Shook up

20 May 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

After they prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking God’s word with confidence. ~Acts 4:31 (CEB)

“In all your experience of Christ, it is wisest for you to stay away from any set form, or pattern, or way. Instead, be wholly given up to the leading of the Holy Spirit. By following your spirit, every encounter you have with the Lord is one that is perfect. . .  no matter what the encounter is like.” ~From Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon

I get so locked into a schedule that I set for myself. How often have I missed out on God’s leading because I was focused on what I thought I should be doing?

Heavenly Father, help me this day to be led more by the Holy Spirit. Guide me in the direction that You would have me take for this day. Amen.

Awareness

18 May 2013 Leave a comment

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It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. ~Isa. 25:9 (NRSV)

“God is the one who teaches to listen and pray. We must pray for the gift and pray for the gift to be taught. They say that mature writers have ‘found their voice.’ I think we need to ‘find our ear’ –our best way of recognizing God’s voice, knowing that, once we have found our ear, God may decide to speak in a different language.

Some people simply cannot listen to God in scripture. Some find God most readily in music or in the outdoors. Contemplation in the Jesuit understanding is paying attention to the reality of God. Whether God be in scripture, music, the other person, or in nature. Whenever we get beyond our own small preoccupations, whenever we have some degree of self-transcendence, whenever we are aware of the reality of God, contemplation has begun. If you are absolutely unable to find God in your Bible, go outside, listen to music, do whatever you do that puts you in touch with Something More.” ~From Spiritual Awakening by John Ackerman

You have started my heart to beating, given me eyes to see, set my feet in motion… Help me to love You more dearly, see you more clearly follow You more nearly this day, O Lord. Amen.

Ordinary sacredness

11 May 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , , ,

What do workers gain from all their hard work? I have observed the task that God has given human beings. God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there’s nothing better for them but to enjoy themselves and do what’s good while they live. Moreover, this is the gift of God: that all people should eat, drink, and enjoy the results of their hard work. ~Eccl. 3:9-13

It is easy to overlook everyday life and everyday experiences and think that there is nothing special to them. They are just ordinary. But even in the ordinariness of life I can find sacred moments. Letting a dog out for a friend, “refueling” my son with a hug, coffee with a friend or a walk with my husband can all be sacred moments. Joan Puls in her book, Every Bush is Burning recognizes these moments in her life too.

“I feel an urgency at this stage of my life to name the human expressions and vivid manifestations of our life in the Spirit. I believe that nothing human is foreign to the Spirit, that the Spirit embraces all. Our mundane experiences contain all the stuff of holiness and of human growth in grace. Our world is rife with messages and signatures of the Spirit. Our encounters with one another are potential sites of the awakening and energizing that characterize the Spirit. But the light that shines through the tiny chinks and the dusty panes of our daily lives. We are too busy to name the event that is blessed in its ordinariness, holy in its uniqueness, and grace-filled in its underlying challenge.”

Heavenly Father, help me to see the sacredness of everyday life. Help me to see the simple encounters with others as moments with you. May I not be too busy to see the blessings You send my way today. Amen.

Sacred spaces and places

08 May 2013 Leave a comment

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Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you? If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy, which is what you are. ~1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (CEB)

A Sanctuary is a sacred space where heaven and earth meet. Our minds may automatically go to a church or shrine as a meeting place for God but we are promised that Christ lives in each of our hearts when we accept him as our Lord and Savior. So that means that I don’t have to go anywhere to be in the same space with God.

Thomas Kelly in book “A Testament of Devotion” says this, “Deep within us there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continually return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. . . . It is a Light Within that illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the human face. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. . . . Here is the Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.”

As I rise to meet this day ahead Lord, it gives me strength to know that You will be as close to me as my heart. Where I go, You will go. I need not fear this day. I only need to remember to tap into the courage that already lives in my heart. Amen.

With the eyes of a child

07 May 2013 Leave a comment

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People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would bless them. But the disciples scolded them. When Jesus saw this, he grew angry and said to them, “Allow the children to come to me. Don’t forbid them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people like these children.  I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.” Then he hugged the children and blessed them. ~Mark 10:13-16 (CEB)

“One of Jesus’ favorite visual aids is a child. Every time the disciples get into head games, he puts a child in front of them. He says the only people who can recognize and be ready for what he’s talking about are the ones who come with the mind and heart of a child. It’s the same reality as the beginner’s mind. The older we get, the more we’ve been betrayed and hurt and disappointed, the more barriers we put up to beginners mind. It’s so hard to go back, to be vulnerable, to say to your soul, ‘I don’t know anything.’” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

Heavenly Father, it is so hard to leave behind hurts and disappointments. It is hard to not see the world around me through the experiences I have gone through. Tear down all my barriers today O Lord. Help me to be more vulnerable so that I am able to view the world through Your eyes. Amen.

Gone fishing

03 May 2013 Leave a comment

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So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. ~Hebrews 12:1-2 (CEB)

“Human beings are ambivalent toward holiness. We are drawn toward those qualities exemplified by a St. Francis or by a Mother Teresa, or by communities who witness to the gospel under severe persecution. Yet we find such qualities disturbing, too far removed from the way we must live our daily lives. Something deep within our existence create a restlessness for God, yet we live and move and work in a culture of technology. Efficiency, and the tyranny of the literal. The hunger for holiness coexists uneasily with the practical atheism of our way of life. Still, the deepest language of the Christian biblical tradition claims that the created world itself already reflects the goodness and recreation. The time and place where these tensions intersect is the gathered church at worship.” ~From “Sanctifying Time, Place and People” by Don E. Saliers in The Weavings Reader

Heavenly Father, may You not find me oblivious this day to the things You would have me to do. Direct my focus towards You. May each step I take be in line with Your will for my life. Amen.

Realignment

02 May 2013 Leave a comment

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“I called out to the LORD in my distress, and he answered me. From the belly of the underworld I cried out for help; you have heard my voice. ~Jon. 2:2 (CEB)

“It is, I believe, this discovery of our own radical powerlessness for good and potential for evil that causes us to be identified with the crucified Christ. The details vary for each individual: they may concern the governance of one’s own life, bringing up one’s family or one’s work for the Church. Instead of being filled with the power of the Spirit we find ourselves empty and resourceless, victims of our own weakness and quiet possible, the objects of others’ disapproval. Generally one’s first solution is to work harder, trying to demonstrate competence. The situation deteriorates further. What we need to do is take the powerlessness as a basic premise, and use this as a fulcrum to lift our hearts in prayer toward God.” ~From Toward God by Michael Casey

Life happens. My best laid plans, my best organizational skills sometimes fail me and I find myself in over my head. I was prepared but then life knocked my feet out from underneath me…  one of “those days I tried my best and yet failed.” Now I find myself just trying to pick up the pieces and get through the day.

Today Lord, I find myself out of energy. I turn to You in this moment, to the Source of my energy. Fill me up again Lord so that I may continue to run the course. Amen.

Among the tensions and uncertainties

01 May 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , ,

So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up,  and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. ~Hebrews 12:12 (CEB)

“Those who have gone before us have left a clear witness: We may seek God or we may seek ease, but we cannot seek both. The road we travel is anything but easy. It is true that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives, but it is equally true that the plan is often fraught with tension and uncertainty, and with emotional, spiritual, and physical pain.” ~From Seeking the Face of God by Gary Thompson

It is in these tensions and uncertainties that if I look close enough, I can see the Face of God.

Almighty God, You have sent Jesus to show me how to live. Grant me the power of Your Holy Spirit so that I may follow in faithfulness all the days of my life. May I see the tensions and uncertainties of life as moments to get a glimpse of You working in my life. Amen.

Called out

12 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

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Later, Jesus himself appeared again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. This is how it happened: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.”

They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus.

Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”

They answered him, “No.”

He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”

So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they weren’t far from shore, only about one hundred yards.

When they landed, they saw a fire there, with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve just caught.” Simon Peter got up and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three of them. Yet the net hadn’t torn, even with so many fish. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples could bring themselves to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. ~John 21:1-14 (CEB)

“For those who profess and call themselves Christians, the lens through which everything else is interpreted is a person: Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. Just as the lover never plumbs the mystery of the beloved, so we do not exhaust the mystery of Jesus. This, at first, seems a strange claim. But it is not less extraordinary that contemporary ‘messiahs, saviors, and gurus’ possess the consciousness of modern men and women . . . . A walk on a Saturday evening through the streets of a busy city reveals what models, exemplars, paradigms are operating in the lives of the people.

We cannot do without a paradigm to help us live. As a believer, I keep bumping into Jesus. I wander away, and there he is, perhaps in the eyes of someone on the street. There is no escape for me. Nor do I want there to be.” ~From Soul Making by Alan W. Jones

Almighty God, in every age You have called out men and women to be Your faithful servants. Be with me this day as You call me to join in the work of Your hands. Grant me this day and always a clear vision of Your call and strength to fulfill the ministry assigned to me. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Come on down

10 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by jennifermcintyreblog in Devotions Tags: , , , , , , ,

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” . . . Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” ~Luke 19:5, 9-10

“All spiritual disciplines are to help you trust this personal experience of yourself, which is, not surprisingly, also an experience of God. People are usually amazed that the two experiences coincide: when we know God, we seem to know and accept our own humanity; we also meet God. We don’t have any real access to who we are except through God, and we don’t have any real access to God except through forgiving and rejoicing in our own humanity.” ~From Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr

Jesus came into the world to call me down out of the tree of observation. It takes a meeting with Jesus to find our true selves. In our search for ourselves we find that only through God can we realize who we really are and begin to value our uniqueness. With everything that God created He claimed it “good”. He knew my name before I was conceived. God knew me in my mother’s womb. As He watched my heart beating He declared me beautiful.

Almighty Father, I thank You for sending Jesus into the world to call be down out of that observation tree to a full life of community. Help me to reach out to others this day. May I show the same patience and serenity that I have been shown. Amen.

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