I lift up my eyes to the one who dwells in the heavens. I lift up my eyes as Abraham lifted his when he wanted to see the eternal promise and seed. I lift up my eyes to count the stars of heaven, believing that you are a generous God. Like Isaiah, I raise my eyes to contemplate the power of the Most High. Like Nebuchadnezzar, I lift up my eyes to you. Then my mind is restored and I can bless the Lord of heaven, the Most High.
Before a stinking grave, I lift up my eyes to the Lord of everlasting life. Like Jesus, I lift up my eyes, asking that all people know the true God. When I meet a mute or deaf person, I lift up my eyes to the Lord of heaven. When I need bread and fish, with a thankful heart I raise my eyes.
Like Stephen, I bow down on my knees. Then I lift up my eyes to see heaven open up in the midst of a bloody age. On the fields of Samaria, I raise my eyes to see a great harvest in which Arabs and Jews are saved. I lift up my eyes to be transformed and to become a divine tool for changing the oppressor and for helping the oppressed and the poor.
Like the eyes of servants looking towards their masters and maids towards their ladies, so my eyes will be lifted up to God, seeking mercy and compassion. Today I will not look backward like the wife of Lot. I will not stare blindly like the servant of Elisha who did not see the angels of God. Unlike Asaph, I will not look at the strength of evildoers. But like John at Patmos, I will turn towards the voice that speaks to me, in order to behold your greatness. O God who lives in the heavens, I lift up my eyes to you.
To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.
Spirit of Truth, direct our attention to the life of Jesus so that we might see what you would have us be. Make us, like him, teachers of your good law. Make us, like him, performers of miraculous cures. Make us, like him, proclaimers of your kingdom. Make us, like him, loving the poor, the outcast, the children. Make us, like him, silent when the world tempts us to respond in the world’s terms. Make us, like him, ready to suffer.
We know we cannot be like Jesus except as Jesus was unlike us, being your Son. Make us cherish that unlikeness, that we may grow into the likeness made possible by Jesus’ resurrection. Amen
Stanley Hauerwas, 1940- , American ethicist and theologian
Hagia Sofia, Istanbul, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, via Flickr
Come, O true Light!
Come, O eternal life! Come, O hidden mystery! Come, O indescribable treasure! Come, O powerful one, who always creates and re-creates and transforms by your will alone!
Come, you whom my wretched soul has desired and does desire! Come, you who alone go to the lonely for as you see I am lonely! Come, you who have separated me from everything and made me solitary in this world! Come, you who have become yourself desire in me, who have made me desire you, the absolutely inaccessible one!
Yea, O Master, just as you remembered me, when I was in the world and, in the midst of my ignorance, you chose me and separated me from this world and set me before your glorious face, so now keep me interiorly, by your dwelling within me, forever upright, resolute; that by perpetually seeing you, I, the corpse, may live; that by possessing you, I, the beggar, may always be rich, richer than kings; that by eating you and by drinking you, by putting you on at each moment, I go from delight to delight in inexpressible blessings.
Symeon the New Theologian 949–1022 Byzantine Orthodox monk source _______________________
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
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When have you experienced the presence and love of God most powerfully?
Remember some of those times in prayer and praise.
God, we come with hesitant steps and uncertain motives to sweep out the corners where sin has accumulated, and uncover the ways we have strayed from Your truth.
Expose the empty and barren places where we don’t allow you to enter. Reveal our half-hearted struggles where we have been indifferent to the suffering of others.
Nurture the faint stirrings of new life, where your spirit has begun to grow. Let your healing light transform us into the image of Your Son. For You alone can bring new life and make us whole.
Christine Sine, Australian physician and contemplative activist
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might to you, Lord Jesus.
You rule this world with love and grace.
There are days when we have a hard time seeing it but you have promised that you are moving all creation toward that time when God will get what God wants — a creation where peace and goodness and compassion shape all of life.
And you give us good work to do in the time that is ours: prayer and praise and hope and truth.
We are not always sure how what we do is serving your holy purposes but we submit our lives to you. We trust you, our crucified and risen Lord, to take what we offer and transform it so that it glorifies you. Amen
Christine Jerrett, minister in the United Church of Canada