listening

Create in me an empty space

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
mosaic by Christ City Church, Memphis, TN
 
 
With prayerful pleas
   and Advent songs of longing,
   I await the birth of God’s Anointing One.
Come, O Gift of heaven’s harmony,
   and attune my third ear,
   the ear of my heart,
   so that I may hear,
   just as Mary, faithful woman of Israel, heard.
O God, the time is short,
   these days are too few,
   as I prepare for the feast
   of the birth of Mary’s son.
Busy days, crowded to the brim,
   with long lists of gifts to buy,
   and things that must be done.
Show to me, also your highly favored child,
   how to guard my heart
   from noise and hurry’s whirl,
   so that I might hear your voice
   calling my heart to create an empty space
   that might be pregnant with heaven’s fire.
Quiet me within,
   clothe my body in peacefulness,
   that your Word
   once again may take flesh-
   this time, with me-
   as once it did in holy Mary,
   long Advent days ago.

Edward Hays 1931-2016 American Catholic Priest
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Luke 1:34-35

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come on you,
    and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
___________________________
 
How do you quiet your heart to hear God’s voice this advent season?
Plan a time this week to pray and listen for God to speak to you.

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Prayer before reading Scripture

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, by Duccio via Wikimedia Commons
 
We praise and thank you
    glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
    for being present among us and in us.
In us you praise the Father
    with the voice of the Spirit,
    whom you have given us.
Lord, may this voice of the Spirit
    be roused in us
    as we listen to the words of Scripture
    in a manner that is worthy and fitting,
    appropriate to the meaning of the text and
    in harmony with what is revealed to us.
Make us ready to recognize
    how we can correspond
    to the teaching and example proposed to us.
For you are God, living and reigning
    for ever and ever. Amen.
 
Carlo Maria Martini, SJ, 1927-2012,Italian Biblical Scholar
 
________________________
 
 
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. 
He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. 
He will tell you about the future. 
He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said,     
  ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’

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Transfiguration Prayer

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Transfiguration of Christ, Carl Bloch, Wikimedia Commons
 

O God,
We open our eyes and we see Jesus,
the months of ministry transfigured to a beam of light,
the light of the world,
your light.
May your light shine upon us.

We open our eyes and we see Moses and Elijah,
your word restoring us, showing us the way,
telling a story,
your story, his story, our story.
May your word speak to us.

We open our eyes and we see mist,
the cloud of your presence
which assures us of all we do not know
and that we do not need to fear that.
Teach us to trust.

We open our eyes and we see Peter’s constructions,
his best plans, our best plans,
our missing the point,
our missing the way.
Forgive our foolishness and sin

We open our eyes and we see Jesus,
not casting us off,
but leading us down, leading us out –
to ministry, to people.
Your love endures forever.

We open our ears and we hear your voice,
‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him!’
And we give you thanks.

Amen

 
William Loader, New Testament Professor emeritus in Australia
 
__________________________
 
 
And after six days Jesus took with him 
  Peter and James, and John his brother,   
  and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  
And he was transfigured before them, 
  and his face shone like the sun, 
  and his clothes became white as light.  
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, 
  talking with him. 
And Peter said to Jesus, 
  “Lord, it is good that we are here. 
  If you wish, I will make three tents here, 
  one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 
He was still speaking when, 
  behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, 
  and a voice from the cloud said, 
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
 
 

a Deacon’s prayer

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / youtube
 
I thank Thee, Lord, for sparing me to see this morning, the blood running warm in my veins, the activity of my limbs and the use of my tongue.  I thank Thee, Lord, for clothing and for food, and above all, I thank Thee for the gift of your darling Son Jesus, who came all the way from heaven down to this low ground of sorrow, who died upon the cross, that “whosoever believeth upon Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
 
Our Lord, our heavenly Master, we ask Thee to teach us.  Guide us in the way we know not.  Give us more faith and a better understanding and a closer walk to your bleeding side.
 
I have faith to believe you are the same God that was in the days that are past and gone.  You heard Elijah praying in the cleft of the mountain.  You heard Paul and Silas in jail.  You heard the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace.  I have faith to believe that you have once heard me pray, when I was laying and lugging ’round the gates of hell, no eye to pity me, no arm to save me.  You reached down your long arm of protection, snatched my soul from the midst of eternal burning.  You placed me in the rock and placed a new song in my mouth.  You told me to go, and you would go with me; open my mouth, and you would speak for me.
 
For this cause we call upon you at this hour.  And while we call upon you, we ask you please don’t go back to Glory, neither turn a deaf ear to our call.  But turn down the kindness of a listening ear, catch our moans and our groans, and take them home to the High Heavens.  We plead boldly one thing more, if it is your glorious will, I pray Thee.
 
Deacon Washington Banks, Gethsemane Baptist Church, 1973
 
_____________________
 
 
To you, O Lord, I cry,
    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
“What profit is there in my death,
    if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
    O Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
    you have loosed my sackcloth
    and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

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to listen to others

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Thomas Hawk / flickr
 
Lord Jesus, 
    you were ever ready to listen to those who cried out to you.
You gave us ears to hear:
    help us to hear.
May we listen to all we meet, 
    and to those who come to us in trouble.
Remind us daily that there is a time for silence and a time for speaking,
    and show us when to speak and when to hold our peace.
Never let us miss a cry for help, 
    because we are too busy talking about ourselves.
Make us ready to listen to others, 
    because we listen each day in silence to you,
O Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
 
Michael Counsell, 1935-2015, retired Anglican priest
 
________________________________
 
 
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. 
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 
    not looking to your own interests 
    but each of you to the interests of the others.
 

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