Devotional Pts-Week of March 22

Sunday-Ps. 51 is one of the great penitential psalms. Look at its context as it is presented as a prayer of David when his terrible sins over the Bathseba affair became evident. When are we heartbroken over sins? when do we demonstrate a cavalier attitude to certain sins but not to others?  Should our corporate prayers of confession evince such contrition?

Monday-”Silence isn't just the absence of sound, but a form of human consciousness. This silence of the heart is a profound place of moving beyond ego, judgments, and dualistic thinking to witness the presence of the divine. In silence, we can experience a sense of inner expansiveness which makes more room for God's presence.”

Tuesday-Ps 104-hold these words in your heart as you go out in the world to receive images in response. As you walk be ready to see what is revealed to you as a visual expression of your prayer.You can share images you already have which illuminate the theme, but I encourage you also to go for a walk with the theme in mind and see what you discover.

Wednesday-"Sometimes the pages won't turn in our book of dreams,and we are left clinging to a life we never lived...just wanted to.Stuck in the stark reality of unlived dreams,we sniffle and tread water, or we go in search of the Holy One who will wipe the tears from our eyes and offer to us the only dream that lives." (by Ann Weems, "Kneeling in Jerusalem")

Thursday-"The body takes the shape of the soul," said an anonymous medieval monk. It might also be said, "The soul takes the shape of the body." Your body is "a temple of the Holy Spirit within you," says St. Paul (I Corinthians 6:19). How does this interaction work within your experience?

Friday-Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 -I am a world-class complainer. I can vent, steam and stew with the best of them. When done unconstructively, my complaining ways beget more complaining and lead to a miserable existence in which I am, as Martin Luther deemed it, "turned inward on myself." And don't you know I'll try to drag you down with me! Saturday-”To be awakened to the divinity of the one unending present moment in which our lives unfold is the grace. To be once again awakened is the grace that carries within it the riddle of our forgetfulness.”  How does worship touch on this quote? How do you rate yourself on a wakefulness scale?