GENEralities

Part of a reading that happened to fall on the feast of my nativity this year:

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. (Ecc 9.11-12)

Verses which, I suspect, are not often cited by the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel folk. Real though. True. God’s Word, living and active. An astringent word for those of us who struggle with ambition and the hunger for success.

I love this guy. He’s the Monty Python of the biblical authors. Keeps us grounded.

It’s good to have made 63, by God’s amazing grace, with exactly the measure of swiftness, strength, wisdom, intelligence and knowledge He ordained for me. No more and no less. Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

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That N might listen to You and become a man/woman/people, a name, a praise and a glory. (Jer 13.11)

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Ash Wednesday, along with Good Friday, is a fast day.

Today, along with our brothers and sisters from Unity Lutheran Church and from All Saints and St Ambrose Anglican, us StB folk will gather at Unity Lutheran Church at 7pm to mark the beginning of Lent with the penitential sign of ashes.

There, we will be invited, in the name of the Lord, to observe a holy Lent by

• self-examination
• penitence
• prayer
• fasting
• almsgiving
• reading and meditating on the word of God.

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For myself:

Lord, today I turn my back on death and evil. Instead, I choose life and good that I and my children may live, loving you, the LORD my God and holding fast to you, for you are my life and length of days.

For others:

Lord, may N(&N) turn away from death and evil today. May she/he/they choose life and good that she/he/they and his/her/their children may live, loving you, the LORD his/her/their God and holding fast to you, for you are his/her/their life and length of days.

O, yes!!

Deuteronomy 30.15, 19

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When peaceful silence lay over all,
and night was in the midst of her swift course:
from your royal throne, O God, down from the heavens,
leapt your almighty Word.

The anthem around The Magnificat in Evening Prayer from the C of E’s Common Worship online. What a lovely image. Shades of The Song of Songs:

Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. (2:8)

Jesus, of course.

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I’m not even typing this one out. From Anthony Bloom in A Guide to Prayer Readings for Reflection recently.

Taken using my iPhone camera. Not bad.

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Rockies Light as Seen Through an iPhone

Re-entry today, home this afternoon.

Earlier this morning, watching the dawn come up over the Rockies, reading and praying. This caught my attention from Carlos Carretto’s I, Francis in A Guide to Prayer Readings for Reflection:

The Gospel taught me to place the emphasis on the mystery of the human being being more than on the duty of the human being. 343

How shall I do that in my baptism preparation?

The middle-class spirit, which is present to every age, and is known as selfishness, arrogance, pride, sensuality, idolatry, and slavery. 344

Bishop Mark: Gospel Based Discipleship

Our authority is the presence of Jesus in our midst (Mt 18.20). Bishop Mark called all groups to begin their meetings with a reading of the Gospel and the answering of three questions:

1. What stands out for you?
2. What do you hear God saying?
3. What is God calling you to do?

The readings are the eucharistic Gospel readings of the day.

When we come together in this way, the authority of Christ in our midst brings blessing and transformation. People have the opportunity to engage with Jesus in a direct, personal, unfiltered way.

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I’m on retreat at Mount St Francis in Cochrane, Alberta; my eighteenth Diocese of Calgary clergy retreat here. Other than in our worship and our retreat leader’s words (National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald) we are silent from just after lunch on Monday to after the Eucharist just before lunch on Thursday.

I love it.

Mind you, it isn’t really silent. It’s amazing how much noise we make even when we’re not speaking; footsteps seem heavy, whispers seem very loud, water runs, toilets flush, the retreat centre phone rings and is answered. But I don’t have to talk to anyone, even at meal time. I love it.

The only words I say are words of worship in the daily prayer and Eucharist.

I read and think and pray and write and listen. The silence makes room for the Lord to download some stuff if he wants. I don’t necessarily know what yet, but I know from experience that there’s new material aboard and it will pop up when I least expect it and at exactly the right time.

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Some BCP with Attitude!

H/T: Derek Hyland on FaceBook.

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This morning’s Readings for Reflection in A Guide to Prayer:

Our spiritual life is His affair; because, whatever we may think to the contrary, it is really produced by His steady attraction, and our humble and self-forgetful response to it. It consists in being drawn, at his pace and in His way, to the place where he wants us to be; not the place we fancied for ourselves.

…from The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill.

At Your pace and in Your way, to the place where You want me to be.

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