 What do we do when we first wake up? What are our first thoughts?
I’m not someone who sleeps in, so if it is after 5 I am ready to get up. Sr. Vassa’s message this morning reminds me of the track I want to live on. I want my first thoughts to be of God, not of my plans for the day, or, worse still, of the day’s breaking news. Whether I lie there or put my feet on the ground and start the coffee, I want my prayer routine to begin. Here’s a helpful passage (Eph 5: 14-20) for those of us who sometimes wake up before the alarm-clock goes off, and then proceed to lie there, thinking this and that, in the darkness of the early morning. I find this is not a good idea, to let myself lie there and think. It’s a better idea to pray, letting God into my day as soon as possible. Why? Because my own thoughts, when divorced from prayer in my most vulnerable moments, like the early morning, tend toward various forms of darkness and merely-human fears. “Awake, O sleeper,” the Apostle tells me in these moments, “and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. www.coffeewithsistervassa.com  Betsy Thompson I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember. “We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,” I heard a bird sing In the dark of December By Oliver Herford  Humility leads us to God. Benedict’s Rule pulls together from ancient sources the twelve steps of humility. “Humility is right thinking—truth—and to be truthful to ourselves and embody that truth is to be in right relationships with others.” (Funk, Mary Margaret, Tools Matter for Practicing the Spiritual Life, NY: Continuum, 2001.) I’ve summarized Funk’s 12 steps, and printed them out, because I need an easy reminder to remember them, and, even just to remember that humility exists. Step One: Be aware of thoughts Step Two: Surrender our will Step Three: Be accountable to another Step Four: Carry out difficult tasks without weakening or going away. Step Five: Manifest thoughts to a wise elder. Step Six: Practice manual labor. Step Seven: Consider it a blessing if one has been humiliated Step Eight: Be content with what is. Step Nine: Restrain talk and remain silent. Step Ten: Laugh only when you are in the same camp. Step Eleven: Speak strait, “as is.” Step Twelve: Recapitulate the above directives The fruit of humility is that, through self-forgetfulness, we abide in the presence of God. The fruit of humility is that, through self-forgetfulness, we abide in the presence of God. 
 At the Pittsburgh Airport The other day I had a chat with a friend of a friend about our Christian faith. I was giving her a ride; our congenial and loving time together was about 20 minutes. I mainly listened.
A few of the phrases she offered during our conversation helped me understand the wide expanse of beliefs among Christians, and brought me more clarification of my faith. These stood out to me: Jesus is my Lord and Savior; my church is Bible based; John 14:6. No one can come to the Father except through me. I never use these phrases, because they don’t describe my faith. But more than that, they are code for what I believe is an exclusive Christianity, one that puts conditions on Jesus’ message of love. They limit me to a belief in a confining, judgmental ‘father-God; a God living more in my mind than in my heart; a God not of mystery or the ineffable, but of dogma and constrictions; a God of the past, not of the present and future; a God of limits, not of what I can hope for or imagine; a God worshiped more through formal liturgy and word, and less through contemplation and silence; a God who must include Jesus as THE Way, rather than someone who is A Way. There is so much more I could say about this, but enough words. One more comment, however. I don’t write this as a judgment about this person or her faith, but as a way for me to strengthen, affirm, and clarify mine.  www.coffeewithsistervassa.com I try to stay away of telling people, “You are in my thoughts and prayers.” Thoughts * and prayers as two different things, and using them in tandem feels like a casual social comment, similar to have a nice day.
In fact, I think long and hard before telling someone I will pray for them. Maybe they don’t want to be prayed for; not everyone does. For some, it might be a personal invasion or they might feel I am tampering with their very life, or trying to seek my faith upon them. Sometimes, after discernment on my part, I might ask someone if they would like me to pray for them. Asking demonstrates a strong commitment on my part, both to the well-being of the person and to the power of prayer on mine. * I find it easy to tell people I am thinking of them.  According to Scripture Jesus healed people plagued with extreme physical and mental difficulties. For me it is very challenging to make senses of these healings. My go-to response is to throw up my hands and proclaim them as miracles, which may be true but doesn’t help me as I try to follow Jesus. I may feel called to follow him, but not to heal people in miraculous medical ways. For me, healing is opening up channels for people to feel peace in the midst of difficulties. I can do this by empathic and compassionate listening, providing a meal, running an errand, offering a ride, and by praying.
Curing has more to do with disease; healing with making whole. Jesus did both; I focus on one, healing.  I am a member of the Iona Prayer Circle. Every three months I receive a list of prayer requests from around the world. There are ten groups, each with approximately 12 names. I am in Group One. The requests remain on the list until the sponsor who has placed the name on the list asks that it be removed; conditions have improved, cures have occurred, or death has happened. We intercessors are asked to pray for our group on Tuesday when the names are lifted up at the Service of Healing at the Iona Abbey. I pray for mine every day, which draws me close to them.
Chris Polhill is the coordinator for this important ministry. Here are her comments about prayer from the October Iona Prayer Circle newsletter. We need wisdom too when it comes to prayer for others. Prayer is not about God getting someone else to do or be as we think they should be, everyone has free will, even those we pray for. When I first thought about this I stopped asking for anything particular and just prayed for God to bless who or whatever situation was on my mind. I shifted a bit when I thought about God as papa, and it being fine to ask anything as children do and that sometimes I just need to ask, but the difference now is that I know I cannot use prayer to manipulate anyone/thing or God, and I like the prayer for blessing. Rowan Williams talks of prayer as taking people or situations into the presence of God and being there with God. Then living as best we can.  I’ve expressed many prayers of gratitude in the past few weeks: for the healthy arrival of a friend’s granddaughter; for the comforting passage of a friend onto hospice; for God leading me to visit a friend in the hospital; for my parents (married October 12, 1935.
There is the early morning start of the day between my husband and me: What are you grateful for this morning? There are the daily gratitudes I learned from my mother: Every morning I thank God for friends and family, my health, my life, and my faith. The challenge is to keep expressing gratitude throughout the day, which is easier to do when I start the day being thankful.  You can read about my experience praying for peace in Rome in September and see a sampling of the pictures I took of some of the thirty-six of the city’s 900 churches. Now that I’m home, I’m still praying.
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