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Heschel’s Wonder-9/20/21

Prayer Begins Where Expression Ends

In a sense, prayer begins where expression ends. The words that reach our lips are often but waves of an overflowing stream touching the shore. We often seek and miss, struggle and fail to adjust our unique feelings to the patterns of texts. The soul can only intimate its persistent striving, the riddle of its unhappiness, the strain of living twixt hope and fear. Where is the tree that can utter fully the silent passion of the soul? Words can only open the door, and we can only weep on the threshold of our incommunicable thirst after the incomprehensible.

Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism

Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan -09/20/21

Spirituality: Looking for a Way Out

To pray is to recite holy words in sacred ways. When our words and our bodies become one in prayer, we celebrate with thanksgiving all that God has created. As part of that creation, we are part of the rhythms of the universe: a symphonic masterpiece of vitality. If we are trapped and are overwhelmed with commitments and time constraints, if we are depressed and overburdened with the cares of the world, we will miss the blessing of knowing this godly vitality. We become so desensitized that we then lose track of the seasons of our lives and take life itself for granted. With faithful prayer we experience time as energy, and life as fertile with many new creations, and death with the culmination of greatness, in the realm of physical life. Prayer becomes complete after we become quiet and listen for God. When we hear God, and we receive direction, love, and mercy. When we heed God, we respond with heightened level of accountability and praise. When we attend God, we know the Holy of Holies, we become sacred, we live in a more balanced life, and we give thanks.

The Undivided Soul

For Week of September 20, 2021

WEEKLY DEVOTION – September 20, 2021

“This prayer was part of a series of young King’s radio broadcasts from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, uttered during the period from July 5 to September 6, 1953. The prayer actually reveals something of the influence of the Social Gospel on King, the Boston University graduate student. That influence had been strikingly evident in his writings since the fall of 1948, when he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and perhaps even earlier.”

 

“A New Earth in Which Dwells Righteousness”

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Our loving Father, from Thy hand have come all the days of the past. To Thee we look for whatever good the future holds. We are not satisfied with the world as we have found it. It is too little the kingdom of God as yet. Grant us the privilege of a part in its regeneration. We are looking for a new earth in which dwells righteousness. It is our prayer that we may be children of light, the kind of people for whose coming and ministry the world is waiting. Amen.

 

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

(“Thou, Dear God”: Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits, The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

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Today’s Manna

WEEKLY DEVOTION – Sept 20, 2021

Today’s Manna

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

True prayers are born out of present trials and needs. Bread received today is the strongest pledge that there will be bread tomorrow. We must trust God today and leave tomorrow entirely with Him. The present is ours; the future belongs to God.

As every day demands its bread, so every day demands its prayer. No amount of praying done today will be sufficient for tomorrow’s praying.

Today’s manna is what we need; tomorrow God will see that our needs are supplied. This is the faith that God seeks to inspire. So leave tomorrow with its cares and troubles in God’s hands.

Dear God, please help me to trust You for today’s needs and to leave tomorrow entirely in Your hands. I know You will provide. Amen.

(The Power of Prayer, E.M. Bounds)

A Sense of Presence

THURMAN’S CORNER – 9/20/21

A Sense of Presence

 

Do I believe in God? Again and again, I ask myself the question. It is a searching query and one that cannot be answered by a “snap” reply, whether it be negative or positive. A belief is a thing upon which a man may stake his life and practice, to the extent that the object of one’s belief has to do with that which is central to one’s life.

Deep is the Hunger

An Answer of the Whole Person

THURMAN’S CORNER – 9/13/21

An Answer of the Whole Person

 

It is either short-sighted or vainglorious to assume that self-expression as such is the supreme goal of prayer. The supreme goal of prayer is to express God, to discover the self in relation to God.

 

Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism

Heschel’s Wonder-9/13/21

An Answer of the Whole Person

It is either short-sighted or vainglorious to assume that self-expression as such is the supreme goal of prayer. The supreme goal of prayer is to express God, to discover the self in relation to God.

Quest for God: Studies in Prayer and Symbolism

Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan -09/13/21

Spirituality: Looking for a Way Out

Life has so many faces: expressions of delight and disdain, elegance and errors. Sometimes we get trapped into focusing on outer appearances, external trappings, and acquired goods as indicators of beauty, status, and self-esteem. Things make us comfortable but ultimately do not make us happy. Part of having a balanced life, wherein one easily experiences the sacred in new ways, is to look for inner beauty and strength. One can also set priorities and focus on those goals that lead one to experiencing life as ministry.

The Undivided Soul

For Week of September 13, 2021

WEEKLY DEVOTION – September 13, 2021

This week let us pray for the Kingdom of God to come in our hearts, our homes and in our world. May this prayer inspire your prayers for the coming of the Kingdom.

 

When we’re down and helpless,

when lies are reigning,

when fear and indifference are growing,

may your kingdom come.

When joy is missing,

when love is missing,

and unbelief is growing,

may your kingdom come.

To those who are sick and lonely,

to those who are imprisoned and tortured,

may your kingdom come.

Into the churches,

into our praying,

into our singing,

may your kingdom come.

Into our hearts,

into our hands, into our eyes,

may your kingdom come. Soon! Amen.

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The Love of God

WEEKLY DEVOTION – Sept 13, 2021

“The Love of God”

 

It is important every now and then to conduct your own refresher course on the meaning of God’s love for you. John 3:16 is an excellent place to start.

 

In the third chapter, the story is told of Jesus’s encounter with a leader of the Jewish ruling council and an inquisitive seeker, who comes to him at night. Following an exhaustive interchange about the new birth experience, John’s gospel records the words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

The first thing we learn is that the Lord is the greatest actor in the story of love as new life is brought to all who will come to him, not matter what. The entire world is included, that means you and me regardless of any other considerations. We can rest assured that God relates to this world through love. Then we see that this love is more than just kind thoughts and words it also is expressed in loving action. God gave, the best he had, his Son Jesus Christ.

 

This sacrificial love is the foundation of life without condemnation and life with God which lasts an eternity. This message of love is transformative and inspirational for us today. No matter what our human experiences, strengths or weaknesses, failures, needs or desires, God’s love will see us through. We need only to believe.

 

Dear Lord, thank you for your undying love for me expressed through the cross and confirmed by your Word. May my life reflect your love and may I demonstrate your love toward others. Amen

Dumas Alexander Harshaw, Jr.

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