Month: May 2020

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-21). Often at Pentecost we concentrate on the power of the wind that swept in,  the power of the Holy Spirit that caused people to speak in other tongues, or we focus on Pentecost as a foundational event in the life of the Christian church. Another focus to consider is the power of the Holy Spirit to transcend difference. After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a large crowd began to gather outside. In that crowd were Jews and people from many nations: Greeks, Arabs, Romans, Africans, and more. Each of the people in the crowd could understand the conversation in the upper room in their own language. On that day, the Holy Spirit transcended multiple layers of differences to accomplish God’s many purposes.

Where do you witness the power of the Holy Spirit transcending differences? What are barriers that you can name that cause separation? What are the costs? As we anticipate Pentecost may we be bold to pray that the Holy Spirit will transform our hearts and minds. May the Holy Spirit reveal to us in deeper ways, God’s many purposes and may we be strengthened to join in God’s mission.

        Holding you in prayer, Kara

This week’s reflection comes from Delores Schwartzentruber, one of the Elders of WMC.

To begin today’s reflection I have a story to share.  Visiting my mother-in-law Martha, on speaker phone from the sidewalk  as we looked at one another through her window of her apartment, she shared some of her struggles after returning from hospital and being in the middle of 14 days of quarantine.  She told me how the other day, feeling particularly low, she had  reached for a blank lined book that she had in her possession and felt she should write down some of her feelings.  There in the front of the book she discovered  a small square piece of paper written by her late husband Gerald. It was a reflection of his feelings with words of comfort and assurance of how the Lord provides for our needs. These words felt like they were raining down on me from above as the raindrops were starting to literally rain down.  Martha received exactly what she needed when she read his words. I stood in the rain of this holy moment and thanked God for his marvelous presence.   

What are your stories of God’s comfort and assurance at a time when you needed it? Did they come at a time or form that surprised you? How do we open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to feel and be attentive to his loving care?  What holy moments have you been attentive to in these days of physical distancing and isolation? While it might be easy to see God in the midst of extraordinary circumstances, it is sometimes difficult to detect him in the ordinary events of our lives.  But that is exactly where you and I live.  Wherever you are God is with you.

 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37: 4-5)

Let us Pray:  Give us the eyes to see, the ears to listen, the heart to feel, and the hands and  legs to join in your good work.  May we be attentive to all the blessings you rain down on each one of us even in unexpected ways.  May we be ready and expectant to be surprised even in the ordinary events of our lives. Amen

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” (Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison, and Henri J. M. Nouwen, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (New York: Image Books, 1983), 3-4.  

Joyce Rupp in her book Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life suggests that in today’s society it often seems as if cruelty is more extensive than kindness. Would you agree with Rupp’s assertion?  Where do you bear witness to compassion? How are you met with compassion?  

Broken, wounded, violent, divisive, fearful – these are some descriptors of our current global situation. Our world stands in desperate need of compassion – for compassion to be activated. The world and our wounds will not heal without it. Rupp writes, “Only with compassion at the core of humanity’s lived experience will we be able to approach one another with true respect and dwell in peacefulness.”

Let us pray:  Give us compassion and humility in our hearts O God. Let us be kind, gentle, generous, loving, and giving wherever we go. Amen.

Holding you in prayer as God enfolds us with compassion,   

Kara

Friends,

What have you been noticing around home these past weeks? During this pandemic when many of us are spending far more time at home as we self-isolate what are you seeing with fresh eyes? Perhaps its birds at the feeder. Perhaps you have a deeper appreciation for growing and living things outdoors. While spotted windows and cob webs may catch our attention, consider the  sights that cause you to pause and reflect. One of our neighbours has been pruning fruit trees over the past weeks. I’ve noticed the gentle tending of branches, crucial spring work to promote a bountiful crop of fruit.

In John 15 we read “I am the vine, and my Father in the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” (John 15: 1-2,4-5)

What spiritual practices enable you to abide in God?. What practices deepen your awareness to God’s loving presence, God’s yearnings, God’s invitation? The Quaker tradition values silence. Indeed, worship often includes 1 hour of communal silence. Does music draw you into the presence of God? A walk in nature? Deep breathing? Journalling?

As we journey deeply into this unknown season and dwell in the liminal space between an ending and a new beginning, may we strive to abide in God. May God nourish our spirits. May God reveal to us that which needs pruning. May God’s Spirit enliven us with new growth as God continues to shape and form us as the people of God. 

Let us pray:

Lord of the

one true

Vine,

in you we

live and move

and have our being.

We are your branches

spindly and slight and fragile.

Prune us,

though gently.

We want to bear more 

of your fruit. Amen

(adapted by Anne Osdieck)

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!Uplifted by the promised hope of healing and resurrection, we join with the people of God in all times and all places praying for our needs, those of the world, and the church: 

May healing continue to be gentle. Let us pray for comfort and peace in the coming weeks in order to determine next steps. We hold in prayer those with ongoing health concerns and the vulnerable.
Let us continue to pray for all those who grieve. The grief journey is complicated when we are not able to gather as a community. May God’s comfort be wide and deep, holding us all.
We pray for all our long-term care residents. We also pray for all front-line and essential workers. May they be well-protected, kept safe, and encouraged. For parents who are juggling home-schooling, working from home, and uncertainty, may peace abound. 
Let us pray for comfort and good recovery. Health crises are compounded these days when loved ones can not gather around.  May peace and strength and hope prevail.  
For our needs, fears, concerns, and for all suffering due to Covid 19, we offer our prayers in the strong name of Jesus.

Happy Birthday to all!         

Entrusting all of our prayers to the wide embrace of God love Lord hear our prayers. Amen.