Tag: tumult and peace

• Acts 17: Uproar – Part III

  
  

  Acts 17: Uproar – Part III

  Friday, October 13, 2023

  A prayer for those who live in the midst of God’s uproar. 

  We are challenged today to find our place in God’s uproar when we reflect on the men in white helmets who run toward danger in Syria to save victims from airstrikes. Let us pray for those who disregard their own safety to rescue others.

  We are challenged today to find our place in God’s uproar when we examine data at the Death Penalty Information Center to see how many innocent lives are needlessly lost in the U.S. Let us pray for those who risk their careers to enact justice.

  We are challenged today to find our place in God’s uproar when we explore CCN’s Freedom Project whose aim is to end modern-day slavery. Let us pray for those who give voice to the voiceless.

  We are challenged today to find our place in God’s uproar when we tackle the topic of citizen security in Latin America and other places around the globe. Let us pray for those who bring hope to the hopeless.

  If the uproar we choose to enter in the struggle to save endangered species, we look for information at The World Wildlife Fund. Let us pray for those who defend the animal kingdom.

  If we are more comfortable examining the uproar over our changing planet, we might review ideas about deforestation or monoculture. Let us pray for those who see Mother Earth as our common home.

  And if exploring any of this is more than we can bear, if God’s uproar sends us into the shelter of what we know and what we have, then let us ask ourselves if we might begin each day with prayers for those who risk their own existence to live in the midst of God’s beautiful and enormous uproar.

  And rather than fear the tumult and disruption the examination of these issues might bring us, let us pray that we do whatever we can – in our own small and large ways – to further the justice called forth in God’s uproar.

  Tomorrow, predictions of God’s peace.

  ---

  Images from: https://www.freepik.com/premium-photo/little-wooden-letters-chaos_20186449.htm and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/order-out-of-chaos-drawing–292030357093414798/

  Share this:

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • More

  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

  Like Loading…

  October 13, 2023

  death penalty, deforestation, Freedom Project, God’s justice, monoculture, storm, tumult and peace, White Helmets, World Wildlife Fund

  ---

• Psalms 105 & 106: Collective Stillness

  
  

  Sunday, February 9, 2020

  Psalms 105 & 106: Collective Stillness

  Psalms of collective jubilation, collective lamentation, of collective recognition that we are human, of collective jubilation that we are forgiven and loved.  We hear a clamoring in these verses as the psalmist recites the many good things Yahweh has bestowed and also the many ways Yahweh’s people have strayed.  We might be overwhelmed by the goodness and mercy Yahweh displays as he repeatedly gathers in the lost, and heals the hungry, broken and sorrowful people.  There is almost too much going on in these psalms to take in all that Yahweh is and does.

  The morning prayers in MAGNIFICAT today are all about being still . . . being patient . . . being calm amid the clatter . . . to listen to and receive the saving power of God.  (Cameron 123-125)

  By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies.  Isaiah 30:15b

  The Lord . . . remembers forever his covenant, the pact imposed for a thousand generations. Psalm 105:8

  The Lord himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.  Exodus 14:14

  When they were few in number . . . he let no one oppress them.  Psalm 105:12&14

  The kingdom of God is within you!  Luke 17:21

  Save us, Lord, our God; gather us from among the nations that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in praising you.  Psalm 106:47 

  When we gather together in the great collective . . . we often lose the stillness.  When we remember the many times we have sinned, the many times we have forgiven and the many times we have been forgiven ourselves . . .  we may be overcome by the great difference that exists between our creator and ourselves.  Yet this originator brings us forth in his image, with his love . . . to be jubilant in the world he has created for us.  So that we might not become bogged down in our sorrow or anxiety, we must look for our collective celebration and joy.

  It is often in the stillness that we best re-find our umbilical cord to our source.  This calm returns us to our genuine purpose . . . eternal joy and celebration with God.  Perhaps in our collective tumult we might also find a collective stillness and peace.

  Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!  Let all the people say, Amen!  Hallelujah!  Psalm 106:48.

  ---

  Image from: http://robertrabbin.com/blog/?p=1699

  Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 9.2 (2009): 123-125. Print.  

  Written on February 9, 2009 and posted today as a Favorite.

  Share this:

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • More

  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

  Like Loading…

  February 9, 2020

  Exodus 14:14, Isaiah 30:15b, Luke 17:21, tumult and peace

  ---