O God, the hymn writer, Henry van Dyke, invited us to sing, “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;” and we indeed, upon reflection, should spontaneously and regularly express to You that joy of our salvation. So many things that we experience, when we take the time to reflect upon them, draw our attention to an overwhelming, abundant sense of grace and peace—grace and peace that come from Your love, Father God, and from Your compassion. If we turn our attention away from the emptiness that sometimes holds our earthly focus, we can take a full account of all Your love and blessings. That love and those blessings delight us and bring us a sense of happiness, joy, contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction, anticipation, hope, and expectation. In that love we can truly sing, “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,” with thanksgiving and with praise for all Your abundant blessings. Turn our hearts, our minds, our emotions, our commitments toward all the good and perfect gifts that You shower on us each day. Warm our hearts with Your love and peace that flood our lives with a sense of purpose, hope, love, and peace.
Let us for a moment also turn our prayer attention to a wider concern in our country. Let us pray today for all of those who are seeking ways to address and to calm the racial tensions that have risen as a result of the rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. Open our minds and our hearts to your universal love for all—both for friends and especially for enemies.
Each week we focus on a time for sharing congregational prayer concerns. Many of us have thanksgivings or special needs, concerns, or intercessions for ourselves, our families, our friends, our church, our country, and our world. I invite you now to call out the names of those for whom any of you have special concerns and petitions that you want to lift up to our attentive Lord.
Bind us together today, O Lord, as these voiced petitions become shared petitions in this time of worship, for this fellowship of believers, in our shared mission and our call, both here and around our world. Also bind us together as we recite in one united voice the prayer that Jesus gave us in teaching us how to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Thursday, July 27, 2017
RIDDLEDY RIDDLEDY REE
With another birthday coming up soon, I’ve found myself recalling an interaction between my eldest daughter and my mother. Carolyn and “Grandmother” were playing the game which I have tried to name in the title of this post. The game has one player think of something in sight that fits into the category of people, places, things, etc. The player then announces, “Riddledy, riddledy, ree; I see something you don’t see, and it starts with a . . .” where the player then announces a letter of the alphabet that is the first letter of the people, place, or thing the player has chosen. With only that first letter, the other player looks around and tries to find something that starts with the letter hint.
On this occasion, my daughter gave a two letter hint of “O. O.” Now using two letters for two words was a little outside the regular parameters, but Mom began to guess. She could find a few items that started with the letter “O,” but the double “O” threw Mom off. Try and try as she could, Mom could not come up with anything that started with “O. O.” After exhausting all the things she could identify, Mom said, “I give up. What is “O. O.?” Carolyn then pointed a finger at Mom and said, “Old, Old.”
Maybe I haven’t gotten to the “O. O.” level, but I am aging. I am showing more and more signs of loss of short-term memory, and I really do struggle with all the new names that have hit me since we moved to Florida. Seventy-four means I’m approaching three-fourths of a century; but more significantly, I’m finding that my mental capacity isn’t what it used to be. I appreciate how my family and friends are helping me along the way to stay in touch and stay on track; and I appreciate all they do to strive to help me remember what I can and forgive me for my forgetfulness. Mom and Dad both had longevity, but we found out that is not necessarily a good thing when short and long term memory begins to fail. I’m grateful for the understanding of my family and friends. I hope that gratitude is something I will never forget.
On this occasion, my daughter gave a two letter hint of “O. O.” Now using two letters for two words was a little outside the regular parameters, but Mom began to guess. She could find a few items that started with the letter “O,” but the double “O” threw Mom off. Try and try as she could, Mom could not come up with anything that started with “O. O.” After exhausting all the things she could identify, Mom said, “I give up. What is “O. O.?” Carolyn then pointed a finger at Mom and said, “Old, Old.”
Maybe I haven’t gotten to the “O. O.” level, but I am aging. I am showing more and more signs of loss of short-term memory, and I really do struggle with all the new names that have hit me since we moved to Florida. Seventy-four means I’m approaching three-fourths of a century; but more significantly, I’m finding that my mental capacity isn’t what it used to be. I appreciate how my family and friends are helping me along the way to stay in touch and stay on track; and I appreciate all they do to strive to help me remember what I can and forgive me for my forgetfulness. Mom and Dad both had longevity, but we found out that is not necessarily a good thing when short and long term memory begins to fail. I’m grateful for the understanding of my family and friends. I hope that gratitude is something I will never forget.
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