I need to talk about patience. Not to you, but to myself. But isn’t that the way? There’s always a long in my own eye.

    This morning, writing at the library for a couple of hours, I stopped by the desk to ask about three books, that, according to my on-line account, had not been check in but that I thought I had returned last week. Really, this is no big deal, but I was feeling that it was.

     The big deal for me was my impatience about it all. I was annoyed that I had to devote my precious time to locating the books, especially since I was certain that I had returned them. Oh, the arrogance! No humility warranted here! Then. as I sensed the librarian noticing my impatience, I felt ashamed. This isn’t the kind of person I want to be.

      Scripture offers NO affirmation for impatience! Check out Abraham and Sarah, Saul, Job, the psalmists, and don’t forget the Prodigal Son.

     The New Testament in particular has plenty to say about patience. What strikes me how it is linked with other virtues.

      2 Corinthians 6:6: ‘in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love.’

     Colossians 3:12: ‘Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’  

       And my favorite, Galatians 6:22. ‘By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.’ St. Paul finishes the verse with this zinger—‘There is no law against such things.’

      I’m trying to observe my impatience. Unlike my experience with the librarian, I don’t think others usually notice it (Um! I could be wrong). But I notice it in my body and in my mumbling. In summary, I get impatient when my (precious) time is infringed upon and when my control is being (unjustly) taken from me. But what to do about this? Pray, of course. Deep breaths to relax; breathe in the Light; ask the Holy Spirit for patience; forgive myself and others. That’s a start, anyway.

    I found one of the books on the library shelf (their error), one back home (my error), and we’re still searching for the third. I immediately took the book found at home back to the librarian, along with a true confession. Before I marched myself back across the street, however, I took some deep breaths and start the prayers, asking for a little patience to creep in.

Do you know the power of two or more being baptized together? It is part of the Roman Catholic tradition and can be traced back the early church. In my UCC church, however, it is usually one baptism a Sunday. But yesterday two babies,  born six months ago within a few weeks of each other, were baptized together: the son of our pastor and his wife, and the daughter of a young couple in the church.

    There was so much ‘God is still speaking,’ energy in the sanctuary, with equal attention given to each baby. At the close of the baptism, my pastor carried the little girl and introduced her to the congregation while a deacon carried his son to do the same. Scripture tell us that ‘God shows no partiality,.’

The Iona healing prayer that I wrote about the other day has become my newest ‘prayer without ceasing’ as I call it. During yesterday’s long walk I said the name of each person on my prayer list and then the prayer. It went like this:

John Smith

Spirit of the living God present with us now,
Enter you, body, mind and spirit,
And heal you of all that harms you,
In Jesus’ name, Amen

Energy cleared; judgments relinquished.

Give me a kind heart that will endure,
One that's strong and secure.
To help someone along the way,
May this be my goal everyday.
Let me lend a helping hand
To someone whose life has not gone as planned.
Reaching out to one in need,
May this be my daily good deed,
To provide a guiding light
For someone lost in the dark of night,
Let me take time to care
For someone experiencing despair,
Whatever I do, everywhere I go,
Your will, dear Lord, let me know.
                                                         Eve Kiley

I’ve posted this prayer before. It’s the one my mom gave me. A prayer she prayed every day, but she didn’t just pray it, she followed it. Right up until her last breath she was smiling a people. At age 101 her kind heart just gave out. I do my best to read this prayer every morning, and to follow it.  
   The daily repetition has given me new prayer categories. As people have different needs along the way, so there are the different ways we can help. And yet, it all pretty much the same.
      With a kind heart, show up, listen, pray, take action.

Some lives just haven’t turned out the way people had hoped or anticipated.
Let me lend a helping hand
To someone whose life has not gone as planned.

From time to time we all are in need. Maybe it’s just temporary, not life threatening.
Reaching out to one in need,
May this be my daily good deed,

Some people get lost, take a wrong turn, are influenced in the wrong way.
To provide a guiding light
For someone lost in the dark of night,

Then there is despair when all seems lost forever—a death, illness, accident, divorce, loss of job.
For someone experiencing despair,
Whatever I do, everywhere I go,

Spirit of the living God present with us now,
Enter you, body, mind and spirit,
And heal you of all that harms you,
In Jesus’ name, Amen

      Every few months I feel the need to post this healing prayer from Iona Worship. Often it is just the prayer to send to someone. And that’s the way it was this week. A friend is having some reoccurring and mysterious medical issues and although the medical world is trying to figure out what’s wrong, few answers are forthcoming so far.

      “I will also use this in my prayers - it's exactly what I needed.” Was my friend’s email response.

     If you don’t have anyone in mind for this prayer at the moment, keep it available. Someone will appear.

I’m feeling a little concerned. With so much family activity going on at the moment, my prayer time is short changed and my routine fragmented: I get distracted. So today I’m appreciating those 3th century desert fathers and mothers who left the distractions of the city in search of  solitude. But the religious and the curious followed them out into the Egyptian desert and so they had to learn to pray in community. That’s what happened to Jesus.  

These days everyone in Boston is pretty excited about the Red Sox. Fair weather fan that I am, I am intermittently into it, too; if they win, I read the next day’s paper. So you can imagine that with Big Papi’s grand slam, I had a looong cup of coffee yesterday morning.

     But you know, I haven’t been praying for the outcome that I want. In fact, that never occurred to me until I started writing this. You see, growing up a Brooklyn Dodger fan, when October came around, I just knew that God was a Yankee fan. But I stopped believing that kind of thing, not because the Dodgers went to LA and became another team altogether, but because I got older. My understanding of God matured, became more nuanced, deepened. It happened to me and it happens to you. It will continue with me, it will continue with you. God is still speaking,’ (with a comma).

     We know that God isn’t a baseball fan, not even close. God doesn’t even know about baseball. God is on another plane, in a different category. In some mysterious way, more mysterious than any spectacular hitter or pitcher, God can give us peace, no matter what team we’re rooting for. I can pray that for all the teams and fans. Peace has no limits.

How do I explain this without adding to the problem? Need I tell you about all the negativity that is being expressed in this country and throughout the world? We’re in a cycle where it seems that we start every conversation with what isn’t working, how bad it all is.

     Today the joys and concerns at church were particularly heavy. Cancer, surgery, sadness or all kinds. I don’t doubt their truth (I even contributed), but where were the joys? Were they not worth celebrating? Where was the balance?

     I’m not a Pollyanna, nor is my head in the sand. But I believe that we reap what we sow, that evil begets evil, that too much negativity can drag us down. I also have faith in a loving God, a God who greets us with gratitude. And so, I am going to greet each day with gratitude; and then as I continue along my way, I’m going to greet each person I meet with a joy. It will be my little contribution to helping us regain a realistic balance of joy and concern.

      Please join me in this little project. We can make a difference.

Care for the poor, a phrase out there in the ethos these days, from the lips of Pope Francis, scattered among political rhetoric, and expressed from the pulpit and pews of my church. It’s easy to think of the poor as ‘other’, you know, those who are homeless and needing our welfare, certainly not me! But that is not so. Depending on a given circumstance, we are all poor.

     The blessing is that when we are poor, we need help. And when we need help, we give others the opportunity do just that. Good thing, because tomorrow the roles may be reversed. It is said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, but that just won’t work if there are no receivers. We all have to take a turn at each of the roles.

      A friend recently reached out for help as she prepares for serious surgery in a few weeks. She will be poor in strength and in her ability to care for herself. She can’t play the I can do it all myself card that we all like to put out on the table. Humility is the new game. She’ll have to admit that she is poor, which is without a doubt one of the hardest things that any of us has to do. In asking for help she has already done so; her poverty is making her rich indeed, rich in faith and hope.

Open Lord, my eyes that I may see.
Open Lord, my ears that I may hear.
Open, Lord, my heart and my mind that I may understand.
So shall I turn to you and be healed.

   As I read this traditional prayer the other morning, all I can say is that I was startled. Startled, because although I’ve read it many times, I’ve never really paid any attention to it, and this time I did. Sure we ask God to open our ears, eyes and heart. And sure Eckart Tolle and others tell us to pay attention to the NOW. We know all of that.

     But WHY do all of this? I had never considered the why of it all, and that’s what startled me. Sure, so I can see, hear and understand; those words wash over me because they are soooo obvious. But this ancient prayer cuts to the quick. There it is, the God answer. No rhetoric, no hyperbole. Pay attention so you will turn to God and so you will be healed.