Listen to Our Hearts

O God, forgive the poverty and pettiness of our prayers. Listen not to our words, but to the yearnings of our hearts. Hear beneath our petitions the crying of our need.  --- Peter Marshall

From "Listen to Our Hearts" by Geoff Moore
So listen to our hearts, and hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those you have redeemed.
We will use the words we know
To tell you what an awesome God You are.
Words are not enough to tell You of our love
So listen to our hearts.

A little monk humor...

A monastery ran a small flower shop to help raise funds. The village was upset with the group of friars and wanted to run them out of business. They tried all sorts of ways to shut the place down with no success. Finally, they called on the meanest, roughest thug in the village, Hugh. A threat from him was all it took to close the shop. Which just goes to show that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

Not a Spectator Sport

Christianity was never intended to be a spectator sport. All who wear the jersey are expected to be active participants in the game. In preparation, we live a life of discipline and constant training - well, at least we should. We show up to life in full uniform, ready for the Coach's next play. We may not be in every play, but we are to show up to the game with anticipation and readiness.

Related to this idea is the following prayer by Lee Strobel from his book, Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary.

"Lord, I want to get into the fray. I want to play a role in the biggest adventure story of all time. Use me to make a difference. Use me to impact a young person for You. Use me to solve someone's problem. Use me to soothe someone's pain. Use me to answer someone's prayer. Use me to feed someone who's hungry. Use me to rescue a child. Use me to bring someone to You. Use me to ease someone's loneliness. Use me to raise a godly family.

"Use me to deepen someone's faith. Use me to cheer someone on. Use me to help a broken person see that he's precious in Your sight. Use me to touch lives in Your name.

"I don't want to just observe cathedrals through my bus window; I want to roll up my sleeves and build one! Lord, use me to build a living cathedral dedicated to Your glory."

Jesus in the Wilderness

The lectionary reading for today's Gospel is taken from Mark 1:9-15. It speak of Jesus being driven (thrust, thrown or cast) into the wilderness by the Spirit. There He would fast and pray for forty days and forty nights and face great temptations before entering into His public ministry. It is here Jesus truly begins His journey to the cross, the purpose for which he came.

This nicely done little video depicts Jesus time in His wilderness experience. A great video for this, the first Sunday in Lent.

The Acts of Contemplation

The acts of contemplation are four:

• to seek after God
• to find Him
• to feel His sacred touch in the soul
• to be united with Him and to enjoy Him

----- Archbishop William Bernard Ullathorne (1806-1889)

Worthy Fruits

John the Baptist came preaching a message of repentance. Part of that message was that the repentant was to “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Luke 3:8) Some may refer to these fruits as “penance.” Penance doesn't produce repentance, penance should be the fruit – the evidence - that shows repentance has taken place or is in the process of taking place. Penance doesn't pay a debt of sin, the Cross took care of that. Acts of penance express a desire to “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work.” (Colossians 1:10)

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275 a.d.) said there were conditions necessary for true penance:

• Contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment

• Confession of sins without omissions

• Satisfaction by means of good works

With that in mind, may you have a very fruitful Lenten season.

Pleasing or Displeasing God

Celtic saint, Ita, was once asked what were the three things that most pleased God, and the three things that most displeased Him.

She answered, "Three things that most please God are:

• true faith in God with a pure heart,
• a simple life with a grateful spirit,
• and generosity inspired by charity.

The three things that most displease God are:

• a mouth that hates people,
• a heart harboring resentments,
• and confidence in wealth."

May we seek to please God in all we do.

Interesting Reading From The Apocrypha

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 15:14-20

(My paraphrase based on readings from the following: 1568 Bishops' Bible, 1587 Geneva Bible, 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible and the 1611 King James Bible)

14) He made man from the beginning, and placed in his hand the freedom to make his own choices, and gave him His commandments and precepts.

15) If you will observe the commandments and live an acceptable life of faithfulness forever, they shall preserve you.

16) He has set water and fire before you, reach out your hand to the one of your choosing.

17) Before man is life and death, good and evil, which ever he desires will be given him.

18) For the wisdom of God is great and mighty in power, and continually beholds all things.

19) The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear Him, and He knows all the works of man.

20) He has commanded no man to act wickedly, nor has He given any man permission to sin.

Early Monastics

There were those in the early church who withdrew to the desert to devote themselves to prayer. They felt the church was compromising too much, and was becoming too worldly. These are known as monastics. I wonder what they would think about our modern day church.

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR

I am no longer my own, but Yours.

Use me as You choose;

rank me alongside whoever You choose;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You;

raised up for You, or brought down for You;

let me be full, let me be empty;

let me have all things, let me have nothing;

with my whole heart I freely choose to yield

all things to Your ordering and approval.

So now, God of all glory,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

You are mine, and I am Your own.

---Taken from Celtic Daily Prayer, “New Year: A Covenant Service”

Reminders for Ministers

I was going through some old pocket notebooks and stumbled across the following list. I jotted these down at a ministers and spouse retreat a few years back and though I'd pass them along. If I recall correctly, they list was given by Pastor Dave Williams of Mount Hope Church of Lansing, MI. There's something here for everyone.

For lack of the original title, I'll simply call the list, "Reminders for Ministers."

1. You must work at staying simple and uncluttered

2. It is better to look for symptoms of health rather than sickness

3. Love your work or find work you do

4. Use your mouth to speak faith, encouragement and cheer to others

5. I can defy the odds if God is working with me

6. Make decisions unashamedly

7. I have to keep getting up again

8. I can't give up on humanity because I was hurt by another person

9. God's mercy endures forever

10. In life I can never succeed alone

11. Be suspicious of all my first impressions

12. Learn the power of focus

13. I have to take time for privacy and rest

14. Focus on the important, not just on the urgent

15. Seek God early

16. The "victim mentality" never brings increase, but ensures decrease

17. Unless I keep expanding, growing and developing, I will level off and die

18. The true meaning of the New Testament staff and board

19. Jesus will multiply what you have if you give Him what you have

20. It's a sin to be good when God has called you to be great

21. There are only two wills in the universe: God's and some other

22. I must understand the "seasons"

23. Always ask questions

24. Try to annihilate fear and anxiety

25. If I don't want to be lost, I need to hang out with those who know where they are going

What is Wisdom?

Early this morning I was certain I saw someone on Facebook ask the question. “What is wisdom?” A little later, when I went back to the individual's page to make a comment, the question was no longer there. Then I wondered if I mistakenly thought it was one person, when, in fact, it was another. Maybe I dreamed it. Now I am not sure. Regardless, this led me to jot down a few thoughts concerning wisdom, which I will now share with you.

Three words are sometimes used interchangeably: knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Though they are related and often interwoven, they are not synonyms.

Knowledge – has to do with mental gathering of facts,

Understanding – has to do with the mental grasping of those facts in the context of its original setting - why a fact is a fact, so to speak,

Wisdom – puts into practice the making of right decisions in ones life – in thought, word and deed – based on the knowledge and understanding we have.

Opposites

The opposite of knowledge is ignorance

The opposite of understanding, in this context, is being naive

The opposite of wisdom is foolishness

As one simply and succinctly put it, “Wisdom is the ability to live life skillfully.”

How often have we or others we know made foolish decisions that resulted in bad outcomes? Outcomes that could have easily been avoided if we had acted wisely instead.

As we go through life, we would do well to remember the words of Proverbs 4:7, which says, “Wisdom is the principle thing, therefore get wisdom.”