Reflection for June 23, 2010

Psalm 139

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;
are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

You know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and

wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Reflection for June 16, 2010

Holy as a Day is Spent

Holy is the dish and drain

The soap and sink, and the cup and plate

Warm wool socks, the cold white tile

Showerheads and good dry towels

And frying eggs sound like psalms

With bits of salt measured in my palm

It’s all a part of a sacrament

As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the busy street

And cars that boom with passion’s beat

And the checkout girl counting change

The hands that shook my hands today

And hymns of geese fly overhead

And spread their wings like their parents did.

Blessed be the dog, that runs in her sleep

To chase some wild, elusive thing

Holy is the familiar room

The quiet moments in the afternoon

And folding sheets like folding hands

To pray as only laundry can

I’m letting go of all I fear

Like autumn leaves made of earth and air.

For the summer came and the summer went

As holy as the day is spent

Holy is the place I stand

To give whatever small good I can

The empty page, the open book

Redemption everywhere I look

Unknowingly we slow our pace

In the shade of unexpected grace

And with grateful smiles and sad lament

As holy as the day is spent

And morning light sings “Providence”

As holy as a day is spent

-Carrie Newcomer

(From the CD: A Gathering of Spirits)

Reflection for June 9, 2010

In a game of cards or tennis there may come a moment when you

see you cannot possibly win. The same can happen with your hope

of a happy marriage or a brilliant career. Can you go on playing still,

with no expectation of a win? Play not for the victory, though you have

to strive for that, but for the game itself. Playing is a form of worship.

John Donne and George Herbert were ambitious men. Both hoped

to serve the state in some high capacity. Both were disappointed.

Both became clergymen. A cynic might conclude that they had settled

for a second best. But can a second best turn out better than the first?

Can defeat be met in such a way that it yields a greater prize than victory?

Most of us are destined to failure, which is a form of suffering. How to

use our suffering, how to turn the lead of our defeat into the gold of

something else, is the object of religious alchemy. Not the only one, but

one that most of us are interested in.

Sydney Carter, Dance in the Dark

Reflection for June 2, 2010

Good Judgement comes from Experience;

Experience comes from Bad Judgement