O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
Ephesians 3:14-16
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit.
Words of Grace For Today
At 3:00 I was up.
It was dark.
I walked outside for air.
And
Looked
Up.
Aurora Borealis painted the sky,
Dancing as it does,
From the western horizon, across the lake and trees –
over the meadow in a circle,
pointing to this blessed place,
and back down and around out to the East
and to the North
in wisps, feathery light
and unseen by most people
safely asleep through the northern night.
Then jets roared overhead
from the east
bound to the northwest.
A sortie to defend Canada’s north from predators,
of the human being kind.
This on spaceship earth, caught last evening, probing it’s way through the sunlight
into the dark.
Where are you headed today? Have you your eyes open to see the creation and it’s Creator, at work, at play, suffering, and in joy?
Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.
Luke 2:30-32
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
Words of Grace For Today
We all live on some ground or another. We are blessed greatly if it is a land flowing with milk and honey.
Sometimes what is crucial is less the land we live on and more the way we see it.
Many lived in the days and place when and where Jesus was born and grew up, but very few noticed what tremendous blessings God placed among them, like the child Jesus arriving at the Temple.
We ask everyday that God will give us eyes and ears to see and hear the wonders God showers down on us.
As most photographers can tell us, they see everything that the rest of us see, yet they see more. They (well full disclosure here, it’s we, since I’m one of them photographers) see how what they look at will or can with a camera be made into a photo that reflects exactly what is there and yet more, often by excluding some of what is there so that we notice more of what is.
Mystics live, see, and hear in much the same way, though we work without a camera, instead using hearts, minds and souls to see the world and all that happens in it as God’s gift to us.
Mystics and photographers see the light, the Light of the world that is our salvation. The results are not always happy to see, though it is profoundly reassuring knowing that it is all blessed by God.
So we often say with Julian of Norwich (even as we also witness tragedies without end), all will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the Lord.
Philippians 2:14-16
Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain.
Words of Grace For Today
Leviticus lays out rules upon rules before coming to this passage: Thus you shall keep my commandments … Just prior to this conclusion the offering of young animals is laid out in clear detail.
Now if these few rules were all it took to keep the Lord’s commandments, then we’d have a hope of being able to keep and observe them. They are, instead, voluminous even in scripture and interpretations fill seemingly endless volumes, often with contradictory rules and admonishments, so that keeping them is impossible.
Jesus pared the commandments down to Love the Lord your God, with all you heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself, even your enemy. And with that concise formulation it seems possible at first glance, but …
But only by denial of one’s own reality, one’s wishes, desires, yearnings, and actions taken to make it through life – only by denial of one’s own reality is it possible to think that one can keep this one commandment.
The simple truth is we fail at keeping the commandments, every last one of us. That does not mean that we ought to go about our days intentionally murmuring and arguing, or that we should remain oblivious to how our actions hurt others. We need make great efforts to help others.
We need not do all this in hope of satisfying God’s commandments. Rather we can only do this with hearts filled with gratitude in response to all God has done for us.
Obligation does not produce goodness from and in us.
Gratitude does.
Obligation seeks approval for what is already not good enough.
Gratitude seeks nothing except that other people will benefit from one’s words and actions.
We are not going to get out of life free from blemish. Trying to do so is futile and drags us down into the pit of despair, out from which we do not emerge on our own, though we all too often create a false narrative for our lives that tries to convince ourselves we are not stuck in the pit of our own sin, of our own making.
Rather gratitude accepts that we are all blemished, ourselves as much or more than others. Gratitude accepts that God alone transforms us, while we remain wretched, dreadful sinners, into saints who bring life abundant to others.
Thus, as we enjoy meals, and family, and time to relax, reflect, and give thanks (well some of us anyway, for many have none of that even this day), we remember that:
The value of life and of ourselves is a gift from God.
The joy of life is knowing to whom we owe thanks, and being able to give it.
So today we Give Thanks, as grateful people, as sinners-made-saints.
Those Days of Golden Light, Shine Already in Our Hearts, by Faith Alone.
Isaiah 52:9
Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
1 John 2:8
Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Words of Grace For Today
We try so hard in life to succeed. And there are all sorts of ideas about how to succeed.
One of my favourites* is “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. *though I cannot recommend the man to whom it is attributed – Charles R. Swindoll
Reba McEntire gives us: “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”
Pele the soccer star offered: “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”
Colin Powell put it plainly, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
Winston Churchill pointed out that it is always a process: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Out in left field: John Barrow said, “Music is 10% exhilaration and 90% utter disappointment.”
But what really counts in life is Faith
How can we succeed at faith?
Can we ever succeed at faith?
No, because Faith is not something we can do or succeed at.
Faith is a gift, a precious gift, that God gives us. It is the gift that sees us through the dark days of life that are so many and brings us to the days when the bright light of God’s Kingdom shines bright all around.
On those days we can Break forth together into singing, … for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed us all.
