Saturn and Jupiter
As I wiped the sleep from my eyes a little before sunrise this morning, I gazed out my south-facing window and saw two bright objects in the sky. There was blazing beauty to each of them and together they took my breath away. I thought one was Sirius, until I did my research and realized…
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Love and Selfishness
For so the goblin Selfishness would reward the angel Love. George MacDonald, Phantastes, p. 124, 1981 edition, 1851 original. George MacDonald, a contemporary of Lewis Carroll, was a masterful writer who poetically described human nature. His books have not been widely read in the last few years but are certainly worthy of consideration. In Phantastes,…
Continue readingPraying Portions of Psalm 139
Oh God, You see me. I can’t impress You For You have seen me in all of my circumstances. Even if I wanted to, I could not get away from You. You saw me in my mother’s womb. You already see me in my tomb. You know the days and seconds of my life. So…
Continue readingA Prayer for Today
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, My one desire is to live a thankful life. You have rescued me, blessed me, healed me, redeemed me. Selah I desire to live this life in gratitude to you. I desire to find my place in Your will. I desire to fulfill the role to which you are calling…
Continue readingTwo Prayers
Two prayers caught my attention today. One is a contemporary prayer from Scot McKnight who prays: Grant us, O Lord,To trust in you with all our hearts.For as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy.Through Jesus Christ our Lord,…
Continue readingThink On These Things
How does one remain moral in a hyper-sexual culture? This is the question that many people face every day. It seems particularly concerning for young men as they are the ones who most often turn up at a pastor’s office desiring prayer because of the pressures they experience. A young man recently asked me about…
Continue readingThomas Merton
When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet, Basho,…
Continue readingFollow-Up to Much Afraid
The Much Afraid album contains a song called “Crazy Times.” Jars of Clay band members have said in interviews that this song is about how prayer is often “the last place we go.” I understand what they mean. We go about life without a thought about God and think that we are fine – for…
Continue readingNorthumbria
The Northumbria Community is a Christian community which has its beginnings in the Northumbria district of the United Kingdom and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Yet, it is more than a localized community and is a world-wide monastic community with its own order and communal prayers. Their website describes the community in this way: Inspired…
Continue readingSelah
A friend recently introduced me to the spiritual discipline of praying through Psalm 3. It is particularly helpful when we are at a place in life in which we feel that there are many difficulties mounting against us or when the complexities of life seem overwhelming. The word “selah” appears three times in Psalm 3.…
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