Feb. 11 Sunday-Ps.50:1-6 is the selected psalm for Transfiguration sunday, the climax of the readings after Christmas on the revelation of Jesus.Here we have God displayed in majesty, while Jesus is approachable. Jesus holds those parts of divine presence together. How do you seek god’s presence? How do you imagine it?
Monday-“As creatures, we were made in the image of God, which imbues us with profound dignity. The reality of our nature, too, is that we each carry a brokenness that affects how we deal with others. To deny this truth is to perpetuate the suffering that comes as a result of our limitations.”--- Christine Valters Paintner
Tuesday-The peace of morning's stillness/ the peace of new beginnings/the peace of heaven's kiss/to welcome us to this day/to root us in this day/to free us for this day/that we may grow with the greening earth/that we may grow from the ground of glory/that we may grow in grateful wonder of You/Gracious Giver of this day/Great Giver of this new day./Praying with the Earth by John Philip Newell ~
Wednesday-"Part of what we need to do is distinguish between desire and craving or compulsion. Richard Rohr describes the gap between the two as the difference between being driven and being drawn. Being driven is the force of ego imposing its will on others; being drawn is the soul yielding to its call in the world."--- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD
Thursday-From Jinkins blog- the church and its message (converting grace into unconditional acceptance and evil into bad habits, and the gospel into self-realization) became so relevant that gradually it became just one more path to a happy life that, frankly, we could take or leave. In other words, the Christian faith in its quest for relevance became irrelevant.But what if redemption is really quite different from self-realization?What if the self isn't something to be actualized, but lost?What if reconciliation is more than just "connecting" in a weekend encounter group or virtually? What if our relationships, so often characterized by sorrow and regret, can only be healed at a cost we cannot pay?What if the genius of our faith lies in its very strangeness, not on its familiarity?
Friday-a man must set an example and so draw men’s souls out of their solitude and spur them to some act of brotherly love, so that the great idea may not die. Source: The Gospel in Dostoevsky
Saturday-New Testament Greek speaks of believing "into" rather than believing "in." In English we can perhaps convey the distinction best by using either "in" or no preposition at all.Believing God is something else again. It is less a position than a journey, less a realization than a relationship. It doesn't leave you cold like believing the world is round. It stirs your blood like believing the world is a miracle. It affects who you are and what you do with your life like believing your house is on fire or somebody loves you. buechner
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