Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. The ashes represent mourning and repentance. Lent is to be a time of reflection and prayer. If you are not familiar with fixed hour prayer I hope you will try it this Lenten season. Below are a few sites that will walk you through the prayers.

http://www.universalis.com/-600/today.htm

http://www.northumbriacommunity.org/

A prayer from Thomas Merton's Dialogues with Silence:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Community

"Community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves."

-Wendell Berry

I have begun to see what individualism will do to community. Working with students makes this painfully clear. Without a second though a student will put everyone in the school/community in danger, and when they say they never thought of anyone else, they mean it. I have seen this same attitude in myself . We have turned self-reliance into a life-style and now our interactions with each other are devoid of meaning and depth. People don't ask for help, they keep their 'issues' private (even at church), we all demand certain behavior from others but excuse ourselves from that same standard. I think this is what made Berry observe,

"Novelty is a new kind of loneliness."

E.J. Dionne is on to something...

"Republicans -- short on new ideas, low on votes and deeply unpopular in the polls -- have been winning the media war over the president's central initiative.

They have done so largely by focusing on minor bits of the stimulus that amount, as Obama said in at least two of his network interviews, to "less than 1 percent of the overall package." But Republicans have succeeded in defining the proposal by its least significant parts."

Read the whole article here...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/04/AR2009020402835.html

Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago

This album is amazing and refreshing. This guy isolated himself in the wilderness of Wisconsin and recorded this album. Bon Iver is a play on a French phrase meaning 'good winter' and while listening to these tunes it has most definitely been a good winter. For those of you who think God speaks only in a church, check out this album and be blessed.

Asleep in the light

These are a few lyrics from the Keith Green song Asleep in the light. When you let these words sink in its a hard thing to hear. I am realizing that God is not concerned with my comfort so much as she is my faithful obedience. Not an easy thing to learn....God have mercy....

The world is sleeping in the dark

That the church just can't fight

Cause it's asleep in the light

How can you be so dead

When you've been so well fed

Jesus rose from the grave

And you, you can't even get out of bed

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead

Come on, get out of your bed

Second Sunday of Advent

This weeks theme for Advent is love.

Sunday Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A prayer attributed to St. Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Advent: Sunday

Here is a liturgy for the first candle:

Today we light the first candle of the Advent wreath. This is the candle of HOPE.
With Christians around the world, we use this light to help us prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of God's Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

May we receive God's light as we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined."-- Isaiah 9:2

Let us pray:Lord as we look to the birth of Jesus, grant that the light of your love for us will help us to become lights in the lives of those around us. Prepare our hearts for the joy and gladness of your coming, for Jesus is our hope. Amen