Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Psalm 31:14-16

But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’ 
My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love. 

Snow day

Make time stop;

the moments pass

too soon. I do not fear

the passing of time but

moments come so full

much time is needed to feel

and know what is in each one.

Packed full of eternity,

eternity is needed for the

heart to feel and know the

blessing of each, for mind to

claim and name the beauty of

the world silver blue and brilliant

white, winter splendor in golden sun,

radiant light so bright wintery eyes

cannot stand the wonder even through

dirty windshield, my soul aching to capture

with words this moment, to hold it, refusing

to let it go, grieving its passage, sorrow

that so many moments have gone

unnoticed, unnamed, their beauty

and love lost to the soul even as

my words reach to hold this one,

this joyous gift a little longer

lest it slip away, lost to my

heart, aching to hold the

love awakened, failing

for this love is too

large; it cannot

be held, for it

holds me.

I grasp for words

big enough to hold

the love and joy of blue

and gold, shimmering white,

blinding light, filling me with

a love beyond any loves I have

known. Oneness: the heart knows

no separation from the colors of

the day. We are one, one life,

one beauty, one love and

for one moment I feel

and know I am they

and they are me, and

I have everything

for which my

heart longs.

So stop time now,

Holy One, let no more

moments pass; this one

is complete, perfect, and I

am complete. Hold me here

in this moment, eternal oneness.

Let no more moments come or go

that this heaven may not be lost, lest

I be lost from this heaven. I want never

to lose what this moment is, but mere

words cannot hold it; they are too

weak. I cannot stop the passage

of time, so hold me, hold my

times in your hand that the

love that is here and now

might never be lost to

this heart that aches

to know what I know

on snow days.

Pr. David L. Miller

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Habakkuk 2:20

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

Silence …

You beckon

in the quiet light,

and I enter

the great silence,

truest home,

your presence,

knowing you calm,

at peace in the soul’s

inner room, immense

space, invisible

to the eye, filled

with nothing

that can be seen,

a place that is no place

feet can walk; releasing

all, sinking into utter

welcome, knowing you

ever waiting for me …

for me to arrive

and know you in this

temple of awareness

within, where no word

is or can be spoken

for your Fullness fills

all in your holy temple,

restoring the self

lost in living that life

can be … once more.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, January 30, 2015

John 8:12

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

How long, O Light?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Mark 1:14-18

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

Love casts them out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This … I know.

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

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

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday January 26, 2015

Psalm 62:1-2

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

Knowing silence

Quiet is the space where

I sit and wait; house noises

surround, soft furnace

purring, giving warmth;

keyboard keys click beneath

fumbling fingers, wood frame

creaks in winter’s cold as

white candle flickers radiant

and near, promising the Presence

of light beyond its own.

No scripture word attracts

or brings light; only silence

appeals this day. Too many words

I have spoken and heard; the heart

hungers for the word silence

speaks at the deep inner point

where the heart knows what

it knows and rests in the love

it hears, knowing all is well,

knowing the love that knows

you … and wants you still.

Yet, strangely it is words

I do not control, flowing

through my fumbling

fingers from heart’s deep inner

room that carry me into the

knowing silence that speaks what

I want and need, illumining

the heart with light that is light

and love that is love, bringing rest

and assurance that the promise

of candle light is true …

always true.

Pr. David L. Miller

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Mark 1:14-18

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’  As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Come, know me

Restore to me the excitement and joy of hearing your call, for it is a call to be with you, and there is no place I would rather be.

I want to be with you, to hear your voice, to listen to your heart, to watch what you do … and to learn to do and be what you are--beloved, child of God, always knowing the love who is Love in the depths of my being.

My heart leaps at the sound of your voice … and when I hear you name, even in early morning hours when my head is not yet clear, and I come to this quiet place to find you again. I don’t really come here to find you. I come here to find me, but there is no place I am truly me except in your presence and in the circle of your love.

So I say your name … Jesus, and I know you here with me, your heart to welcome me near once again so I can just simply be.

I don’t really want anything special from you. I just want to be with you, for when I know your nearness … you and are you and I am me and that is all that really matters, at least in that moment.

There is always work to be done, people to care for, papers to push, letters to write, decisions and calls to be made. Of this, there is never an ending; it will go on long after I am gone from this earth.

But this is not life. Life is you, knowing you, entering the circle of grace you are … and just being with you. So, I come here once more because here, more than almost anywhere, I know your presence and welcome. And that is enough for me.

You call me here, don’t you, even as you called fisherman from their boats? The invitation now, as then, is simple, “Come, know me.”

Yes, you teach us to fish for people, to invite and welcome others into this circle where you are known and adored. But first comes the knowing … and that is sweetest of all. It calms and fills the heart with a gentle, patient love … and passion … that moves us to love and welcome others in this circle of knowing where life is transformed.

Some are puzzled why the fisherman immediately left their boats to follow you, but not me. They wanted to know you. It’s that simple.

Pr. David L. Miller

January 21, 2015

Mark 1:14-18

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’  As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Together

Jesus comes and calls, and two brothers leave ... together. They are connected now to Jesus' love and mission and bound to each other. I picture them walking side by side down a dirt path by the lake where they had fished and repaired their nets, Jesus walking slightly ahead.

What strikes me is that they are not alone. They share the journey of learning and revealing the rule of God. They are together, bound to Jesus, bound to his mission, bound to share whatever comes because they are part of something far bigger than themselves.

Together, they will laugh and bask in days of sunlight. They will feel the warmth of God's fullness radiating from Jesus and filling them with a joy and courage they never thought they had. They will be confused and misunderstand Jesus' words and what he does. 

They will make each other angry, and at other times he will scare them.They will glow with the excitement and joy of bringing divine love and freedom to others even as their hearts are filled.Sometimes they will totally fail him, and they will be crushed when the Jesus is crushed.

But they will always have each other, a family of those gathered around Jesus, sharing his mission, knowing they are wanted, knowing there is so much more to themselves and to this world than the eye can see.

This togetherness in mission and care touches me in these morning hours. My heart does not want to be alone but to share love and mission, joys and the sorrows, highest hopes and disappointments with those who know Jesus' love and mission. 

I want to walk with those called to follow and know him, walking just behind, sharing the day, listening for his voice ... together. This fills the heart with blessing beyond measure and brings comfort on days you want to  quickly pass. 

Jesus calls us to share the days and to know him ... in our togetherness.

Pr. David L. Miller 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Mark 1:14-18

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’  As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Community of knowing

Eyes meet, glasses are raised,

jokes are made--at my expense.

Smiles of knowing exchanged

in sun light, kitchen light,

office light … even bar light

(where doesn’t matter), and

I know what you want, Jesus,

why you came and the joy

of  it. It’s about connection,

deep belonging, love …

in the community

of the Love you are.

You do not call me that I

might find my personal

fulfillment but to belong to

this imperfect, frustrating,

irritating community …

called church, where the Love

you are pulls us out of ourselves

to know …we are known and

loved in spite of ourselves

because we are we--

not just you and me, a

community of knowing

you as the Love from the

beginning, living this Love

so much as we can.

Moments come we know

the pleasure of being known

and wanted, treasured, belonging

to each other in a community

where you are known; happens

anywhere eyes meet, glasses

are raised and good fun

is poked … at our expense,

by hearts that love because

they are part of you.  

Fish for people you told

your friends, Jesus; call them

all to the kingdom of knowing.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday, January 16, 2015

Mark 1:14-15

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

A mind of joy

The sun sinks slowly behind

a line of trees, bare branches

breaking the orange glow

of a winter-weakened sun

into a thousand angled windows

of fading light, each cherished

as day light slips into January cold.

Sitting in the wonder of light

the heart travels far beyond sun

to the Light who is Light,

the Source of moments

of watching and feeling love

for the blessing of day,

for the light that finds chilled

cheeks and warms hearts

with the joy of being, the

ecstasy of being here …

in the orange glow of winter

sun as day gives way to night.

From what mystery comes

this joy, this love unexpected,

rising up, filling the heart,

spilling tears warmer than

any sunny day?

Tomorrow, a different sun will

rise, a new day, unknown,

simply given, to be welcomed

for whatever it brings. But

already the glow of day’s end

awakens hope that tomorrow

will be as full and graced as this.

Why?

Why this joy, this love,

this hope? Are our hearts tuned

to joy that the Joy of the Infinite

One might warm the hearts and

awaken tears at the sight of

setting suns, such a common

thing, happens every day?

No, not so common, each day

is miracle, each atom of light

a wonder, each moment of sight

a joy for hearts tuned to see

holiness and gift in the light of

winter suns. The kingdom of Love

is here, present among the tree

branches farming orange winter

light at odd angles as jet contrails

plow cobalt skies and fade into

wisps in winter’s bitter cold. But

there is no fading here, in this heart

that sees and knows, this mind

of joy, awakened by Love to the

good news of the holy kingdom

not far but here in every moment

kissed by Love and loved for whatever

small blessing it brings.

For the mind of joy, awakened

by Love, time is fulfilled, as full as

this heart in orange winter glow.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Psalm 139:13-16a

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

Where the search ends

Daylight falls heavily on the heart:

Will time run beyond me, before

heart and hand hold the fullness

of my truest longing?

Sixty two years I have been,

and still I am not me, only becoming,

wondering if I will have enough time

to be what I am, finally to arrive

at the destination, a heart fulfilled,

completed, at peace, joyful and content

with what I am and what is mine,

driven no longer by passion for More.

Is this how you made me, knit

together in my mother’s womb,

always wanting, doubting if ever

my soul shall find peace and rest

in the Love that alone quiets

every longing, filling the heart

so that wanting is gone and holding

is all that is? Is there an end here

or is the heart doomed,

a restless hunter for what it cannot

finally, fully make its own?

Is this the way you made me

from my mother’s womb?

If so, even so … I praise you. Great

is your name and the mystery

of your ways, for my longing heart,

my eager and hands have searched

and held and known the Love who

holds me, stirred by longing

for what it could not name but knew

it must have. Moments surprised

when searching melted into finding;

longing arrived at its destination

and disappeared for all else was lost

in Love and wonder at the Love

that found and welcomed me

to surrender searching and know

hope fulfilled, heart completed, at rest,

united in joy with the Love who

made me for Love, and fashioned me

to be satisfied with nothing less.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, January 12, 2015

Psalm 139:1-3 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.

I know … you

Light flows through south

windows, and I know …

as light embraces every space

warming and filling each far

corner so is your knowledge

of me, all I am and all that is.

Nothing is left out; wounds

and scars from childhood,

places I protect, secrets

we hide, sorrows unexpected

moments awaken and trouble

the tender heart; light

finds them all.

And troubles need not be

for it is you, Loving One,

who know me. Your knowledge

of this soul is not fearful, for you

are Love and your knowing is

a lover’s knowledge of this life,

this soul, the times of my living

and hidden corners of heart.

In your knowing, … I know ..

I live in the light of your knowing,

the light of your loving,

the warmth of utter compassion,

the delight of your eye that never

ceases to see and know and love

each moment of my days

from the child I was--wounded, afraid

and alone, to the soul you have grown

from earliest moments, yes even

from pains I would have fled,

given the chance.

You look at it all and say,

“Yes, even that, even there,

even then I knew you. Look …

with me … at all of it … and

love it … for I see, it all

and love it all, for from it all I have

made a heart that is true with love,

hope and joy. I know and love …

you. Come, enter the joy of living

in the light of this knowing.

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Mark 1:7-11

In the course of his preaching he said, 'After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.' It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. And at once, as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.'

God’s pleasure

I have made my choice for my word of the year--joy. This is what I will seek each day and in each situation. I will try to bring the joy that is the strength of the people of God to each encounter. I will focus on this one thing.

A memory sticks in my mind from seven or eight years ago. I had just preached at the seminary chapel where I was on the faculty. A visitor approached me and told me they had enjoyed my sermon, but they had one suggestion: “You need to smile.” My message had been joyous, but my face did not match the meaning of my words.

Christ calls us a life of knowing the joy that fills and spills from the heart, as from an overflowing reservoir. So each day that I come to these keys and with each person I meet, I will seek the joy of the Lord that I might enter God’s pleasure.

I will seek to know and show the pleasure of the Love who exalts in giving itself away in blessing.

The Holy One looks upon Jesus at his baptism and blesses him, “You are my son; my favor rests on you.” There is joy in this for God … and for Jesus.

In this blessing, Jesus knows and feels his belovedness. He is treasured by the Wonder from whom all things come. Love and blessing fill his heart as he knows who he is, knowing, too that the blessing of God shall fill and follow him wherever he goes.

And the Father, the Loving Mystery who is from the beginning, ever-seeking to live in us, He, too, lives in joy.

Seldom do we think of the joy or divine pleasure of God, but this blessing of Jesus is joy in the heart of God. It is God’s pleasure to give and bless, to heal and love. The movement of blessing from the divine heart bears a rush of ecstasy from the divine heart to ours.

When we know and share this joy--speaking it from our hearts, sharing it in our actions--we place ourselves in the middle of this joyous flow, and we know … the joy of God for which we are made.

As our lips curl into a smile, the Holy One is well pleased.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, January 5, 2015

Mark 1:6-8
 
John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, 'After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'

Joyous love

What is this Holy Spirit if not the presence of God’s joyous love that moves continually out of the divine heart to embrace the beloved?

The Spirit is joy and life, and where the Spirit is present human hearts become alive and beautiful, shining radiant with the joyous light of the One who is from the beginning.

On the first page of the first book of the Bible, the Spirit of God hovers over a dark watery chaos. The Spirit moves and light appears. Do we think the unimaginable power who fashioned the universe did so begrudgingly … and not from the joy of expressing what was in the divine heart?

The Holy One sprinkled star light across the endless expanse of heaven for the joy of seeing beauty and wonder spring from the endless wonder of God’s immeasurable heart. Joyous love is the Source of our lives and all that is. We are made for this.

We know and feel the joy of God’s creative love every time we know the pleasure of a job well done. Every time we create or grow or give something … and find joy in it … we experience God’s joyous love moving in us, bringing joy to our inmost being.

It is with joy that John promises One who is to come, the One who will baptize--immerse and soak us to the bone--in the joy of God so that we might pour out the joy of that Love who has neither beginning nor end.

The human heart is a leaky vessel that empties out amid the challenges of living and requires re-filling. This should not discourage anyone. For, Christ comes not once but many times through our lives. It is his joy to pour out the Love he is that our joy might be restored, new … every morning, filled with joyous light.

So we live with expectation, knowing … the One who comes will visit us with joyous love from the fullness of his heart.

Pr. David L. Miller

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Matthew 2:9-12

Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were give a warming in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their country by a different way.

Our favorite day

The magi followed a star to the place Love was born in human flesh. This is the journey of our lifetime--a pilgrimage to the places where we know Love being born in this world … and in ourselves.

We cease to be human when we turn away from the sparkling angels’ song and ignore light of those stars that shine with the Love of the child born in a manger. 

The Light who is Christmas illumines and warms our souls so that we know the Holy One who seeks us and whose beauty lives also in us. Angel song awakened our souls and starlight guided the way to the places where we knew this Light and were filled with the Love who is from the beginning.

Then the calendar page turns, and the warmth of that Light seems to fade in winter’s cold. We return to ordinary time and the mountain top vision fades. Faith’s pilgrimage continues in the valleys where angels are harder to hear and starlight is less clear.

But like the magi we do well to return to our places by a different road. For, we have seen and felt something more alive and loving than we have ever known. And we have been more alive to the beauty we are than we could have imagined. We know the Love who is and who is also in us.

So we avoid Herod, who is the symbol of all that kills what is new and beautiful … the enemy of the Love who warmed and lifted us to imagine our lives can be lived in great love … filled with the wonder of what we have seen in the manger … and discovered in our hearts.

Our way must lead us back again and again to place where we where Love is known and awakened in our depths that Christmas may be not once upon a time … but today ... our favorite day … every day.

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine out, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Winter’s hope

Winter descends on the earth

cold and bright; clouds scattered

across blue expanse of heaven,

little islands of hope awakening

moments and summer day memories

of gentle air and full hearts totally

convinced of the goodness of all that is

because every sight and scene is

filled with Love and Light from

unimaginable Source.

Late December sun promises

more than it can deliver, but it matters

not in this candlelight, gentle yet radiant

casting its circle of illumination on

these hands and this heart awakening

awareness and warmth within, knowledge

of the Light of Love which does not die

no matter how cold or long December days.

The Light of Lord, the Love who

abides mangers and this heart shines

more brightly on winter nights when

warmth feels far off and bears me into

the new day, each one truly new and favored

because the Light of Love arises within

and around and shines from radiant blue

of sky, from islands of cloud and

mysteriously in me, calming every corner

of my soul with knowledge only Love

can give, rising anew every morning.

Pr. David L. Miller