A few headlines catching my attention tonight...
US Girl Burnt in Voodoo Ritual
Huge Blaze Leaves One Dead After CN Train Derails Near Chicago
UN Calls for Peru Clash Probe
Saturday, June 20, 2009
We treasure what you end...
I read this prayer by Walter Bruggemann this morning, and it touched me deeply. Particularly the lines about being of two minds - treasuring what is ending and fearing the new things God is bringing. And yet, my heart, as with this prayer, cries out to trust God still...
"We treasure what you end"
We confess that we are set this day in the midst
of your awesome, awful work.
We will, because we have no alternative,
be present this day
to your dreadful work of termination.
We watch while you pull down
and dismantle
that with which you are finished.
We will, because we have no alternative,
be present this day
to your dream-filled work
of evoking,
imagining,
forming,
and inviting.
We are double-minded in your presence,
because we treasure what you end
and we fear what you conjure -
but we are your people
and trust you all this day
in your awesome,
awful work.
Override our reluctance
and take us with you
in justice
and mercy
and peace.
Take us with you in your overriding,
that our day may be a day of joy
and well-being
and newness
from your very hand.
In the name of your decisive newness,
even Jesus. Amen.
"We treasure what you end"
We confess that we are set this day in the midst
of your awesome, awful work.
We will, because we have no alternative,
be present this day
to your dreadful work of termination.
We watch while you pull down
and dismantle
that with which you are finished.
We will, because we have no alternative,
be present this day
to your dream-filled work
of evoking,
imagining,
forming,
and inviting.
We are double-minded in your presence,
because we treasure what you end
and we fear what you conjure -
but we are your people
and trust you all this day
in your awesome,
awful work.
Override our reluctance
and take us with you
in justice
and mercy
and peace.
Take us with you in your overriding,
that our day may be a day of joy
and well-being
and newness
from your very hand.
In the name of your decisive newness,
even Jesus. Amen.
Ongoing themes...
The same things have been popping up over and over again in my life the last few weeks. Variations on only a very few themes. In the places in my heart that the books I've been reading and listening to touch. In the conversations I've had. In the things that have caused my heart to ache, or the moments when I've felt profoundly out of place.
I'll be sitting later this morning with a journal, working through just a few of the most recent of those variations on the themes.
It always surprises me to find life deeply, fully, weirdly interconnected. To find how few themes seem to underlay the many moments that make up my days.
And so, I'll work through more of those moments in writing later, and share them with a few dear friends to garner other thoughts and prayers and aid the process of processing. To gather sight from outside my field of vision.
But, just in this moment, I need to change from my pajamas, do something about my hair and get ready to head out the door. My roommate and I are going to try a new crepe restaurant. We've been meaning to try it for months as a celebration of sorts. The moment we were celebrating came and went nearly a month and a half ago, but is still an excellent excuse to have an indulgent breakfast, followed by a bit of shopping.
I'll be sitting later this morning with a journal, working through just a few of the most recent of those variations on the themes.
It always surprises me to find life deeply, fully, weirdly interconnected. To find how few themes seem to underlay the many moments that make up my days.
And so, I'll work through more of those moments in writing later, and share them with a few dear friends to garner other thoughts and prayers and aid the process of processing. To gather sight from outside my field of vision.
But, just in this moment, I need to change from my pajamas, do something about my hair and get ready to head out the door. My roommate and I are going to try a new crepe restaurant. We've been meaning to try it for months as a celebration of sorts. The moment we were celebrating came and went nearly a month and a half ago, but is still an excellent excuse to have an indulgent breakfast, followed by a bit of shopping.
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