Illustration for the Widow's Mite

Sermon title: Enough

Source: http://www.bobperks.com/wish.htm

I Wish You Enough

Speaker Bob Perks was at an airport when he overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her departure and standing near the security gate, they hugged and he said, "I love you. I wish you enough." She in turn said, "Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy."

They kissed and she left. He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

... Read the rest at the website.

Kittens!

Kittens!

Kitten pictures

Princess and "Mini-me"

The last couple days of pregnancy. She was very large. Much larger than any other pregnant cat I've ever seen.

The reason why -- she had 9 kittens. One didn't make it after the first day, though.

She's now an OctoMom. 8 kittens. That's a bunch!

The Text for Sunday

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
1:1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,

1:2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.

1:3 He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

1:4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

2:5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.

2:6 But someone has testified somewhere, "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?

2:7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,

2:8 subjecting all things under their feet." Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,

2:9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

2:10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

2:11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

2:12 saying, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

A Prayer for the Night

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or
weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

Sorta Wordless Wednesday, Late

The "view" from the portable parsonage last week.

Pregnant cat is so very very pregnant. She still hasn't popped.

Computing nest. A place for ME. But it gets shared all too often.

The mess o' cables. I used pink ribbon instead of cable ties. It helps some.

The Obsessive Compulsive side of the computing nest. All things must be either parallel or perpendicular. And yes, that is a crystal tumbler on a saucer. Why drink out of plastic when you don't have to?

Projects recently:

• Chaos' learners permit.
• Pregnant Cat.
• Revivals.
• Steam Cleaning All Things.
• Homeschool.
• Practicing Stride Piano.

Bishop Bev Jones

Blogging Life

I've not been able to blog much lately. I think it is just a dry spell -- or at least I hope. I always am afraid that I'm going to run out of things to say; that eventually all words are going to be used up. I'm always afraid that I'm not going to be able to preach on Sunday; that eventually I'm going to use up all my words. I know that there is always the Word there; it is eternal and unchanging; spoken yet ever being spoken and will be spoken. But I think that *I* am going to run out of words.

Life is also very full. Preaching; ministry; homeschooling; cleaning and housekeeping; ordination papers; relationships to maintain -- I've not left much time for quiet reflection. And I will admit to a certain amount of financial difficulty. We've almost paid off all credit cards -- not much left. We've almost paid off my latest hospital bill (from May!!) We have the mortgage(s), student loans and the ever looming threat of the loss of jobs. Things considered "secure" two years ago aren't so very secure.

There is one time in the morning that I can sit and be quiet -- after the LH goes off to work and before the kids get up -- an hour or so I can sit and reflect on life. I've been filling that time with busy work (or sleep!) -- I'm not going to do that anymore. I need this time, not just to blog or whatever, but to center myself. An hour of prayer and meditation. If I don't make this more this, there is the possibility that the hour will never be "given" to me.

Time.

Cats and Grace

I found myself sniffing and sniveling today as I was reading a passage written by Roberta Bondi in “Nick the Cat.” The book concerns reflections on the stranger; people we willingly or unwillingly open our lives to. She writes:

Of course, this is generally the way with stray cats and grace, too; they appear on your driveway or your doorstep in in the grocery store or gas station in an animal or person, your spouse, yoru child, or your worst enemy, you never wanted in the first place and certainly wouls never choose yourself. And one day you wak up to find yourself changed, wounded, perhaps, by love or something like it, understading or manybe not understanding what has happened to your, but filled with an unexpected gratitude as apparently impossible as the gratitude of the cat we ended up taking into our family.

Unexpected grace, in the person of someone I didn’t want or even want to care about. I cannot recount how many times this has occurred to me. Most grace is unexpected -- if not all grace. It happens slowly sometimes, over time, where you find yourself loving and deeply caring about people you never even wanted to know. It happens to me time after time, as I am moved from church to church. I think “I’ll never love these people as deeply as I love those who I left behind.” And then I do. Over time, I begin to care deeply for the people I have been given charge over; even if and when I protest.

Roberta tells of giving the unexpected cat away -- looking for a loving home and of a young man who dares to come and pick up the smelly, wounded animal. He scoops Nick up in his arms and Roberta finds herself saying “I changed my mind… I can’t send him away; I want to keep him myself.” She writes:

All this time, I had never one touched Nick deliberately, never petted him or stroked him. Now I held our my arems and Jeremy brought him to me. Immediately the big cat, for so he had turned out to be, rolled over on his back and wriggled up against me, watching my face and purring in ecstasy. I looked into his eyes and rubbed his dirty, hairless stomach with pleasure.

I teared up at this. She had begun to love Nick, not willing herself so, but growing into that love. I do not know what deep seated need within myself this stuck a chord, but I hear it reverberating inside me. Ah, to love and be loved! What grace can be found!

There is a young man at one of my churches who has begun showing up during services. His brother and sister in law attend, but not this young man. He told me that he thought that the roof would fall in if he went to church -- I’ve been praying for him. He feels unworthy of love; he feels perhaps that he has sinned to badly. This is my stranger who is living among us. He is not someone I would pick from a crowd -- but he is the person that God has given us. May I and may we live up to this challenge. What grace can we find? What blessing is in store for us?

Charge Conference Today

We've Charge Conference for both churches today. Lots of paper to put in exactly the right order. I've to preach as well -- I think I'll preach on the book of Numbers. No joke.

Life is Full

I've neglected a lot of things the last couple of weeks -- back burner kind of neglect. With homeschool officially starting today and Charge Conference in a week and a half, I've had my brain in other places.

I've also started to practice the piano some. I was actually "good" at one point; I even started accompanying at church when I was 12 years old and considered a Music degree. I stopped playing when I was 24 when I was hit by lightening and suffered a bit of damage. It seems that lightening courses over the body, especially the brain, it causes damage like a stroke. By 3 weeks after the lightening strike, my 2nd degree burns were healed, but I had coordination problems, especially with fine motor control.

I mourned that loss for a long time and wouldn't even try to play. I've taken it up again -- I figure that most of Music performance is really mental and only partially the physical ability. I hope that by practicing, I can regain some of that physical ability.

In particular, I've been studying Jazz. It is quite mathematical in form; almost formulaic. If I can get a good walking bass line going and practice some riffs, with practice I should be able to get pretty decent at it. I'm also studying some of the history of Jazz, so I'm starting with "cakewalks" and "stride piano." The difficult things have been tremolos and little with the physical coordination of 16th notes in the right hand and triplets in the left. But I'm working on it.

After I get some proficiency with the Blues, I'm going to move to "Gospel" piano.

In other things: I'm working on Charge Conference papers, ordination papers and I have some mentoring appointments to make before January. AND I want to clean OUT the house. Blogging, Twitter, FB et al -- these are taking a back seat right now....

Link Love

Mozart.
Manga Will Kit
My Life Is Average

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Morning Prayer -- Thankful for the morning light

Thankful for the morning light
shining over earth and sea;
thankful for the sky so bright,
Creator, God, to you.
To you with all our hearts we pray,
now at the dawning of the day;
we know you have us in your care
and you will hear our prayer.

Precious is the heart of love;
may, at length, such hearts be ours;
God, please send down from above
your love and truth divine.
And may they cleanse our willing souls
of earthly ills and make them whole;
for Christ did come to share our toil
and will not spurn our prayers.
-- James Reed

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
(Known as the "Prayer of Humble Access" it can be found in many different forms across many different denominations)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
-- Eph 1:3-10

Lord Jesus Christ,
you stretched out your arms of love
and we placed them on the hard wood of the cross.
May people know of your love
So that everyone might come within the reach of your embrace.

Clothe me in your Spirit
Help me reach my hand out with your Love
So that I can bring your Love into this world to those
Who do not know you.

All for your honor.
Amen.

Morning Prayer -- A Prayer of St. Patrick

A Prayer of St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
by power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
his baptism in the Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spiced tomb;
his riding up he heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.


I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet "Well done" in judgement hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors' faith, apostles' word,
the patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.
But we, in nature’s latest hour, O Lord, will cling to Thee!

Morning Prayer -- from the Anaphora of Addai and Mari

May your tranquility to dwell among us and
May your peace within our hearts.
May our tongue proclaim your truth and
may your cross be the guardian of our souls,
while we make our mouths into new harps and
speak with fiery lips.
May we be worthy, my Lord, with the liberty which is from you,
to pray before you this pure and holy prayer,
which your life-giving mouth taught your true disciples,
the children of your Mysteries:

Whenever you pray, pray in this manner, giving thanks and saying: Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed. May your kingdom come. May your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us our necessary bread today, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us to the test, but deliver us from the Evil One. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, amen.

Bulletins -- done and folded. Sermon printed out. Practiced piano twice today. Drank lots of tea, ate dinner out with my family. Bubble shooter -- conquered. Cleaned out closet. Played with kitties. Good Day all round.

Morning Prayer -- Anaphora of Addai and Mari (Nestorian)

Kushapa*
Lord, Lord, grant us boldness before you,
that with the liberty which is from you
we may fulfill this living and holy ministry,
our consciences cleansed of all wickedness and bitterness.
Sow within us love, tranquility, and unity with one another and with all people. -


Gehantha*
Worthy of praise from every mouth,
Worthy of praise from every mouth,
and confession from every tongue,
and adoration and exaltation from every creature
Worthy is the worshipful and glorious name of your glorious Trinity,
O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
for you created the world in your grace and its inhabitants in your mercy;
you saved your people in your compassion,
and showed great grace unto mortals.

Thousands upon thousands of those on high bow down
and worship your majesty,
O my Lord,
and ten thousand times ten thousand holy angels and spiritual hosts,
the ministers of fire and spirit, glorify your name, -
and with holy cherubim and spiritual seraphim offer worship to your Lordship.

*Kushapa is a beseeching prayer, said on the knees.
The Gehantha is a prayer unique to the Anaphora of Addai and Mari, consisting of 4 long prayers that according to Eucharistic scholars are the most similar to the Jewish blessing ofthe bread.

Morning Prayer -- Let us break bread together

Let us break bread together on our knees,
let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us drink wine together on our knees,
let us drink wine together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us praise God together on our knees,
let us praise God together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
-- Spiritual, composer anon.

Psa 78:15-20
He cleft rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people?"

1Corinthians 10:16,17
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

A little bread—a crust—a crumb—
A little trust—a demijohn—
Can keep the soul alive—
Not portly, mind! but breathing—warm—
Conscious—as old Napoleon,
The night before the Crown!

A modest lot—A fame petite—
A brief Campaign of sting and sweet
Is plenty! Is enough!
A Sailor's business is the shore!
A Soldier's—balls! Who asketh more,
Must seek the neighboring life!
-- Emily Dickinson

Morning Prayer -- Bread of Heaven and Hippolytus

Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch,
Fi, bererin gwael ei wedd,
Nad oes ynof nerth na bywyd
Fel yn gorwedd yn y bedd:
Hollalluog, Hollalluog,
Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan.
Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and evermore
Feed me now and evermore.
-- Hymn known as Cwn Rhondda (Welch, anon)

John 6:35, 51
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

We give you thanks, O God,
through your beloved Child Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent us in the last days as Savior,
Redeemer and Messenger of your will.

He is your Word, inseparable from you,
through whom you have created everything
and in whom you find your delight.
You sent him from heaven into the womb of a Virgin.
He was conceived and became flesh,
he manifested himself as your Son,
born of the Spirit and the Virgin.
He did your will, and,
to win for you a holy people,
he stretched out his hands in suffering to rescue from
suffering those who believe in you.

When he was about
to surrender himself
to voluntary suffering in order
to destroy death,
to break the devil's chains,
to tread hell underfoot,
to pour out his light upon the just,
to establish the covenant, and manifest resurrection,

he took bread, gave you thanks and said:
"Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you."

In like manner for the cup, he said:
"This is my blood which is poured out for you. When you do this, do it in memory of me."

Remembering, therefore, your death and your resurrection, we offer you the
bread and the wine, we thank you for having judged us worthy to stand before
you and serve you.

And we pray you to send you Holy Spirit on the offering of your holy Church,
to bring together in unity all those who receive it.
May they be filled with the Holy Spirit
who strengthens their faith in the truth.
May we be able thus to praise and glorify you through your Child, Jesus Christ.

Through him glory to you and honor, to the Father and the Son, with the Holy
Spirit, in your holy Church, now and forever! Amen.
-- From the Anaphora of Hippolytus

Rising in darkness,
let us all keep watching
let psalms provide our source of meditation
And sing with all our strength
hymns of adoration
to our Creator bring.
-- St. Gregory the Great

1 Hear my teaching, O my people; *
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; *
I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3 That which we have heard and known,
and what our forefathers have told us, *
we will not hide from their children.
4 We will recount to generations to come
the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, *
and the wonderful works he has done.
-- Psalm 78



35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” -- John 5:35, 41-51

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. -- Mother Teresa

Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz.

A Resolution

I haven't blogged much this last couple of months. I don't know why -- I just hit a blogging wall. Nothing seemed very relevant. So here's a resolution: I will blog the rest of August, at least Morning Prayer.

My praying habits have changed as well. Quantity seems less important; Quantity of words at least. More important is just listening. I have been taking one or two verses of a hymn or a poem plus a bit of scripture and just listening to the text and then sitting in silence.

So there it is. Less words, more listening. Maybe that explains my blogging slow down.

Savannah 2009

Morning Prayer -- Bread of Heaven on Thee We Feed

Bread of Heav’n on Thee we feed,
For Thy flesh is meat indeed:
Ever may our souls be fed
With this true and living Bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him Who died.

Vine of Heav’n, Thy blood supplies
This blest cup of sacrifice,
Lord, Thy wounds our healing give,
To Thy cross we look and live:
Jesus, may we ever be
Grafted, rooted, built in Thee.

-- Josiah Conder

Morning Prayer -- Merton

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road.
Though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me.
And you will never leave me to face my struggles alone.


-- Thomas Merton