joy

visit with us, too

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
​The Meeting of Mary and Elisabeth, Bloch 1866, wikimedia commons
 
Lord Jesus, this advent season we remember
  the visitation of Mary and Elizabeth
    both women miraculously pregnant.
We delight as we recall John the Baptist leaping for joy
    inside Elizabeth’s womb!

Make plans to visit with us too,
   that we might be filled with joyful expressions!
Impart within us the same awareness that John had
    that we might always sense your presence.
Bless us with the same knowledge
    that you are truly the lamb of God
        who takes away the sin of the world;
    that you are the Messiah, and we are not;
    and that you must increase, and we must decrease.

Invite us to join with John and prepare for your coming.

Eric Mathews
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Luke 1:41-44

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
    the baby leaped in her womb,
    and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
In a loud voice she exclaimed:
    Blessed are you among women,
        and blessed is the child you will bear!
    But why am I so favored,
        that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
    As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
        the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

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When have you rejoiced in God’s presence most vividly?
What aspect of your life needs to decrease 
    so that the influence of Jesus can increase?

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bring Life and Peace to us

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
O King of the nations,
You are the headstone of the glorious hall of creation.
You are the firm mortar which holds the building together.
Throughout the earth people marvel at your works.
But now the building is being reduced to a ruin by greed and fear:
 
Reveal yourself to mankind, 
    show yourself as the ruler of the world,
    demonstrate the power of your love.
 
O just and faithful King,
    you can unlock the prison-house of sin,
    and let us out into the glorious freedom of love.
Now we sit in darkness,
    grieving over the wrongs we have committed.
We long for the sun,
    we yearn for the warmth and brightness of your truth.
Open the gate of this prison, and lead us to your kingdom,
    which is our true home.
 
Come now, high king of heaven.  
Come to us in flesh and bone.  
Bring life to us who are weary with misery.  
Bring peace to us who are overcome with weeping,
    whose cheeks are covered with bitter salt tears.  
Seek us out, who are lost in the darkness of depression.  
Do not forget us, but show mercy to us.  
Impart to us your everlasting joy,
    so that we, who are fashioned by your hands,
    may praise your glory.
 
Exeter Book, c.960,  codex of Old English poetry
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Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
 
_____________________________
 
Where is God’s life and peace most needed in your community?
Pray that the power of Christ’s love would be revealed in this situation.

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Come Thou long expected Jesus

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Charles Wesley 1707 – 1788 English hymn writer and Methodist
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Haggai 2:6-7 

This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘In a little while I will once more shake
    the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come,
    and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.

_________________________
 
What are some of the desires of the nations that only God can fulfill?
How can you be praying for your country this season?

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Send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Savault Chapel, France, Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
    send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
    seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
    look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
    long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
    seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people,
    walking in darkness,
    yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

Henri Nouwen 1932 – 1996 Dutch Catholic priest and author
source
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Isaiah 42:6, 16

I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
    I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people
    and a light for the Gentiles

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
    and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake them.
 
_____________________
 
What is one way that you can prepare your heart this Advent season? 

God’s rescue operation and new creation

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by geralt via pixabay

 
Lord, we dream about justice.
We glimpse for a moment, 
    a world at one, a world put to rights, a world where things work out, 
    where societies function fairly and efficiently,
    where we not only know what we ought to do but actually do it.
And then we wake up and come back to reality.
 
…from the very beginning, two thousand years ago,
we the followers of Jesus have always maintained that
 
You took the tears of the world and made them Your own,
    carrying them all the way to Your cruel and unjust death
    to carry out God’s rescue operation,
and that You took the joy of the world and brought it to new birth
    as You rose from the dead and thereby launched God’s new creation.
 
N.T. Wright, 1948-, British New Testament Scholar, retired bishop
 
______________________
 
 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: 
The old has gone, the new is here!  
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ 
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 
    that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, 
    not counting people’s sins against them. 
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
 

Psalm of the Razor’s Edge

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Knife’s Edge, Katahdin by , via flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
 
 
The path we walk to you, O God, is narrow,
    as narrow as a razor’s edge.
The Way is only as wide as a human hair,
    and many are those who lose their balance.
    on such a thin and uncertain edge.
Each day, like a circus aerialist,
    I walk the tightrope of the command,
    “Come, follow me.”
Who can stride safely on such a narrow bridge,
    which swings between heaven and earth?
Downward is the pull of self;
    it tugs at me: “for me, for me… me.”
Heavy the gravity of the urge:
    “I want, I want, I want.”
The Way is narrow and high:
    holy and brave are those
    who climb upon the razor’s edge,
    swaying from the left to the right or right to left,
    straining too hard or relaxing too much.
Holy are those who fall
    but rise again
    and climb back upon the narrow edge
    and begin again and again.
The Way is narrow and high,
    and high are those who walk it,
    one small step at a time,
    intoxicated by risk,
    joyous at the fine balancing line
    of the razor’s edge.
 
Edward Hays, 1931-2016, Catholic Priest in the Archdiocese of Kansas City
 
__________________________
 
 
Enter through the narrow gate. 
For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, 
    and many enter through it. 
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, 
    and only a few find it.

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Open unto me

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 
 
Open unto me, light for my darkness
Open unto me, courage for my fear
Open unto me, hope for my despair
Open unto me, peace for my turmoil
Open unto me, joy for my sorrow
Open unto me, strength for my weakness
Open unto me, wisdom for my confusion
Open unto me, forgiveness for my sins
Open unto me, tenderness for my toughness
Open unto me, love for my hates
Open unto me, Thy Self for myself
Lord, Lord, open unto me!

Howard Thurman, 1899-1981, American author, educator and civil rights leader
___________________________________
 
 
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
 

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order my day, merciful God

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Francisco de Zurbarán, Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Most merciful God, 
  order my day so that I may know what you want me to do,
    and then help me to do it.
Let me not be elated by success or depressed by failure.
I want to take pleasure in what pleases you,
    and only to grieve at what displeases you.
For the sake of your love I would willingly forgo all temporal comforts.
May all the joys in which you have no part weary me.
May all the work which you do not prompt be tedious to me.
Let my thoughts frequently turn to you,
    that I may be obedient to you without complaint,
    patient without grumbling,
    cheerful without solemnity.
Let me hold you in awe without feeling terrified of you,
    and let me be an example to others without any trace of pride.
 
Thomas Aquinas, 1225 – 1274, Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian
 
___________________________
 
 
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. 
Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. 
Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

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the enjoyment of God

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Jonathan Edwards engraving, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
God, You are the highest good of the reasonable creature,
    and the enjoyment of You is the only happiness 
    with which our souls can be satisfied.
To go to heaven fully to enjoy You,
    is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.
Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, children, 
    or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows.
But the enjoyment of You is the substance.
 
These are but scattered beams, but You are the sun.
These are but streams, but You are the fountain.
These are but drops, but You are the ocean.
 
Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758, American theologian and pastor
 
__________________________
 
 
I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
    For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
    and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding
    or a bride with her jewels.

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Easter Prayer of Pope Gregory the Great

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
source by Luca Giordano via Wikipedia
 
It is only right, with all the powers of our heart and mind, 
    to praise You Father and Your Only-Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Father, by Your wondrous condescension of Loving-Kindness
    toward us, Your servants, You gave up Your Son.
Dear Jesus You paid the debt of Adam for us to the Eternal Father 
    by Your Blood poured forth in Loving-Kindness.
You cleared away the darkness of sin 
    by Your magnificent and radiant Resurrection.
You broke the bonds of death and rose from the grave as a Conqueror.
You reconciled Heaven and earth.
Our life had no hope of Eternal Happiness before You redeemed us.
Your Resurrection has washed away our sins, 
    restored our innocence and brought us joy.
How inestimable is the tenderness of Your Love!

We pray You, Lord, to preserve Your servants 
    in the peaceful enjoyment of this Easter happiness.
We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord, 
    Who lives and reigns with God The Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
    forever and ever.

Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604) of Rome, Patron Saint of Teachers
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again 
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

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