Not Abandoned :: Worldwide Prayer

  • May 23, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: 1 John 2.12
I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

Reflection: Not Abandoned :: Worldwide Prayer
A Prayer of Thanks for God’s Pursuing Presence and Care from the USA

From my youth, oh Lord, from my
youth you have been my refuge.
In the days of my innocence, you have
Been my place of hiding, my home and my safety.

Then came the times of my rebellion, the days
of my senseless rage, when I abandoned
The ways of God, and followed in the vanity
Of trusting in the strength of men.

Yet you were there, in the midst of my despair,
You did not abandon me the way I did you,
Nor did you treat me with the contempt
I treated you with, the God over all, in my pride.

Instead, you rescued me from evil men, you
Stole me from the houses of the wicked
And planted me among the olive groves of
the righteous, among the granaries of the holy.

When I had lost my way, and grieved at my condition
You took pity on me, and melted the heavens
For my sake. You came down to my place of derision
And took me in your arms.

*Prayer from Hallowed be Your Name: A collection of prayers from around the world, Dr. Tony Cupit, Editor.

Prayer: The Cry of the Church
O God, come to my assistance! O Lord, make haste to help me! — Psalm 69.2

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 24 (Listen – 3:11)
1 John 2 (Listen – 4:04)

Incarnational, Artful Living

  • May 22, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: 1 John 1.4
We write this to make our joy complete.

Reflection: Incarnational, Artful Living
By John Tillman

Madeleine L’Engle’s writings on the incarnational nature of art go beautifully with John’s writing. John focuses heavily on the mystery of the incarnation using some of the most artistic and beautifully poetic language of the New Testament.

In Walking on Water, L’Engle discusses the unique, incarnational nature of artistic work.

The artist who is a Christian, like any other Christian, is required to be in this world, but not of it. We are to be in this world as healers, as listeners, and as servants.

In art we are once again able to do all the things we have forgotten; we are able to walk on water; we speak to the angels who call us; we move, unfettered, among the stars.

We write, we make music, we draw pictures, because we are listening for meaning, feeling for healing. And during the writing of the story, or the painting, or the composing or singing or playing, we are returned to that open creativity which was ours when we were children.

We cannot be mature artists if we have lost the ability to believe which we had as children. An artist at work is in a condition of complete and total faith.

With the Holy Spirit in you, you are a creator. You manifest Christ in this world. Don’t downplay any creative acts he may inspire you to undertake. The humbler they seem the greater impact they may have for the kingdom of God.

Create a meal for guests. Create a shelter for birds out of broken fence planks. Create a garden in a barren spot of earth. Create space in your community for the outcast and the rejected.

When you create, you are walking in the light of him who said, “Let there be light.”

Walking in the light, as John describes, is like walking on water—something L’Engle believes we still can and must do.

We, like Peter, don’t do it because of who we are, but because of who we are with. We move into actions of faith with the childlike belief in our companion, Jesus Christ.

It is no surprise that John, the artistic Apostle, is best able to approach and communicate the mystery of the incarnation. Art is incarnation—an act of love lived out in a specific creative way.

May we “make our joy complete” through incarnational tasks, creating joyful expressions of the gospel in our lives.

Prayer: The Greeting
You are my God, and I will thank you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. — Psalm 118.28

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Isaiah 23 (Listen – 2:50)
1 John 1 (Listen – 1:28)

Quieted with Love :: Advent’s Love

  • December 6, 2017
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  • Park Forum

Reflection: Quieted with Love :: Advent’s Love
The Park Forum

“We, today, have a language to celebrate waywardness,” observes contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura, “but we do not have a cultural language to bring people back home.” This reality makes the prophetic words of Zephaniah stand out:

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

The Hebrew language, despite having extraordinarily fewer words than modern languages like English, dedicates multiple words to describing the idea and experience of love. The word the authors, poets and artists of the Hebrew Bible frequently use for God’s love is hesed, meaning God’s covenant, unfailing love.

Another word for love, often used to describe different types of love in human relationships, is ahab.

Jacob’s ahab for Rachel gives him the dedication to work 14 years for a chance at her hand in marriage. It’s ahab as a passionate, unrelenting love.

Jonathan’s ahab for his friend David leads him to remove his royal robe and place it over David’s shoulders—a symbol that David was now a rightful heir to the throne, as well as everything that belonged to Jonathan, the son of the king. It’s ahab as selfless, sacrificial love.

Zephaniah says God pursues his people in ahab.

God’s love for us is passionate and unrelenting—he pursued us even to death on a cross.

Through resurrection Christ has clothed us with the garments of salvation; he has covered us with the robe of righteousness. We are rightful heirs to the Kingdom of God, as well as everything that belongs to Jesus, the Son of the King.

Advent, as a season of reflection, tunes our hearts to depths of God’s love for us. As a season of anticipation, Advent focuses our hope to the day Christ will restore our disquieted souls, heal our deepest wounds, and rejoice over us as his beloved children.

Listen: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Ella Fitzgerald (1:27)

The Small Verse
Keep me, Lord as the apple of your eye and carry me under the shadow of your wings. — Psalm 17.8

– From Christmastide: Prayers for Advent Through Epiphany from The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Chronicles 6.12-42 (Listen – 7:17)
1 John 5 (Listen – 3:00)

Risks of Faith :: Advent’s Love

  • December 5, 2017
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  • Park Forum

Reflection: Risks of Faith :: Advent’s Love
The Park Forum

It is God’s love for us, not ours for him, that is the context for faith. Our ability to love God is imperfect—though spiritual disciplines and the rhythms of community can shape them greatly, as C.S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity:

People are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?’ When you have found the answer, go and do it.

Lewis isn’t deceived—“go and do it” only works until you can’t, or simply don’t—then what becomes of faith? He continues:

On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about.

Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’

He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

There is no faith without risk, and no reward in heaven for returning spiritual armor without dents. The armor of God is to protect believers as we apply our faith in a broken world—will not our hearts grow weary? The gospel is that Christ has succeeded where we have failed.

We do not shrink back because we are inconsistent in our love for God—we take risks of faith because God is relentless in his love for us.

Listen: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Ella Fitzgerald (3:20)

The Greeting
Into your hands I commend my spirit, for you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth. — Psalm 31.5

– From Christmastide: Prayers for Advent Through Epiphany from The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Chronicles 5-6.11 (Listen – 9:47)
1 John 4 (Listen – 2:58)

The Gift of Service :: Advent’s Love

  • December 4, 2017
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  • Park Forum

Reflection: The Gift of Service :: Advent’s Love
The Park Forum

The story of Christ’s birth is the story of giving. Christ humbled himself. He was familiar with financial tension (his family lived at the sustenance level). He knew the pressures of vocation, and of working one job though he was designed for another—the Messiah was a carpenter for well over a decade. He gave himself to obedience, even to the point of death.

The words of Scripture instruct us to live as Christ lived, and draw models for Christian living from those that came before us. One such person to examine is Wenceslas I, the Duke of Bohemia, who later became a king and a saint. Ed Masters, writing for Regina Magazine, chronicles Wenceslas’ reputation:

He was generous to and provided support for the needs of the indigent, the widows and orphans. He bought freedom for slaves and even visited prisoners during the night, giving them alms and listening to their concerns as well as exhorting them to leave their former ways of life behind and to repent of their crimes. He was known to have carried wood on his back in the middle of the night to those that needed it for fuel and assisted at the funerals of the poor.

The saint was memorialized in the 1853 song, “Good King Wenceslas,” which celebrates the power of following the footsteps of a holy man. The fourth verse opens with the king’s page weakening as they press into the night to serve a poor man in the snow:

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”
In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed.

Wenceslas did not walk under his own strength; the king was often found at night praying in the church. His gifts of service were expressions of Christ’s ultimate gift—something our service to others can bring to life this holiday season.

Listen: Good King Wenceslas by Downhere (3:03)

The Morning Psalm
Great are the deeds of the Lord! They are studied by all who delight in them. — Psalm 111.2

– From Christmastide: Prayers for Advent Through Epiphany from The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Chronicles 3-4 (Listen – 5:42)
1 John 3 (Listen – 4:41)