Sunday January 10: Coming Out of The Water

[link to full email]: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-jan10

[excerpt from email]: “We spend a lot of time in the Christian church talking about God’s love for sinners, but we sure do go to a lot of trouble not to be mistaken for one of them … Only Jesus – our leader and our Lord – did not seem too concerned about that. In him, God’s being-with-us included God’s being in the river with us, in the flesh with us, in the sorrow of repentance and the joy of new life with us.” – Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way

To Practice: Today’s session affirms that God is with us no matter what may come. Is there an affirmation, active prayer sentence or other practice that helps you remember this in daily life?

At times, I do not feel God is presence. Confusion, frustration, anger, fear swirl within me – and around me. Contemplative practices and communities stabilize me. And I have always found walking alone among trees helpful.

I agree, Carolyn.  I, too, find walking among trees helpful.  For over 20 years, I live way up in the mountains at about 9,000 feet and would walk a short distance from my home through old forests in all kinds of weather. Since I now live in more of a city, the scenery is different but I still have the opportunity to walk near trees and sometimes even seek out a few favorites. I have actually put the palm of my hand on one particular tree nearby many times as a kind of respectful gesture. I am a little embarrassed when I do this and usually it’s only at night when I hope no one can see me. The bark on this tree is huge and the cracks are several inches deep. Sometimes doing this seems like like a sacred step toward something I don’t understand but I sense is there. Maybe it’s similar to learning to honor and trust so much of the Unknown.

It sounds like it is. Thank you

Inner prayer is still going on in me after our Centering Prayer session this morning…I sense the Light at the end of the tunnel in all the darkness we have experienced this week.  The reading and sharing of Jesus always with us, even in the muddy water…reminds me that the Light is always with me and I have to remember to open to that as an invitation to God too.  As in the possible barbaric possibility of an execution today, it is hard to accept there be any Presence of God in the situation. I am forgetting God calls us to open our beautiful tender hearts to goodness in all.  Thank you for the gift of words, silence, and all the experiental wisdom sharing.

Today we are reminded that the Jesus  of history and the Christ of all time join us in the waters of our lives. As we recall the frightening events of January 6, we trust that we are not alone in these murky waters of our country. Although the violent acts were not committed by all of us, we must admit that we each share the guilt. Each of us has muddied the waters of our communal lives. We have not always abided by the public guidelines meant to protect the vulnerable among us. We have failed to speak out  against our civil and religious institutions when they have remained silent in the face of racism, poverty and white privilege. So, let us stand together in thus murky water, asking for forgiveness and for the waters of new life. And listen to that voice – both from afar and from wi<u>thin, “You are my beloved”. </u>

Sunday, January 10, 2021 – Coming Out of the Water

Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?” has been one of my active prayer sentences for decades. I hold fast to God’s promise of love for us. <3 linda

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