Prayer Diary

Worshipping at Greater Framingham Community Church

7/22/2019

The church I attend has no air conditioning, so with yesterday’s 95 degree forecast, Sunday service was held on line. Instead, I chose to worship at the Greater Framingham Community Church. Gfccnet.org
. And worship I did. I’m still in awe of how praise and thanksgiving was front and center of the entire service. Praising God and thanking God through the music of a live band and singing, and through word expressed by the pastor and the ‘amens’ from the congregants. But it was more than that. Gratitude encompassed everything—it took over.
     What I’m trying to convey here is beyond words. Too many words don’t help; in fact they hinder. John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” One word, gratitude; one word, love; one word, Jesus.
      There is much more to say about yesterday, but not now, not yet, maybe not ever. Perhaps I’ve said it all in the one word that was at the core of yesterdays service. I trust that when I go return there to worship on another Sunday I will receive the same Word. But I’ll go again, just to hear it and be refreshed (they have air conditioning).
      (I didn’t take any photos because I went as a worshipper, not as a tourist or blogger.)

Grateful for no air conditioning

7/17/2019

On this muggy New England morning I am trying to stay present to God’s world just as it is. The heat helps because my body wants to stay put, to sit and look out the window, and be with God—that’s all. The good news is that we have no central air in our house, no artificial means to distract me from the climate and temperature at this July moment. The heat outside has slowed my body down
God does not separated mind/body/ spirit, and neither do I in my longing to be in God’s presences. I rejoice that my body is coming in sync with my contemplative mind and spirit. I am grateful for this heat.

(Don’t get me wrong. I’m all in favor of air conditioning, and I pray for those who have no choice and who live in desperate heat around the world and at the southern border.)

Gratitude first--always

7/13/2019

A friend’s husband is back in the hospital again. Yes, again, after many previous stays during the past few years. My friend continues to be grateful for all the good times and prays that God will do what’s best for him. To be more precise, she knows that God is doing what’s best. Her prayer is that this will be apparent to all. What faith.
I’m reminded once again that gratitude is the core of faith. When we start prayer with gratitude, we surrender to God; we start with Thy will be done. From there we can humbly offer our petitions.

Beyond joys and concerns

7/6/2019

I sit here in my lovely yard enjoying the flora and my family. I could write about that.
     Or…
   I sit here in my lovely yard worrying about the racism that has a grip on our president and so many in our country. I could write about that.
     But…
     Neither of those scenarios help me, a person who God keeps calling to another way of living that is beyond enjoying or worrying. At church we lift up joys and concerns because that is where we are settled in our lives. But then we are asked to soar above them, to let them go, to stop allowing them to take over. We are asked not to think them away but to pray them away.
     Again and again I return to Paul’s plea in 1 Thessalonians: pray without ceasing. When I pray the Jesus Prayer, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, my dependence on the joys and concerns of life lose their power and the peace of God that passes all understanding takes over. Of course I have to keep practicing this, but the results keep me at it.

Being hard on myself

6/30/2019

“In the beginning Jesus Christ by His Spirit has to check you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you.”
This quote from Oswald Chambers that I just posted as the daily quote has me thinking. Throughout adulthood people have told me that I am too hard on myself. I never agreed with them, always feeling and knowing that this is the way I should be. Chambers helps me clarify that I am on the right track in being hard on myself.
He goes on: “See that you do not use your limitations to criticize someone else.” I would add, ‘or to compare yourself with someone else.’ We are all on our own journey, and by grace some of us hear the call from God. That’s on only guidance I need to follow.

Who is God in Edinburgh?

6/19/2019

As I walk the streets of Edinburg I carry Krish Kandiah’s question in my mind and heart: Who is God?
I ask it as I smile at the statues of Oog Willie placed throughout the city. Who is God for the designers of these hopeful statues celebrating children.

I ask it as I enjoy fish and chips and a beer. Who is God for me, so fortunate to be able to take this trip?

I ask it as I watch waiters and waitresses clear tables. Who is God for people who have steady jobs?

I asked it yesterday as I wandered Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth. Who was God for the Augustinian monks who lived here from the 400s to 1450?

   I ask it as I pass homeless men and women on every block of Princes Street, along the Royal Mile, and places in between. Who is God for those whose home is the street?
      I offer no photos, not because I want to avoid the sadness of it all, but in deference to these human beings. I am a tourist but these folks, with their blankets and jars where I can place a coin, are not tourist attractions.
    Who is God for them? Who is God for me as I walk by, sometimes dropping a coin, but usually ‘passing by on the other side’?

Who is God at St. Cuthbert's?

6/16/2019

St. Cuthbert’s Church is located at the west end of the Princes Street Garden. To the south, towering above, is Edinburgh Castle at the end of the Royal Mile in Old Town. To the north is New Town with its Georgian homes and private gardens.
    St. Cuthbert’s represents both the old and the new Edinburgh. History has it that a church has been standing at the site since 850 CE. Today it is an active parish church of the Church of Scotland.
     I love to walk about St. Cuthbert’s graveyard, reading the headstones and wondering, “Who were these people?” Over the years new sections have been added to the graveyard, providing extra intrigue and mystery.
    Yesterday as I was wandering about, I was distracted by a few garbage bag bundles left here and there; then when I looked around a low wall, I was startled to see scattered trash on the ground. Around another corners a man was coming out of tent.
     St. Cuthbert’s has been a sanctuary throughout the centuries and now it is one for homeless people!
     In such situations we are apt to ask, “Where is God?” But Krish Kandiah, in God is Stranger: Finding God in Unexpected Places, suggests we ask, “Who is God?” And so I ponder: Who is God for these homeless people? For the administrative staff of St. Cuthbert’s? For me, a tourist wandering through? (I refrain from taking pictures of homeless people.)

Wanting a "God church"

6/9/2019

I attended the memorial service for a dear friend yesterday at the UU Church in town (the church we attended when raising our children). The service was one of the most heartfelt I have ever experience, and for that I am very grateful.
Gratitude, good memories, and sense of community, however, were not enough as I went out the door. I missed the mystery and the hope inherent in a Christian service. The absence of any God reference brought home, once again, why I had left that church to return to my roots in the UCC church that I can see from my upstairs window.
When asked, I say that I left the UU church because I wanted a “God church”. Amen.

As Christians we....

6/1/2019

A member of our church led the service and gave the sermon the other Sunday. He began by stating, “As Christians we….” Those three words were my biggest takeaway because I have very few friends who acknowledge that out loud (and maybe to themselves). Even at church we (not the pastor) skirt around the topic of being a Christian.
In this political climate those of us church goers in New England are afraid our Christianity will be judged with a conservative veneer; so we don’t say a word. In many circumstances we are probably wise to be cautious about proclaiming our faith, and yet, in being cautious and afraid we will be misunderstood, we may be diminishing our faith in our very own being. There are times when speaking out loud as a Christian is the right thing to do.

In God's prayerful presence

5/28/2019

If you long to be in God’s presence, if you feel called to prayer, accompany someone who has entered that prayerful presence with God.
I am sitting with my 96 year old friend. It is quiet here; she is not speaking and neither am I. We are together in a deep holy place, each in our own solitude. Everything is simple; the only thing to do is be. The window flowers offer hope.