vision

Disturb us, O Lord

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image via Pinterest​
 
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The Minister’s Manual, Vol. 37, compiled by M.K.W. Heicher

___________________________

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
    according to his power that is at work within us, 
    to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 
    throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

_________________________

Question

When have you felt moved or disturbed to undertake a challenge 
   so big that only God could accomplish it?

meet us in our wilderness

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

photo by Daniel Born on Unsplash

 
Loving God
when we stand in our own wildernesses
when we stand in the midst of our questions
when we stand surrounded by our hurts and darknesses
may we meet you
in the same place
a God not scared to meet us
in that which is liminal
shadowy
uncomfortable
and imagine a God
who dares breathe new life
in the arid moments

God
may we live in such an advent
a moment of life
a place of promise
that takes all we are
the cracks and bruises
and speaks with promise
with vision
reimagining everything we are
and says
you are renewed
you are reborn
you are alive again
 
In such a place as this
where deserts bloom
and new roadways are made
may we grow again
dare believe in something more
and live into such a way
and that we begin here
this moment
this place
this community

a birthing place
a promise place
an unconditional place
of love
in skin
and among us

May we live within that promise
forever
So be it
Amen

 
Roddy Hamilton, New Kilpatrick Parish Church Scotland
 
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Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.

 

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the wonder of his Ascension

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Ascension of Christ, Pietro della Vecchia, Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Almighty God,
We come today reminded of your greatness and glory,
your sovereign power and eternal purpose
all expressed so wonderfully in Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Risen and Ascended.

We thank you for the wonder of Ascension,
that marvelous yet mysterious moment
in the life of the Apostles
which left them gazing heavenwards in confusion
yet departing in joy.

We thank you for the way that it brought the earthly ministry of Jesus
to a fitting conclusion;
signifying his oneness with you,
and demonstrating your final seal of approval
on all that he had done.

We thank you that through his Ascension
Jesus is now set free to be Lord of all:
no longer bound to a particular place or time,
but with us always—able to reach even to the ends of the earth.

We thank you that through his departing
Jesus prepared for his coming again:
through his Spirit,
his Church,
and his coming again in glory.

Gracious God,
Forgive us for so often failing
to grasp the wonder of Ascension,
for living each day as though it had never been.

Forgive the smallness of our vision,
the narrowness of our outlook,
the weakness of our love,
the nervousness of our witness,
our repeated failure to recognize
the fullness of your revelation in Christ.

Give us a deeper sense of wonder,
a stronger faith,
and a greater understanding of all you have done.

Father God,
Like the Apostles,
we too will never fully understand all Ascension means.
We accept, but we do not fully understand.
We believe, yet we have many questions.
Help us, despite our uncertainty, to hold firm to the great truth
that the wonder of Christ Jesus
goes far beyond anything we can ever imagine,
and in that faith may we live each day
to his glory and honour. Amen.
 
Bryce Calder, Church of Scotland Minister
 
_________________
 
 
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” 
She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; 
but go to my brothers and say to them, 
    ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

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Be Thou My Vision

/ Eric Mathews / 1 Comment
image / Donatas Dabravolskas / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
 
Dallán Forgaill, c. 560 – 640,  translated by Eleanor Hull 1912
 
_______________________
 
 
 
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

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