Our lack of compassion
Our lack of compassion, hardness of heart, and mercilessness towards orthers form an impenetrable curtain between ourselves and God. It is as if we had covered a plant with a black hood, and then complained because it died from lack of sunlight.
- Fr. Alexander Elchaninov
Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gather it little by little.
(via thelittlephilosopher)
Father, I know that you are working in me, but I find myself full of paradoxes. I am a hypocrite in love with the Truth and conflicted by doubts, fears, and sin. Save me, for you are the Only Absolute. Amen.
(via jamtaylor)
Father, look with compassion on the whole human family
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Based on the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
The Kingdom of God is… | Involuntary-Guest-Post
Ever so often I read a blog post, a chapter in a book, a line in a song that makes my heart leap and my soul swell with a resounding YES. This post by Sara at her blog Emerging Mummy is one of those.
Here is an Involuntary-Guest-Post. Read the entire post including the introduction at her blog.
All good and perfect gifts come from the Father. The same Father watching a road for a wayward son, the same Father that gave everything to the older son too. The same Father that cured sin throws the doors open, parties with prostitutes and thieves.
O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Spirit and pour into my heart your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue
Ash Wednesday - a preparation to rejoice in His love
Today is the beginning of Lent in the West.
I’ve never observed Lent, having grown up in ‘non-denominational’ Christianity. I probably first discovered lent when, at around 11 years old having just entered public school, I arrived one day to the sight of half the other students sporting ashen smudges across their foreheads. At the time, I’m sure I got an 11 year old explanation that I didn’t fully understand, and perhaps a vague mention of it in that mornings assembly.
You are the peace of all things calm
You are the place to hide from harm
You are the light that shines in dark
You are the heart’s eternal spark
You are the door that’s open wide
You are the guest who waits inside
You are the stranger at the door
You are the calling of the poor
You are my Lord and with me still
You are my love, keep me from ill
You are the light, the truth, the way
You are my Saviour this very day.
For the first time in my life I’m going to take part in lent this year. I feel drawn to it. We shall see what adventure this will be.
God we are broken people.
Separated from you, isolated from each other, disconnected from creation.
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.
God our bond with you is broken.
We have hidden ourselves from the all loving, all caring, all embracing one.
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.Our bond with each other is broken.
We are indifferent to the cries of dying children, pain of the oppressed, loneliness of widows.Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.
Our bond with God’s creation is broken.
We have destroyed and polluted what we should have preservedLead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.
God in your mercy come to us.Forgive our sins, heal our spirits, redeem our lives.Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.Amen
I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the timewaking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me .
I’ve been thinking and fighting and toying with the idea of prayer for a long time…
It’s something that confuses and frustrates me in unique ways.
Recently an idea that keeps finding me is that prayer “doesn’t change God- it changes me.”
I think I need to try to dedicate some more time/brain energy into this topic…
A life in colour…
I don’t live in a black and white world with black white answers. Sometimes, I admit, I wish I did. It’s enticing to cling to the comfort of black and white thinking, like old nostalgic photos of family, or the romance of a flickering silent movie.
That’s comforting, but it’s not reality. The world I see is in full colour. With vivid hues and dark tones. I see a world filled with unique situations, unique people, each with their own winding bumpy paths. The world seen in colour is harder to describe, harder to contain, harder to navigate. There are many hard questions with no easy answers. But it is reality. The ugliness might seem more cruel, but the beauty seen in colour is unmatched.
Most prayers are not really questions…and if we listen very closely, a prayer is often its own answer. …We pray because we are here - not to change the world, but to change ourselves. Because it is when we change ourselves…that the world is changed.
All kinds of weather are a grace, this life..this breath, it is a grace….
(via Old Soul)
