Lenten Study – Palm Sunday

ERADICATE BLAME

We spend a lot of time wondering who can accept the blame for our own, or other people’s misfortunes. But Jesus didn’t allow us to solve our own problems or the mistakes of others. Instead Jesus challenges us to discern in our darkest times, to look for the “Light of God.” During these times, we are most likely to see that God will reveal His work in us. It is very likely, that if we can move beyond blaming, to proclaiming the works of God, we will experience a radically “new life.” All of humanity has its challenges and its problems, but do we chose to live them as occasions to blame others, or as opportunities to witness God at work in our lives.

Read: John 9:1-5

Prayer

My God, the big and little misfortunes in life, and those of others, provide habits for blaming. We humbly ask for your refuge and your help, to strip these times away from us and our using of blame to cope. Challenge us to move beyond the “blame game” and to understand that these difficult times are beyond our control. Teach us to realize and to clearly see these events, as fruitful opportunities for us to grow in Faith and Love.

God is with you…. to do hard work in your life. Can you finally see this in your own life?

A M E N 

Lenten Study – Second Sunday – Day 12

Bringing Pain Home

Pain can run deep in us. Amazingly….it won’t just go away. We are all called to “bring our pain home.” If your wounds remain pushed down and foreign to your true adult self, your pain will injure not only you, but others as well. We all have to incorporate our past pain into “ourself” and let it bear fruit in our heart…..and the hearts of others.

So examine you pain because this is the very essence of why Jesus asks us to take up our cross. Accept and embrace your own unique suffering. Trust that this will become the way to the salvation of your soul. So the taking up of your own cross means becoming a friend of your own wounds and let them show you….. your own truth.

This is a powerful realization of course. Once we bring our pain home, we can rest in your salvation with Jesus Christ.

Our Scripture: Mark 8:34-37

Prayer

My Father God I bring you praise this Sunday Sabbath morning, and I thank you this sunny and beautiful day, because in Jesus Christ I have your assurance of salvation. Your death on the cross and resurrection allow the door to be opened to me, to share in life everlasting. Please help me to take up my crosses and keep my pain “at home” so that my life may be a living sign of your love.

 

•• AMEN ••

Lenten Study – Sabbath Sunday – Day 5

The Gift of Friendship

Do you really know yourself? Do you know your weak spot, do you know what you want to be. Do you know what your goals are? What motivates and drives you?  Are these answers something you think about, or are they in your mind….but you reserve them as the hidden parts of “you.”

Its not a bad thing to have our own hidden consciousness.  Our friends and especially those who love us, can see our “hidden zone” better than we can sometimes. It’s quite normal to be seen and understood by others, and it’s often different than the way we see ourselves. Do you have a hidden place in your heart that you yourself cannot see?
Having parts of ourselves that are known only to us, is a very good thing. Treasure your “twilight zone.”

The Value of Friendship

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Prayer

Father God take my poor offering of friendship and keep me mindful every day during Lent, to walk along your side to the miracle of Easter and your resurrection. Help me to accept my weaknesses and my flaws that You and others can see in me. My heartfelt plea now, is that you will lift me up when I fall, and help me to reach for your loving hand and accept your forgiveness. Help me with my sins and my doubts, so that they don’t rob me of joy in my life. Help me to silently salute each person I meet today, and let me greet them with your loving kindness. And as you encourage me….help me to cheer on my “others.”

AMEN

Today is my Sabbath Sunday….

…. in silence now…. with Gods rays of sunshine, the smell of the coming of seasonal spring air, the new color of daylight, the tiny new buds I see on trees and bushes, the wind bringing a front of warmer air, and the sound of birds close by, as I am in mindful “Rest.” It’s my way of coming down to earth. Grounding myself….post winter.  Looking forward to a “new spring” with all of its promise. I calm my heart… my body my mind and my spirit and place myself in your everlasting arms of love.

Prayer

My Father God…..I am in your presence and in your Holy Spirit. I am bathing in your cleansing of my sin…for I am sorry for having offended or forgotten thee. I am accepting your forgiveness. I accept new permissions from You to clasp on to a deeper spiritual renewal with You. Praise be to you my only Father God. I now humble myself in great gratitude for your forgiving and all nurturing grace. Thank you Jesus…..Amen

Psalm  46:10

”Be still and know that I am God.”

Advent/Sabbath Sunday..a Study..Day 22

BETRAYAL

Parker Palmer a spiritual writer of the Quaker tradition, says that community is the place where the person you least want to live with….always lives.

Community is not a place where you love each other warmly, freely and affectionately. Community is actually where you are cleansed, where your love is tested. It is a place where your “Child of God” is put through the real challenge of human relationships. So….in reality community is a place where Judas sometimes lives….and sometimes it is you also. 

Matthew 10:1-4

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles; first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddarus; Simon the  Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 

PRAYER

Lord I accept your journey of living, loving and serving in community as a necessary membership in humanity. I understand that my church, my family and my neighborhood  is my path, where I will find You in humanness along with imperfections, especially my own.

 

*AMEN *

…..this Sabbath Day I light the candles of peace, hope, joy and Love….

Advent…a Study…SUN – Day 8

COMPASSION REQUIRES SOLIDARITY

Compassion makes us “die” to others; to our neighbors and our brothers. No need to measure your compassion and kindness to others, just be compassionate and don’t worry about how much you give out.  Just give. Don’t judge or measure their worthiness.  You give by being compassionate. One might say, be willing to die to “self” for the sake of others.

• •••••••••• •

Luke 6:37-38

JUDGING OTHERS

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned, Forgive, and you will be forgiven, give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

PRAYER

My compassionate and every loving Father in heaven….give us compassion, so that any harsh behaviors or feelings we might possess, will be overcome by the spirit of a giving heart. As we know you are present in every human being, so help deliver us from our own seeds of harsh judgement. We must not let this prevent us from being with “the other.” Grant to us…your compassionate spirit throughout all the days of our lives. In Jesus holy and previous name we pray.

AMEN

….and now we illuminate the “peace and hope” candles.

 

My Sabbath Day

Dec 4 Luke 2:7

AWAY IN A MANGER

“And she gave birth to her first born Son; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger…”

▶︎ LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL

“Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head…” It’s a warm, tender hymn that’s a favorite from our childhood. But we run into trouble when we try to keep Jesus in the manger. We can handle a Holy Infant that we celebrate a few weeks out of the year. After all, a baby makes no demands. But when Baby Jesus leaves the manger and becomes the “grown up” Jesus who wants to rule and reign in our hearts, we have trouble with that. We must never forget that the manger sits in the shadow of the cross. Yes, there’s a time to celebrate the Babe of Bethlehem, but we must let Jesus outgrow the manger and become the Savior on Mt. Calvary. So I ask you – Where is Jesus today? Is He “away in a manger,” or is He alive in your heart? My Sabbath Prayer Dear Jesus, I accept thee into my heart, my soul and into my whole being this Sabbath morning. My heart is full of You. Thank you for my long life, my many blessings and my relationship with you. Amen

Do You Stand Out and Stand Up

Sunday Nov 20

Philippians 2:13

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

▶︎ LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL

If you and I were jerked out of the world, would we leave a noticeable hole? Would anything be missing from the world that would stand for God in Christ or His righteousness? God did not create us to merely exist. He wants to make a difference in this world through your life and mine. You see, God made us to stand out and to stand up for Him, and He equips us with everything we need to do just that. So take time to thank God for the work He is doing in you and look for ways you can work for His good pleasure by being a blessing to others. Prayer…..Sunday Evening  My Lord…. Teach me  I wish to be a blessing to others. I do this in one way, and that’s working in my folks gardens. I take my iPhone and my speaker with me to my client job sites. I find my favorite music soundtrack and I listen to what I refer to as “your music.” Your music is prayer, it is spiritual, it is worship, it is my time with you. Most often my clients will come out to “catch up” with me as I tend their gardens. When they are chatting with me they sometimes ask me about my beautiful music. I know it stands out. They hear it. It is intentional in some ways, and yet it’s really your music that keeps  me steadfast, grounded and faithful and close to you. I am then Faithful to my tasks for my clients.  Sometimes they acknowledge my music. Sometimes they do not. It’s fine. You are with me, you are in me and so together we are opening doors, we are opening hearts and we are building and nurturing souls one client at a time. You are making a difference in me and them, through your life and mine together in my gardens. Yes Lord….we are nurturing souls. Thank you Lord for your songs. Amen……

My Sabbath Sunday

How Great Thou Art

 

Oh Lord, my God

When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art,

……how great Thou art.

My Prayer For SUNDAY

Oh Lord My God, thou art gracious, kind and loving. You are always there for me….always watching over me. All I need do is call your name, Jesus…..my Lord and my Savior God you are my steadfast love. The birds of the air are everywhere and you are watching over them as well. Assurance to know that no matter what comes my way…. You are there to bless me, to catch me if I fall, to love me with a greater love than I can possibly imagine. So when trials or difficulties come, all I need to do is connect with you. All I need to do is to call out your name Jesus, confess my sin and vow to follow you as my Savior God, and you will find me and save me. How great thou art!

I once was lost….but now I am found.

Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Good Morning……

……Gardening Friends, 

I will be around to water and tidy (assuming your spigot has not been turned off) and if it has, and you are up to it …..you can pass me containers of water to put around your plants/bushes. I think only two of you have the freeze-free spigot.

I’m just coming later this morning because I’m waiting for “mother natures” sun/warmth, and hopefully the wind might die down a bit.

I’m also trying to be respectful of our “Sunday “ relax time/sleep in” resident neighbors.

Ill txt upon arrival.

Thank you so much!

“CONTESSA”