasp the moment as if I must secure my future and its happiness. For Life awaits me on every hand, no matter what comes. Love will be there to fill the soul with tears, not of loss, but of unexpected joy.
That’s the promise of Jesus gospel. Trust and know. Always.
This is the only way to peace in a world where nothing is predictable and no future is controllable.
So we take up the cross of our lives, doing that which the Spirit has given us to do, giving up what is, what has been, what we now are, for what shall come, always knowing Life will come, and Love will fill our hearts.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 8:34-35
He [Jesus] called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Reflection
This is not a terrible message. There is no dread here, but hope; however painful moments of loss, fear and change are for us.
No one wants to lose his life, the people and places to which we are most attached. We hold onto to things as they are, fearing the pain of letting go and entering a future we do not control.
The invitation of Jesus amid all such times is to trust, to trust more than we do, more than we believe we are capable of trusting. Trust and know.
Times of change and loss, of anxiety and uncertainty erode our ability to release our death-grip on what we have and all we think we need.
But every moment of life, and certainly our difficult moments, comes with the invitation to trust that every future lies in the hands of that Love that doesn’t let go of us, a Love who delights to bring resurrection, new life beyond the one to which we clutch.
“Let go, lose the life you have and trust me,” Jesus says. “Trust the divine Father who holds you and always will. That One opens doors you do not even see. But wait, you will.”
I remember meditating upon Jesus resurrection story in the Gospel of Mark several years ago. I imagined the scene in my mind’s eye for several days running, each day writing what I had seen.
Returning to those words now, I find great hope in Jesus words about losing my life for his sake. “Let go,” he says, “let go of all you think you need, all that you fear losing; trust, the way of the Spirit is the way of losing and finding, of dieing and rising.”
It is the way of letting go and letting God bring to my soul that which I need to live and breathe, love and know the Love for which my soul will always hunger--until the day I am fully enveloped in the Great Soul and my lifetime longing finds fulfillment that does not fade.
The image of resurrection which appeared in my long-ago meditations were of waves on the sea. Again and again, they lifted me, tossing me about, high and low then lifting again, joyously rolling me about until I laughed in sheer abandonment.
Drenched through, I was, with the awareness that nothing and no part of me is separated from the resurrected love of Jesus.
Soaked to the soul, I knew every moment is held, that I am held, in an eternal, all encompassing, restlessly joyous embrace.
Knowing this, there is no need to grasp the moment as if I must secure my future and its happiness. For Life awaits me on every hand, no matter what comes. Love will be there to fill the soul with tears, not of loss, but of unexpected joy.
That’s the promise of Jesus gospel. Trust and know. Always.
This is the only way to peace in a world where nothing is predictable and no future is controllable.
So we take up the cross of our lives, doing that which the Spirit has given us to do, giving up what is, what has been, what we now are, for what shall come, always knowing Life will come, and Love will fill our hearts.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Today’s text
Psalm 116:5-9
Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
Reflection
You are tenderness, and in tenderness we know you as the Heart as the Universe who hungers for our hearts and is content with nothing less than healing.
To know you, Holy One, is to know the breath in our lungs as it returns when the heaviness of sorrow and fear lift in the light of love’s embrace.
To know you is to see and feel your smile radiating in the grace of faces that know and love you … and us.
To know you is to feel strength of soul as hope for the fullness of life returns, for without it our hearts remain unfinished and longing.
To know you is to know the love that cannot and will not release our hearts even when we have no strength left to hold on. You hold onto us. Always will.
In that knowledge, we live our lives and all eternity in the land of your Presence, the land of the living.
For there is no life, no real living without knowing and feeling, without awareness of the love you are, the tenderness of your divine heart.
So very different are you than those who thunder from pulpits and television screens announcing your judgment upon our failed humanity.
I turn from them more and more as the years pass. Once they held fascination. They seemed to know you better than I.
But in these latter days I listen to what I know within, paying pay less attention to outside voices that tell me who you are, what you want, how I should live, what I should say and how I should lead.
I listen instead to the voice of tenderness that returns the breath to my lungs so that I may live and breathe, hope and know that all lies in Love’s unfailing hands. Always will.
And simply knowing, I dwell in the land of the living. Thank you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Psalm 116:5-9
Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
Reflection
You are tenderness, and in tenderness we know you as the Heart as the Universe who hungers for our hearts and is content with nothing less than healing.
To know you, Holy One, is to know the breath in our lungs as it returns when the heaviness of sorrow and fear lift in the light of love’s embrace.
To know you is to see and feel your smile radiating in the grace of faces that know and love you … and us.
To know you is to feel strength of soul as hope for the fullness of life returns, for without it our hearts remain unfinished and longing.
To know you is to know the love that cannot and will not release our hearts even when we have no strength left to hold on. You hold onto us. Always will.
In that knowledge, we live our lives and all eternity in the land of your Presence, the land of the living.
For there is no life, no real living without knowing and feeling, without awareness of the love you are, the tenderness of your divine heart.
So very different are you than those who thunder from pulpits and television screens announcing your judgment upon our failed humanity.
I turn from them more and more as the years pass. Once they held fascination. They seemed to know you better than I.
But in these latter days I listen to what I know within, paying pay less attention to outside voices that tell me who you are, what you want, how I should live, what I should say and how I should lead.
I listen instead to the voice of tenderness that returns the breath to my lungs so that I may live and breathe, hope and know that all lies in Love’s unfailing hands. Always will.
And simply knowing, I dwell in the land of the living. Thank you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Saturday September 8, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 7:34-37
Then looking up to heaven he [Jesus] sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
Reflection
Open our ears to the deep hunger of our souls that we may seek the fullness of your heart each day and find the healing and peace we so badly need. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open our ears to the needs of the world and the hearts of friend and foe that we may hear with love and grace, as you hear us. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open our mouths to bless and encourage others that hearts may be lifted and your church may grow into an ever-widening community of blessing. Bless all who teach and learn your gospel, all who witness and worship. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open our eyes to the wonder of the heavens and the earth, the seas, and all that is in them, to forests, mountains and lakes and the gentle beauty of fawn and flower, that we may be moved praise you and care for the well-being of all you have made. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open our hearts to the hungry and those who wither in poverty and want. Move us to share with those in need and seek your justice for those oppressed. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open the gates of your healing compassion to all who are sick or in any need. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Open our arms to love our neighbors as ourselves. Open our hearts to care for the stranger and welcome every soul into your assembly with honor and dignity. Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Open our souls to the loving witness of those who have gone before us that we, too, may inherit the kingdom you promise to whose who love you. Grant comfort and healing to all who mourn. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Hear our hearts, faithful God, and pour out your Spirit from the ever-flowing depths of your divine heart that filled with the love you are we may joyfully love and serve you and one another, through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Friday, September 07, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 7:34-37
Then looking up to heaven he [Jesus] sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
Reflection
No, it is not good. It is life. He is life, and they are missing it. Don’t miss life.
Let your heart be taken in by the life he is. Be captured by the wonder of what you see and feel in him. Your ears will open and you will hear and speak as never before.
How do you hear? How do you speak?
Jesus hears the world with grace, in all its sorrow, hunger and joy. Captured by his life, the life of the one who sighs with care and loving mercy, you will hear your life and life around you with this same grace.
He doesn’t want your admiration or approval. They mean nothing to him. What he wants is for you to see and hear as he sees, as he sees and hears you.
He hungers for you to be as he is. That is his purpose and joy, the fulfillment of his life and yours.
He sees you through eyes of penetrating grace, knowing all of you and loving all of it because it is you, because all of it shapes a soul so unique no other soul is quite like it or ever will be.
Your soul, your life can shine with grace and understanding, blessing and hope like no other that has or ever will exist.
You are a special vessel of life and grace intended for your time and place. Your words can bless and encourage, grace and gentle the heart of people no one else can reach.
Your ears can listen and hear people who hunger to be known and understood for what they are in all their beauty and woundedness. Your ears can hear and heal the soul that hides beneath surface words and actions.
You can listen with grace and share the joy and sorrows of human hearts, as Jesus knows and shares the depth of your heart.
You can speak words of blessing that link hearts-to-hearts and minds-to-minds, as Jesus blesses you and pours the elixir of his gracious life into yours, opening your ears to hear and your mouth to speak.
You can heal the discord of cliques and family rifts, of party spirit and political polarization, of racial and national divides.
You need only allow your heart to be taken in, held, captured and conquered by the one who hears your heart and loves all of you, … the one whose sighs speak volumes about what is in the heart of God … for you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 7:34-37
Then looking up to heaven he [Jesus] sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
Reflection
No, it is not good. It is life. He is life, and they are missing it. Don’t miss life.
Let your heart be taken in by the life he is. Be captured by the wonder of what you see and feel in him. Your ears will open and you will hear and speak as never before.
How do you hear? How do you speak?
Jesus hears the world with grace, in all its sorrow, hunger and joy. Captured by his life, the life of the one who sighs with care and loving mercy, you will hear your life and life around you with this same grace.
He doesn’t want your admiration or approval. They mean nothing to him. What he wants is for you to see and hear as he sees, as he sees and hears you.
He hungers for you to be as he is. That is his purpose and joy, the fulfillment of his life and yours.
He sees you through eyes of penetrating grace, knowing all of you and loving all of it because it is you, because all of it shapes a soul so unique no other soul is quite like it or ever will be.
Your soul, your life can shine with grace and understanding, blessing and hope like no other that has or ever will exist.
You are a special vessel of life and grace intended for your time and place. Your words can bless and encourage, grace and gentle the heart of people no one else can reach.
Your ears can listen and hear people who hunger to be known and understood for what they are in all their beauty and woundedness. Your ears can hear and heal the soul that hides beneath surface words and actions.
You can listen with grace and share the joy and sorrows of human hearts, as Jesus knows and shares the depth of your heart.
You can speak words of blessing that link hearts-to-hearts and minds-to-minds, as Jesus blesses you and pours the elixir of his gracious life into yours, opening your ears to hear and your mouth to speak.
You can heal the discord of cliques and family rifts, of party spirit and political polarization, of racial and national divides.
You need only allow your heart to be taken in, held, captured and conquered by the one who hears your heart and loves all of you, … the one whose sighs speak volumes about what is in the heart of God … for you.
Pr. David L. Miller
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Today’s text
Mark 7:32-37
And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
Reflection
We can hear these words on two levels. One is incomplete and shallow; the other reflects understanding and wisdom.
The crowd saw Jesus touch the deaf man and sigh. They were amazed that he was soon able to hear and speak. Their understanding was shallow. It never penetrated the surface of what happened right in front of them.
They spread the story, raising eyebrows and curiosity to be sure. But were their souls stirred to crave union with the one who sighs in wounded love for the world?
Do they want what is in him? Do they hunger to know his great soul in the depth of their own? Do they seek this transformation so that they, too, with sighs of love and sorrow, might touch and make the world more whole for their presence?
To want this is to possess Jesus, to have his soul flowing through your own, for his soul hungers for the world and broken hearts to be made whole.
Wholeness is not primarily physical but spiritual and emotional. There are those with fully-able bodies who will never be whole, and there are those who are losing their battles with cancer and disease, who are more whole than they have ever been.
It’s about connection. Those who are whole feel and know connection with the Great Life who does not die. Their bodies tingle in awareness that the Life and Love of God is in them, filling them with that otherwise elusive feeling that they are well, that all is well. They know all they are and all that is rests in Love and always will.
They know: Love works … constantly, in all, through all, with all. It always has the final word, and that word is life and peace, unity with the Loving Wonder for whom our hearts long.
Wholeness is the life that flows in us when we know and feel the truth: You dwell in the atmosphere of God who is love, the One who sighs out, “Be opened.
“Be opened, so you may know and be filled with the Spirit of Life and Love that I am. Be opened, and you will live.”
Pr. David L. Miller
Mark 7:32-37
And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it. Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, 'Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.'
Reflection
We can hear these words on two levels. One is incomplete and shallow; the other reflects understanding and wisdom.
The crowd saw Jesus touch the deaf man and sigh. They were amazed that he was soon able to hear and speak. Their understanding was shallow. It never penetrated the surface of what happened right in front of them.
They spread the story, raising eyebrows and curiosity to be sure. But were their souls stirred to crave union with the one who sighs in wounded love for the world?
Do they want what is in him? Do they hunger to know his great soul in the depth of their own? Do they seek this transformation so that they, too, with sighs of love and sorrow, might touch and make the world more whole for their presence?
To want this is to possess Jesus, to have his soul flowing through your own, for his soul hungers for the world and broken hearts to be made whole.
Wholeness is not primarily physical but spiritual and emotional. There are those with fully-able bodies who will never be whole, and there are those who are losing their battles with cancer and disease, who are more whole than they have ever been.
It’s about connection. Those who are whole feel and know connection with the Great Life who does not die. Their bodies tingle in awareness that the Life and Love of God is in them, filling them with that otherwise elusive feeling that they are well, that all is well. They know all they are and all that is rests in Love and always will.
They know: Love works … constantly, in all, through all, with all. It always has the final word, and that word is life and peace, unity with the Loving Wonder for whom our hearts long.
Wholeness is the life that flows in us when we know and feel the truth: You dwell in the atmosphere of God who is love, the One who sighs out, “Be opened.
“Be opened, so you may know and be filled with the Spirit of Life and Love that I am. Be opened, and you will live.”
Pr. David L. Miller
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)