by emma | Aug 27, 2008 | Faith
Don Miller was invited to give a benediction at the Democratic National Convention yesterday, as I found out via Mike’s blog. I was reading the text of his prayer, and was very impressed by it. I’ve copied the text of his prayer below…
“Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.”
by emma | Aug 6, 2008 | Faith
Spark 08 kicks off on Saturday again in my home town of Ballymena. It is incredibly humbling to see so many people, young and old, from across the denominational boundaries, join together with the purpose of uniting, loving, being…
“The vision of Spark is that the church of Jesus Christ in Ballymena would together represent the characteristics of Jesus in their town: loving, compassionate, full of grace and mercy, kind, humble, forgiving and passionate.”
It was such a privilege to be a small part of this last year, and I still get a funny feeling seeing my photographs on the website…! I’m going to miss most of it this year, but if you’re about County Antrim, you should stop by and join in the celebrations. More info on the Spark website.
by emma | Mar 24, 2008 | Faith
I’ve been thinking about Easter a lot today. When I posted on Saturday about it feeling very un-Easter-like, I thought it was just me. Yet it seems to be a general theme among a lot of my friends and fellow bloggers. Many people feel like the season just kinda crept up on us and all of a sudden it was here and we weren’t acting or thinking any differently, even though this is the defining day for us.
I’ve got this friend who reminds me a lot of Jesus. Neither of us are your stereotypical girl, yet we still will call each other up and talk for hours on the phone. She’s got this beautiful, tender heart that lets me talk around the subject for as long as I need, then gently but firmly asks me the questions I’ve been avoiding.
I can’t help thinking that’s a lot like what Jesus does. He’s gentle and he wont force himself on you, but if you let him, he’ll ask the hard questions.
Today I feel like Jesus has been doing that to me. Easter came early, and the disruption was just that: a disruption. It’s almost as if Jesus has been saying, “You’re too comfortable Emma.” Have we put Easter in a box? Have we forgotten what this story really means? At church yesterday we sang Jesus Loves Me, an old kids praise song. It’s simple truth knocked me for six. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” For me at least, I have become so familiar with many of the songs and many of the stories of Jesus life that I don’t really think about them much anymore. I mean, lets be honest…
Jesus rose from the dead!!
In case you didn’t notice… people don’t normally rise from the dead! It just doesn’t happen. But we (I) walk around as if this is completely normal, nothing our of the ordinary, doesn’t surprise us at all.
Maybe as our patterns and rhythms of living are disrupted, maybe that’s exactly what God wanted this easter. Maybe it was less about our not engaging with it and more about God calling out to us. Calling us from death into life.
And you see, that’s the beauty of the cross. It isn’t just Jesus’ resurrection. It’s my resurrection too. It’s all the ways in which Jesus makes me alive again where once I was dead. It’s life in all it’s fullness.
by emma | Mar 22, 2008 | Faith
I have a confession:
It doesn’t feel much like Easter to me right now. I am struggling to engage with this season. For some reason, it feels like I have been railing against it, unwilling to let it permeate who I am. Which is a really stupid thing to do, even if I do say so myself, because this is the thing that defines me. I’ve been in a prayer room in Govan several times this week, I’ve been reading blog reflections and more on the cross, I’ve been reading the Gospel narratives… and my heart is harder than I’d like to admit.
I’m so thankful God holds me, even when (maybe especially when?) I’m not so good at holding him…
and you held me and there were no words
and there was no time and you held me
and there was only wanting and
being held and being filled with wanting
and I was nothing but letting go
and being held
and there were no words and there
needed to be no words
and there was no terror only stillness
and I was wanting nothing and
it was fullness and it was like aching for God
and it was touch and warmth and
darkness and no time and no words and we flowed
and I flowed and I was not empty
and I was given up to the dark and
in the darkness I was not lost
and the wanting was like fullness and I could
hardly hold it and I was held and
you were dark and warm and without time and
without words and you held me
[ And You Held Me by Janet Morley ]
HT: Anna Poulson, on the Grace Lent blog
by emma | Mar 19, 2008 | Faith
I know I’m coming really late to the party here, but just got round to reading Scot McKnights piece ‘Is Our Gospel Too Small?’ and it is excellent.
“Our problems are not small. The most cursory glance at the newspaper will remind us of global crises like AIDS, local catastrophes of senseless violence, family failures, ecological threats, and church skirmishes. These problems resist easy solutions. They are robust—powerful, pervasive, and systemic…
I sometimes worry we have settled for a little gospel, a miniaturized version that cannot address the robust problems of our world. But as close to us as the pages of a nearby Bible, we can find the Bible’s robust gospel, a gospel that is much bigger than many of us have dared to believe.”
Read the whole thing here.
HT: Mike
by emma | Mar 17, 2008 | Faith
“Every morning I lay the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.”
[Psa 5:3]
“I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.”
[Numbers 23:9]
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
[Jer 6:16]
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