Morning Prayer

Yes, we would your Word embrace,
Live each moment on your grace,
All ourselves to you consign,
Fold up all our wills in yours,
Think, and speak, and do, and be
Simply that which pleases you.

Give the King your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the King's son;

That he may rule your people righteously
and the poor with justice.

That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people,
and the little hills bring righteousness.

He shall defend the needy among the people;
he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure,
from one generation to another.

He shall come down like rain upon the mown field,
like showers that water the earth.

Dearest God, Rain your Holy Spirit down upon me. I am in a time of dryness and I thirst for things that I cannot even put into words. I fill my life with busy-ness. I place the importances of my schedule in front of my time with you, I am impatient with my children and husband -- help me to be the person you wish me to be. Let me be able to sit in front of you with stillness. Open my eyes and ears and heart so that I can see you and feel your presence and hear your voice as you whisper your love for me. Let me bask in that love and grace -- let it flow over me and refresh those parched places. Let your loving care spill over me, easing my tightness and heal me like a balm.

Lord God, Dearest Lord -- I am brokenhearted as I watch the pain and suffering of this broken world. I want to weep with your children as they weep. I feel as if I cannot do enough -- that my feeble efforts are so very futile. It feels like moving mountians with teaspoons. Lord, convict this wicked old world of its error and evil ways. Ease the anger and frustrations that I feel creeping into the homeless shelters. They are groaning with the overload and I feel some of the workers are going to break. I feel the depression and frustrations of the displaced. Sustain them, keep them, grant them peace.

These things I pray in the name of one who came to heal this world.
Amen.

It's your basic

It's your basic really busy week after really busy weekend.

No time for Morning Prayer this morning. I'll try to post an afternoon prayer.

Yesterday was a 14 hour day -- today I have a 5 hour class followed by a 2 hour Bible Study at my house -- which isn't really clean yet. Tomorrow is hospital visit before surgery at 6:30 am, staff meeting, then an evening class of 3 hours (in which I have a paper due that I haven't written yet on a book I haven't read yet). I don't get to sleep until Wednesday.

I am addicted to RLP's chat. No chatting today or tomorrow. No. No. No.

I've been dry

I've been dry when it comes to blogging. I don't know why -- or maybe I'm just out of energy. The kids have brought home 3 illnesses in a month -- each time sharing it with each other and me. Entropy is sick again. I dosed her up with medications and sent her to school anyway -- the school does not like too many days absent. After a certain number of days, the social worker "investigates" the absences. Sigh. They don't want sick kids at school, then they don't want them to stay at home. What to do? We are sending more sick kids to school now-a-days, so the illnesses are spread around -- making more sick kids that we send to school. It doesn't make sense.

I've been doing a lot of moving materials around for the hurricane evacuees. The local empty WalMart store is a evacuee center now. I think there are at least 500 people who are being absorbed by my local zipcode. Where are these jobs going to come from? Where are these people going to find rest and refuge? We have no room -- I want to empty out the garage or something to put some people up, but I have no room. Our church has no room, since we are so jammed packed into our current building waiting for the new building to be finished. So I pack up clothes, give money, pack up health kits, pack up little care packages for kids, recycle some toys, give more money. My heart has been broken by the eyes of the suffering so many times in the last few days. What to do?

I'm packing up some of my books to take to the shelters -- and books to send to other people in various and sundry places. There are tasks I need to do and I am slipping further and further behind. I have papers to write and small group studies starting next week, telephone calls to make. After this next week, this burden will be lighter, though. Two big papers due on Monday and Tuesday and then nothing due for more than a month. Small groups will be formed and up and going next week. I just need to get over the hump of this weekend and Monday and Tuesday -- and not get sick with whatever it is that Entropy has!

Update:
I have moved all books off the Kitchen counter. I have a small group on Monday nights at my house. I am working on clearing off the red chairs and coffee table today. I need the seating. Next will be the Dining room. I'm packing up the Interpreter's Bible (1950 edition minus volume 11) because I have most of the volumes of the New Interpreter's Bible. I don't know what to do with them. I think I'll ship them off either to the Methodist seminaries in Estonia or Zimbabwe. Any ideas?

Morning 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.

In the roll of the book it is written concerning me:
'I love to do your will, O my God;
your law is deep in my heart.'"
I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation;
behold, I did not restrain my lips;
and that, O LORD, you know.
Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance;
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
You are the LORD;
do not withhold your compassion from me;
let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,

Dearest Lord,
I do not understand your righteousness. It is beyond me. I do not understand your love. The depths of love with which you love your people is beyond me. Yet I thank you for them. I thank you for steeping me in your love. I thank you for the love by which you lift up your people. Let me speak of your love forever and ever. Let me be your loving hands here on earth.

We are being overwhelmed by people this week, God. People who have lost so very much. People who have lost homes and jobs and loved ones. People who do not understand why this has happened to them. Let my hands and my offerings show your love to them. Let my gifts that I give bless them a little. Lord, people are losing patience with each other. We are starting to put up walls and barriers again. We begin thinking in old thought patterns. Help us break away from the old way of thinking and put on the mind of Christ.

We give you thanks and for the heroic witnesses of your people, who, in a time of death and disaster, were steadfast in their care for the sick and the dying, and loved not their own lives. Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

My true problem revealed.

This is a reprise:

I pile it here, I pile it there. Mostly books.







This is the update:


The kitchen buffet


The Kitchen counter


The coffee table


A problem with seating

I'm sorting books today because I bought my books for this semester -- and I have no place to put them. I am boxing up books for Goodwill and the church library. I am bagging them up for trading in at the used book store. I am afraid that the books are taking over. Soon there will be no place to sit, eat or sleep. Except on top of the books. And this is just the living room and kitchen. No pictures of dining room, bathroom (yes, bathroom) or bedrooms. At least I don't have anymore in the hallway.

Morning Prayer

Grant, blessed God head
this our prayer at dawning
that we reflect the goodness of your Presence
Your beauty shines, O Light,
O Sun, O Radiance
glory re-echoing.

Our God will come and will not keep silence;
before him there is a consuming flame,
and round about him a raging storm.
He calls the heavens and the earth from above
to witness the judgment of his people.
"Gather before me my loyal followers,
those who have made a covenant with me
and sealed it with sacrifice."
Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause;
for God himself is judge.

Dearest Lord, Grant us to trust in you with all our hearts. And trust is all some of us have left. Never forsake us. Protect us and keep us. Govern us and uphold us. Lift us up as we lift our hands in praise. For you are God -- you are our God. Lord, keep us from all sin today; Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. Lord, show us your love and mercy; For we put our trust in you.

God, you are the King eternal. You divided the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In this posting I am

In this posting, I am reveiled as a Shakespeare nerd.

From Hamlet:

Ophelia I hope all will be well. We must be patient; but I cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him i’ the cold ground. My brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my coach! Good-night, ladies; good-night, sweet ladies; good-night, good-night. Exit.

King Follow Opheila close; give her good watch, I pray you.
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father’s death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.

***********
Queen One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister’s drown’d, Laertes.

***********
Laertes Alas, then, is she drown’d?
Queen Drown’d, drown’d.
Laertes Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet
It is our trick. Nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will; when these are gone,
The woman will be out. Adieu, my lord;
I have a speech of fire that fain would blaze,
But that this folly douts it.

We are not yet recovered from Katrina and here is Ophelia. Too much of water have we, poor Ophelia. We forbid you. We do not need sorrows in battalions. Begone.

Morning Prayer

God grant me the
SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change;
COURAGE to change the things I can;
and WISDOM to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is,
not as I would have it:

Trusting that He will make all things
right if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Lord God, there are so many things I cannot understand. I cannot comprehend the devestation and the loss of life, the suffering. Help me, guard me, keep me. Help those who cannot help themselves, guard those who are vulnerable, keep those who cannot be helped in this world.

We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm. We ask you to preserve and keep us, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all our thoughts, words, and deeds we may serve and please you. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us, that the wicked one have no power over us.
Amen.*


*These are two classic prayers. The first is the serenity prayer by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr. The second prayer is a prayer by Martin Luther -- it is his morning prayer. My cousin Fred tells me that it is the prayer that my great-grandparents prayed every morning at the breakfast table when my grandfather was a child. A beautiful prayer.

Whoa.

This article is from the October 2004 National Geographic. Prophetic -- In the real and true sense of the word....

It starts:

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.


more here.
Hat tip to Father Jake, who Stops the World.

Morning Prayer

Shadows around us, shadows above us,
Never conceal our Savior and Guide;
Christ is the Light, in Christ is no darkness;
Always we're walking close to Christ's side.

Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever,
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom;
you love righteousness and hate iniquity.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia,
and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel Phil 1:27

Lord, dearest Lord, Our nation is hurting. People are crying out for deliverance. People are still trapped in their houses, becoming sick and ill and dying. Political factions cry out against each other. People want to place blame. People are becoming angry and frustrated. Bring us together, God, to the task before us. The tasks of rescue and rebuilding. Soothe the tears of those who mourn. Hear the cries of the perishing and grant them mercy. Help us to live our lives worth of the Good News of Christ. Help us stand firm in one spirit -- Your spirit.

Grant healing to this nation. There is a balm is Gilead. Pour our your Holy Spirit like a soothing balm on your people. Annoint the rescue workers, the doctors, the volunteers, the homeowners who are offering their spare bedrooms. Heal our nation. Amen.

My heart is a little lighter

My heart is a little lighter. I received email from my good friend Simon who is a pastor between New Orleans and Houston. He and his family are safe. St. Casserole is safe. Chad and Crystal are safe. My friend E's parents are safe. We are all incovenienced, but they are safe. Yet there are so many who have perished. I have had no words. There are no words. I am going to make health kits today, cook chili for the people who are helping me, see about getting food and baby items to the families that have been relocated to our area, go through my closet to find items to donate, see about what can go on the trucks tomorrow. And pray.

My spirit feels brusied. But my heart is a little lighter.

Every morning mercies new
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Every morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day:
For your mercies, God, are sure;
Your compassion does endure.

Let our prayers each day prevail,
That these gifts might never fail;
And, as we confess the sin
And temptation's pow'r within,
Every morning, for the strife,
Feed us with the Bread of Life.

I cried to you, O LORD;
I pleaded with the Lord, saying,

"What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit?
will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?

Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me;
O LORD, be my helper."

You have turned my wailing into dancing;
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.

Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing;
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

Lord, you are merciful and just. You taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly affict us. Lord I ask that you look with pity upon the sorrows of those who have lost loved ones, those who have lost livelihood, those who have lost homes. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their soul with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them not full understanding, for I am afraid that cannot be, but give them peace, your peaces that passes all understanding.

Lord, you are the Lord of all power and might. You are the author and giver of all good things. Graft in our hearts your love, bring it to fruit. Lord, increase in us true steadfastness, chesed, nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works, let our hands be your hands, let our lips proclaim you Word, let our hearts fill with your peace, let us love with your love. These things we pray in your Holy and unchanging Name, Amen.

I'm just sort of numb

I haven't blogged much about Katrina. I feel numb. It's too much to take in. I read the news, the blogs -- I watch CNN and the news and I am just stunned. Some of the things that I read seem so unbelievable. And the pain of the people is overwhelming.

Please read Biggfish. His entries make this so immediate. There is a paypal button for Chad and Crystal on Penni's blog, if you feel so led.

I'm making more health kits tomorrow and I have found someone to pay for the shipping. The church is going to send trucks to a church in Hattiesburg on Sunday. I'm taking some items to our refugees in Atlanta tomorrow. I pray. I make more health kits. I read more news. I'm numb.

Morning Prayer

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found;
call upon him when he draws near.

Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the evil ones their thoughts;

And let them turn to the Lord,
and he will have compassion,
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as rain and snow fall from the heavens
and return not again, but water the earth,

Bringing forth life and giving growth,
seed for sowing and bread for eating,

God, you have made of one blood all the people of the earth. You have sent your Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near. Lord, I pray today that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh. There is much suffering in our world today. Pour you Spirit on rescue workers, on government officials, on the weary and those who long for respite. Keep them, hear their cries for help.

Lord, we remember before you today all the poor and neglected people, the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us be your hands here on earth, help us to minister to them as you have ministered to us. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy.

Bless our actions-- they seem so small in the face of such large destruction and desolation. Help us to perserve in the face of difficulties. These thing I pray in the name of your Son. Amen.

From RLP's Chatroom/Prayer room this afternoon

[prayers for Katrina victims]: entropy has entered at 6:50 pm
[whatspider] 6:50 pm: yay for entropy!
[reverend mommy] 6:50 pm: she's going to do a prayer
[whatspider] 6:50 pm: sweet
[entropy] 6:52 pm: dear God
[entropy] 6:52 pm: please hlep the people in hurricane katrina
[entropy] 6:54 pm: give them food and shelter and fresh water
[entropy] 6:53 pm: and a nice warm bed
[entropy] 6:54 pm: showers and baths
[entropy] 6:55 pm: please stop the people from killing each other
[entropy] 6:56 pm: and bless them and keep them safe and bring them on the bus to Atlanta
[entropy] 6:57 pm: help them not be sad and pleas get them to help safe.
[prayers for Katrina victims]: susiederk has entered at 6:57 pm
[entropy] 6:57 pm: and for the people in colleges, let them be with their parents
[entropy] 6:58 pm: thank you go than we have food tonight
[entropy] 6:58 pm: even if i don't like soup
[entropy] 6:58 pm: please don not let them eat bad food and get sick.
[entropy] 6:59 pm: Amen
[whatspider] 6:59 pm: entropy, thank you for praying with us

The Prayer Room is open all day today.

Health Kits

UMCOR Emergency Appeal for Health Kits, Water and Blankets

As president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), I am
making this emergency appeal for United Methodists and their friends
to supply
Health Kits,
bottled water and
blankets
for survivors of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast.

The need is desperate throughout the area devastated by the storm,
especially among people who have been or are being evacuated from
their homes.

The need for Health Kits is especially acute, according to Gwen E.
Redding, director of the Sager Brown Depot of UMCOR in Baldwin, LA.
The center is to the west of the major storm impact and did not
sustain major damage.

"We are getting calls from all over," Ms. Redding said, "and we do
have kits on hand but not enough to fill all the requests coming from
the Gulf and around the world."

Health kits can be shipped directly to Sager Brown.
UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, P.O. Box 850, 131 Sager Brown Road, Baldwin, LA 70514-0850.

This will get the kits very close to the need. UMCOR is working around the clock to get the roads open and clear.

In a separate envelope, please send a check for at least $1 for each kit to help UMCOR Sager Brown with the costs of processing and shipping kits around the world.

Please do not include any religious, political or patriotic notes or emblems in any kit.

Thank you for your donations. You are helping to make a difference in people's lives.

Please support some relief organization

I'm going to make Health Kits. However, monetary donations are the most needed at this time.
**********************

To Sustain Everyday Life: UMCOR Kits Are Another Way to Give
UMCOR Sager Brown Material Resources Specifications

Kits to Sustain Everyday Life
The following kit is used in places where people do not have ready access to many essential supplies for everyday life. Please follow the directions exactly. Include all items; do not add items that are not on the lists. Extra gifts, though given with the best of intentions, render a kit unusable and must be removed. Note: All items sent must be new!

Health Kit
(Updated: 07/11/2005)
Health kits provide basic necessities to people who have been forced to leave their homes because of human conflict or natural disaster. Health kits are also used as learning tools in personal hygiene, literacy, nutrition and cooking classes. When people gain the knowledge and materials to maintain personal hygiene, their overall health improves.


1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27")
1 washcloth
1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
1 large tube of toothpaste (4.5 oz. or larger, expiration date must be 6 months or longer in advance of the date of shipment to UMCOR Sager Brown)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages

Place these items inside a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.

Morning Prayer

Open my lips, O Lord,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

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 failed to do.
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.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day. Preserve us with your mighty power, so that we won’t fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us so that we will do your will, so that when we end this day, we will rejoice in your providence and grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

** A reposting from a few weeks ago. I'm sick again, Entropy has strep and I am taking a break from the computer. I'm sick at heart from watching the news. The "hard core" regulars of Real Live Preacher's chat room are going to get together in prayer tonight at 8:00 pm Eastern. Please join us -- go to www.reallivepreacher.com and register. Then go to the chat room. If you can't to this, join us in prayer outside the chat room -- 8:00 EST.

A funny and a break

Got Milf? Funny, but too close to the truth. It's too easy to be seduced by the attraction. Lots to think about.

and I am tired. I'm taking a break from the computer today. I took a break for a few hours yesterday. I'm weary and still recovering from that stupid bad cold last week -- my lymph nodes are still swollen and I am not getting enough rest. I've got a full schedule for tomorrow and Thursday. Getting out has refreshed my spirit and thoughts, but it's made me weary. I'm going to go take a nap....

Morning Prayer

As the sun does daily rise,
Brightening all the morning skies,
So to You with one accord
Lift we up our hearts, O God.

Day by day provide us food,
For from You come all things good;
Strength unto our souls afford
From Your living bread, O God.

O LORD, I call to you;
my Rock, do not be deaf to my cry;
lest, if you do not hear me,
I become like those who go down to the Pit.
Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you,
when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies.

Blessed is the LORD!
for he has heard the voice of my prayer.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped;
Therefore my heart dances for joy,
and in my song will I praise him.
The LORD is the strength of his people,
a safe refuge for his anointed.
Save your people and bless your inheritance;
shepherd them and carry them for ever.

Lord, I'm really tired. I am weary. I'm not taking care of myself, and I know it. Watch over me today, renew me in body and spirit. Lord, you give strength to the weak and the comfort to sufferers. Hear my voice as I cry out to you and when I left up my hands to you. Please in your mercy, accept my prayer, and grant to your servant the help of your power, that this sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy. Thank you for the circumstances you have bestowed to me, allowing me rest and reflection. I pray that it points my life and thought to you. Be my strength and refuge today.

Lord, you are the author of every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our leaders, the RevGals and other clergy, and to the congregations committed to their charge your holy grace; and, that they may truly please you, pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Monday Mornings are full of stress

Getting the kids out the door on Monday mornings is awful. They move so slow. They aren't ready to go on time. Yelling occurs. Crying occasionally occurs. They don't want to go. I try to prep on Sunday night. I try to get the bookbags and clothing ready. Yet on Monday mornings, something always goes wrong. Milk gets spilled on the good shirt and we have to rummage around for something else that matches. Nothing matches, so now we have to change the shorts and socks as well. I start to get anxious about getting to school on time. The little one takes 20 minutes to put on her socks and shoes. I've done it for her for years, but she needs to do it herself. I sit and tell her what to do and get up to do something else. When I come back to her, she's done nothing. I tell her to put her sock on. I leave. She does nothing. Times 10 times in 20 minutes and I am ready to blow my top. The instruct and walk away method worked with her sister, why is this not working now??? She finally gets her shoes on as my voice begins to rise in volume... but she has to take her toast and milk with her in the car.

We prepare the bookbags, but as the LH and I get them in the car, she suddenly remembers her school picture form. She panics. I can't find the form, she can't find the form. More panic. Crying, raised voices. I find it 10 minutes after they leave in her room. It's not due until Thursday.

We have already changed the routine so that I get them up a full half an hour earlier. I get the bookbags and clothing ready the previous night. Breakfast orders the night before, hairbrushes put where we can find them. Division of labor so that their father and I know exactly what we need to get done. Yet, the stress remains, nothing seems to have changed. What now? Right now, I am so stressed that I cannot do Morning Prayer. I'm going to go take a shower and do some deep breathing exercises....

Proper 17A, Penecost + 15

God of all people, we give thanks to you today and, call on your name, and ask that you make known your deeds among all people. We seek you today and know you will make our hearts glad. Lord, we remember the works that you have done in our lives and we thank you. You have revealed yourself to us so many ways, sometimes in a burning bush and sometimes by a still small voice. Yet we know your steadfast love is always with us and we want to walk in your ways all the days of our lives. God in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of all people, Lord of the Church, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed: we have not loved you with all of our heart or served you with all of our strength; we have been blind to the vision of a renewed world and deaf to your call to discipleship; we have been indifferent to the suffering of others and unwilling to forgive each other. Pardon ua and restore us, that together we may serve you with joy all the days of our life. God in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of all people we ask to you let our love be genuine; help us hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good. Help us to love one another and show each other honor and respect. Help us to not lag in zeal, but be ardent in spirit, serving you always. Help us rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints and extend hospitality to strangers. Help us bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Let us rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. God in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of all people, hear our prayers for those who are suffering illnesses or disappointments. Give assurance to them that you have not forgotten them. Give comfort to their spirits and cradle them in the palm of your hand. Give shelter to those in danger from gathering storms. God in your mercy, hear our prayers.

God of all people, God of all times and places, we praise you for all your servants who having been faithful to you on earth. Keep us in communion with them until we meet with all your children in the joy of your eternal kingdom. Now with the assurance that comes of being a child of God, let us pray the prayer that your son taught us, Our Father….

Just stuff

Salvation Mountain Salvation Mountain is actually an amazing labor of love created out in the California Desert. Folk art visionary Leonard Knight decided he needed to express his religious feelings in a big way. He has painted this small mountain (in a place called "Slab City") outside the town of Niland, California, which is located near the Salton Sea.

Grotto of the Redemption The Grotto is a composite of nine separate Grottos, each portraying a scene in the life of Christ.The Grotto includes the largest collection of precious stones and gems found anywhere in one location. The artistry has to be seen to be appreciated, plus the message it gives is beyond words.

65 Girls At Area School Pregnant 65 out of 490 female students. Wow.

Koreshan Unity Movement. Wow.

Animal Activists shut down guinea pig farm by stealing the remains of a relative from a churchyard and holding the remains hostage.

The Union of the Vegtable an offshoot (ha!) of Santo Daime.

the world is odd. decidedly odd.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Friday Catblogging

Here's my sweet little kitty, snoozing on the sofa. She's got the eyes cracked just a bit, so that I know she's aware of me. She sits on me all the time now -- or perches on the sofa right next to my head, so that she can reach out a paw and touch me.



She's very dedicated to sleeping now-a-days. She's about 16 years old and so she's an old lady kitty. She's put on about a pound since winter -- she tops out at 7 pounds now. Her activity level is going down. There's parallel in my life. I'm feeling old right now. If I continue on the educational plan that I have sketched out -- a DMin and/or a PhD after this bout of schooling, I will be way past 50 before I am finished -- if the family and I go away for the PhD, that means I can go directly from student housing to assisted living. Is it the diplomas that I am after? Am I looking for the real end to all this? Or do I just enjoy the journey, being a student so very much? I do know that I love to teach. I want to teach more in the future.

For the last couple of years I keep thinking about the future -- what will I be doing? Where will I be? and looking forward -- maybe I need to be more intentional in my time NOW and live NOW and not rely so much on the future.

The kittens that we looked forward to getting have run away. Either they have found new homes for themselves or the coyotes have gotten them. They were on my friend's screened in back porch and either they or the mother pried up a piece of the screening and they escaped. My kids are heartbroken. Chaos especially. She prayed very very hard that the kittens would be OK and would come home. She's had a little crisis of faith when they did not.

So we are loving on little kitty especially hard right now. Here's a closeup -- I've been stroking the fur on her nose for comfort.

Morning Prayer

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.

O LORD, you are my portion and my cup;
it is you who uphold my lot.
My boundaries enclose a pleasant land;
indeed, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
my heart teaches me, night after night.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.
My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices;
my body also shall rest in hope.

Dearest Lord, you are the source of every good gift. You created this world and called it good. God -- it is so easy for me to reflect on the things that are not good -- things that go wrong. It is easy for me to become frustrated and anxious. Lord, I give you my anxiety and ask that you ease my frustrations. Help me rest in my blessings and be at peace. Help me to be content with the pleasant land and the goodly heritage you have given me.

Lord, give me a heart for those who do without. Use me to your ends, God and help me to become a blessing for them. I pray for those who suffer illness, who cannot do for themselves. I pray for the parents of children who do not flourish. Comfort them. I pray for those whose employment is uncertain. Sustain them. I pray for those whose hearts have no ease. Soothe them with your presence. I pray for those who are homeless. Grant them the security they so desperately need. I pray for those who have lost loved ones in a storm's fury. Ease their pain and grant them peace.

God our Father, you see my children -- our children -- growing up in an unsteady and confusing world, full of things that can harm them yet tempt them. Show my children that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, show them the path that will preserve them. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation. Watch over my children as they are away from me today and bring them safely home, just as you will bring us all safely home to you. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Morning Prayer

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, and in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind myself to You today. Heart, mind and soul. Bind me together, bind me to You and bind your broken world together with bonds that cannot be broken.

Amen.

*From the Prayer on the Breastplate of Saint Patrick

The Best Obit I've Read In a While

Seriously. It starts:

"On June 3, 2005 at 10:45 p.m. in Memphis, Tennessee, Dorothy Gibson Cully, 86, died peacefully, while in the loving care of her two favorite children, Barbara and David. All of her breath leaked out."

Read the entire thing here.

I found it on a cool new blog (well, new to me) called the Church Lady Chronicles. I want her to be my personal assistant.

Late Morning Prayer

Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way
and walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies
and seek him with their whole heart.
For they who do no wickedness
walk in his ways.
Thou hast charged
that we shall diligently keep thy commandments.
O that my ways were made so direct
that I might keep thy statutes!
So shall I not be confounded
while I have respect unto all thy commandments.
I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart
when I shall have learned the judgements of thy righteousness.

God you are the creator and preserver of all that there is, that there was and that there is to be. Today I ask for your preservations and care you for all sorts and conditions of people; that you would show yourself to them, and declare and who your saving health and grace to all nations. More especially I pray for your holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by your good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.

Help me to be your servant, guiding those who I meet to desire true discipleship. Lord, discipleship is costly and it is not easy. He us all perserve in the faith. Finally, I commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please you to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. In your Son's name, Amen.

Just Life

I joke by calling my kids Chaos and Entropy. Yet, as the Bard said in King Lear, “Jesters do oft prove prophets” or as the Roxburghe Ballad says it “many a truth is spoken in jest.”

I feel as if I live in disorder. Chaos means complete confusion or disorder – Entropy is a state of complete disorder. Chaos and Entropy surround me.

I push at the stuff, I pick it up, I organize it and still I can lay my hands on multitudes of things that need to be sorted, put up, glued, fixed, repaired, painted, polished, cleaned, framed or just plain fixed.

I now have back my front door panel from the stained glass repair people (after a week) and the repairman placed it into the freshly painted door. The interior trim and walls have been painted, as well as the ceiling. I have a new door knob. The exterior of the house has been pressure washed and painted and the electrical fixtures replaced. I go into the foyer and look down. Somehow someone has broken the plate over the electrical outlet. And the dragon in the dining room was playing with my antique world globe and now it has a pencil tip sized hole in it. And the glass in two of the pictures is broken. And my favorite ticky-tock clock is no longer keeping time. Sigh. When will it all be finished and the house be fixed and clean, at the same time?

What's new with you?

Morning Prayer

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; *
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, *
and evil cannot dwell with you.

Braggarts cannot stand in your sight; *
you hate all those who work wickedness.

You destroy those who speak lies; *
the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O LORD, you abhor.

But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house; *
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.

Lord, today I dwell in thoughts of your righteousness. I must confess that I do not understand it. Perhaps it is too large for me to grasp. Yet I find myself drawn to it. I want to know it, I want to dwell in it. I know I have a long way to go and I know that the path to true discipleship is not easy or painless. But I do know that your grace will be with me and sustain me. Help me discern the path. Be with me today as I go about my work. Help me to discern what is truly important and what is not. Help me to build relationships, not tear them down. Use my hands as your hands here on earth.

Almighty God, whose loving hand has given me all that I possess: Grant me grace that I may honor you with my substance, and, remembering the account which I must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Calling all RevGalBlogPals

Please check out the common blog about the Advent Devotional here.

Morning Prayer

Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Alleluia. The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him. Alleluia.

God, I am sick from my head to my foot this morning. Sick in the body, sick at heart. Hold me in the palm of your hand and grant me healing and peace. I pray for those around me who are sick at heart, for those dealing with depression, for those dealing with disappointment, for those dealing with death, for those dealing with heartbreak. Hold them in the palm of you hand and grant them peace. O God, you give strength to the weak and comfort those who suffer: Mercifully accept my prayers, and grant to me the help of your power, that this sickness may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You, O LORD, are a shield about me;
you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head.
I call aloud upon the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy hill;
I lie down and go to sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.

In the name of Christ I pray. Amen.

Evening Prayer

Lord, forgive me.
So many times I speak when I should be listening.
Help me listen to your children.
Help me to listen to your Word.
Help me to listen for your voice.

And yet,
So many times I am quiet when I should speak.
I should speak against the injustices in this world.
Help me to speak, I pray.
To be a voice for peace in the midst of suffering.
To be a voice for those who have no voice --
To be a voice for those who do not have the courage to speak.

Heal my woundedness -- heal my heart.
Fill me with your peace and let it dwell in me.
Fill me with compassion for those who suffer.
Fill me with your righteousness and your zeal for Justice.
Fill me with your love. Cover me with your love, God. Envelope me with your love.

Watch over this wicked old world tonight. Watch over those who are homeless. Watch over those who are spending the night in hospital waiting rooms. Watch over those who are ill. Watch over those who are well and yet sick at heart. Watch over those who do not yet know their need for you. Watch over children who are heartbroken. Keep watch.

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.

The Presence of God

      The car door opened slowly, creaking with age. He wearily pivoted his legs around and placed both feet on the ground. For a moment he just sat there, unmoving. His hat was firmly settled on his head, his black shoes perfectly polished, his London Fog coat immaculate. But for what? Was it habit? Who was left to care? He had driven to the church on this cold November day to yet again collect sheet music for a funeral. How many friends had he buried? The march to death had started more than 20 years ago. One day it would be his funeral but who would be left to attend?
      He sighed and levered himself out of the driver’s seat. He fumbled with the keys for a moment and shut the car door. He labored along the walkway to the church’s front door, each step causing a crunch in the gravel. As he began to climb the steps to the door, two other cars came into the church’s gravel parking lot – Mrs. Johnson’s old Cadillac and from the other direction a pickup truck zoomed in, spraying the side of the old white frame building with loose rock. Loud pulsing country music blared from a speaker mounted in the bed of the truck. A large confederate flag flapped on a pole mounted on the back bumper. A half dozen youth dressed in plaid shirts with the sleeves cut off tumbled out of the truck -- each drinking beer.
      “Hey, look who’s here!”
      “Whatcha doing here, you old pervert?”
      “Hey, Faggot!”
      “Hey, let’s call Fred Phelps!”
      They hooted with laughter, drunk enough to fall over each other. He fumbled with the keys a little faster. Was it not bad enough that most of his friends had died? Was it not bad enough that he was going to die? And die alone? Allen had died almost 10 years earlier. He had not had the comfort of companionship for such a long time – there was no one left to talk to. And the community had been talking. There were Sundays that he could feel the hostility from the congregation – the congregation he had been a member of his whole life. The congregation that had sung to his music for more than 30 years. He almost had the door unlocked when the first bottle hit the front door. He looked at the spot on the red door with unbelief for a moment when the second bottle hit him in the small of the back. Soon he was being pelted with not only bottles but little rocks from the gravel parking lot.
      “Hey! What are you boys doing? Jimmy Brown! Does your mama know what you are doing?” Mrs. Johnson! he thought. She’s going to get pelted!
      “And Fred! What do you think you are doing? You should be ashamed of yourselves!” He watched as the kids began to grown quieter, shuffling their feet, not looking at Mrs. Johnson. Some of them faded into the growing night.
      “We were just having a little fun, Mrs. Johnson. We didn’t mean anything.”
      “When does drawing blood not mean anything, Vic Johnson?”
      He finally opened the door and bolted inside, abandoning the old woman outside with the punks. He couldn’t see clearly because of the blood in his eyes. He had lost the hat when the first rocks were thrown. He had always heard that head wounds bled bad, but damn! He stumbled into the sanctuary and fell into the front pew, right behind the piano. He tried weakly to stanch the flow of blood with his handkerchief. He sat in stunned silence for a few moments and then began to feel guilty and angry. Guilty about abandoning the old woman and angry at, well, everything.
      He heard the door open and close again. “Jacob, are you alright?” He felt her move beside him and he began to weep. He wept for Allen and for himself. He wept for John who died just 2 hours ago, alone because his church and his family abandoned him. He wept for Jimmy and Dennis. He wept for all the others. She enfolded him in her arthritic arms and she began to weep as well and then began to gently clean his cut with a towel.
      “Mrs. Johnson, you can’t get near me! It’s spread through blood!”
      “Hush! I know, I was a nurse. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
      He realized that there was a lot blood on her skirt – more than just his.
      “Oh, I stopped to bandage Vic’s hand. He cut himself on one of the bottles. I was on the altar guild when he was baptized. I drew the water for the font. I couldn’t let him bleed, could I?”
      “You stopped to help THEM?” he asked with disbelief.
      “Jacob.” She stopped. “Jacob… Yes I did. I had him in VBS, too. What he and those others did was evil, but…I couldn’t let him bleed.”
      She closed the wound on his forehead with a Band-Aid. They sat there for a moment. She said, “It’s time to go home.”
      He said, “Just a minute.” He got up and rummaged around in the filing cabinet behind the piano for a moment and pulled out the sheet music for Pia Jesu. It was what John had wanted.
      They left the little building together. As he opened the front door, he heard the skrich sound of a broom and saw a flash of denim. A boy with dark curls crushed under a watchcap was sweeping up the glass. Startled, he dropped the broom and started to run down the road. “Vic,” cried out Mrs. Johnson, “Let me take you home!”
      The boy stopped for a moment and Jacob saw a white bandage and the brilliant blue of the boy’s eyes before he began to run again. Jacob never realized that Vic was so much like a wounded bird – so skittish and frightened.
      “You know his father beats him, don’t you?” said Mrs. Johnson.
      “Your son?”
      “Yes.” They were quiet for a moment. He looked down at her eyes as they filled with tears. She patted his arm.
      “Let’s go to my home and I’ll fix you some dinner,” she said. She turned and locked up the church. Pia Jesu domine, dona eis requiem...

Morning Prayer

I'm ready, God, so ready,
ready from head to toe,

Ready to sing, ready to raise a tune:
"Wake up, soul!

Wake up, harp! wake up, lute!
Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!"

I'm thanking you, GOD, out loud in the streets,
singing your praises in town and country.

The deeper your love, the higher it goes;
every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

Soar high in the skies, O God!
Cover the whole earth with your glory!*

God our Father, we praise and and thank your for this beautiful day. God today I pray for the little ones, our children. God we ask for your tender care -- you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; Bless our children today, keep them and guilde them.

God you are the strength of the weak and the comfort of sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant us the help of your power, that this sickness that we feel today may be turned into health, and our sorrow into joy. We entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for. I pray in the name of Christ, your son. Amen.

*Psalm 57:7-11, The Message

How come?

How come so often great people of God who preach and practice God's peace die violently?

We pray for Brother Roger today -- and also for the young woman who stabbed him.

Just for Mindy

Princess of Everything -- this news story. Mindy has been cow blogging -- and I thought she would like this.

It starts:
Picture this… you’re driving down the Interstate. It’s a warm summer day and you’re glancing at the passing scenery. There’s nothing to see except endless farmland until you see a sight that makes you think you’ve entered the twilight zone: 100 cows grazing in a field, with a website address painted on their bodies and several even painted completely purple!

This is from the casino that purchased unbelievable stuff from ebay. Like the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese and the Jesus Dumpling. Strange stunts to get people to gamble. Huh.

Morning Prayer

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

Lord of all life, wake me to all things living. Make me aware of the source of all life -- make me aware today of your Love and Providence. Blow away all confusion -- burn it away with your Light. Bless my efforts today of making clear you Word through my words. Focus my thoughts and efforts so that I can be fruitful today and not lost in my anxiety.

Lord of all life, I confess that I have sinned. I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myselves. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.

O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on me.
O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on me.
O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on me and grant me your peace.

Direct me, O Lord, in all my doings today, my writing, my interactions with others, my manuel labor, direct me with your most gracious favor, and take me beyond myself with your continual help; that in all my works begun, continued, and ended in you, I may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

reflections

I've been practicing morning prayer for a while. While the kids were home, there seemed to be no time and it was hard to do. Since they have been in school, I've made time. I've been posting them as a sort of accountability check. I receive few comments on the prayers. They do not flow freely from me. They seem laborious and hard to write every morning -- but not in a bad way. It's hard to be honest in prayer. There, I admit it. It's hard to be honest sometimes in prayer. I want to maintain the control -- I want to skitter around the things that bother me. I feel guilty when I don't do "all the things" you are supposed to do in prayer. ACTS -- adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. I didn't do it all this morning. Each prayer seems to focus on my mood for the morning -- each one seems untimately selfish.

I think I'll stew on that for a while.

Morning Prayer

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

Dearest Lord and God, I fill my life with busy-ness. I fret with things that truly do not matter. I fill my home and my mind and my body, not with the goodness that flows from you, but with things that are of little substance. Lord, still my heart. Cover me with your peace -- let it gently fall upon me like snow, so that I am blanketed with your presence and tranqulity. Bring my will into harmony with yours. Fill my desires with your holiness. Help me fix my eyes on the final goal. Focus my eyes on you, bend my will to your will.

Lord, fill me with your holy and life-giving Spirit so that it moves my human heart and centers my consiousness on you. Focus my attentions on loving my brothers and sisters so that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions are healed and so that we may live in justice and peace. Fill me with your peace -- the peace that passes all human understanding.

You are the God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and resting in you we will be saved, resting in you in quietness and confidence, you will be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; I hand all that I worry about over to you, I hand my anxiety over to you, I hand my heart and will to you. I pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hmmm.....

I took a shot at Lakewood a few weeks back about mission. Now maybe the mega-church people will show me wrong. Rick Warren, of Purpose Driven fame, is taking on the country of Rwanda. The entire country will be his mission field. Mega-church, mega mission. Story here. I'm bumfuzzled. I don't know what to think or say. I guess time will tell. Hmm......

Another hmmm... I found at The Main Point. World Naked Gardening Day. Naked people in the garden. Haven't we been through this before? Hmmm.....

And another. Here we find a story that starts "A Christian preacher in the Bahamas is recanting a news release he issued claiming his miracle water had brought a dead man back to life." So did the man die? Who is to know?

And another. Here is a story about how a Baptist found the actual Pool of Siloam. A Baptist. Makes you go hmmmmm....... Maybe the minister in the Bahamas has been dipping in this pool. Hmmm.....

Morning Prayer

Through the night your angels kept
Watch beside us while we slept;
Now the dark has passed away,
Thank you, God, for this new day.

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

<<.selah.>>

Come let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
ome, let us bow down, and bend the knee,
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

Blessed Lord Jesus, you ministered to all who came to you: all -- the young, the old, the lame, the well, the rich, the poor, the women, the men, the elders, the children. Look with compassion upon all who through disease, lifestyle, accident or addiction have lost their health and freedom. Comfort them and restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love.

God, I give you all the thanks and all the glory. Only you could bring people together in faith and understanding in the ways I have experienced these last few days. I give you thanks and stand in awe of your grace and mercy.

For John at Locust and Honey

FORT BYRON, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois man claims a $10 pet rabbit saved the life of his pregnant wife. Ed Murphy said the rabbit was unusually noisy one night, banging and jumping up and down in her cage.

Murphy tried to ignore the racket by putting noise buffers on top the cage, but the pet would not let him go back to sleep.

Murphy then noticed his wife seemed to be sleeping heavily with her eyes wide open, so he called 911.

Darcy Murphy was quickly taken to a hospital, where she remained five days for treatment of gestational diabetes, a carbohydrate intolerance during pregnancy.

Murphy's obstetrician, Dr. Anita Pinc, credits the rabbit with telling Ed Murphy ``Wake up, wake up. Something is wrong with your wife.''

Murphy delivered baby Brenna on June 13.

Found here.

Sometimes

it is overwhelming. Sometimes I wonder if anything can possibly be good. Sometimes it all seems too much like always pushing the rock uphill. A good friend was to go into Saint Joseph's this morning for a heart cath and stint -- and he was transferred but only after another 70 year old man had reached the end of his endurance. The 70 year old's wife had been in the hospital for several weeks. The man went into the hospital at 6:15 this morning and shot his 70-year-old wife, who was a patient in the intensive care unit. He then shot himself. She had been in the hospital a long time and her recovery was not going well -- so in desparation he picked up his gun. What agony he must have been in! What agony he has left behind.

And then someone on TV quoted Romans 8:28 "All things work together for good..." and I can't accept that. Sometimes it just all bad. And this is just all bad.

So far this morning...

Sick and croupy child.
Termites.
Need new Garage door.
Grumpy husband.
Grumpy Sunday School classes.
Dirty dishes in sink.
Dirty Laundry.
Clutter is overtaking the Living Room and kitchen.
Painters here at crack of dawn.
Loving Husband left his lunch and had to come home and get it.
Loving Husband's car is on fumes after I used it (oops).
6th Grade girl drama.
Way behind on project.
Anxious about in home Bible Studies.
Back on the diet after a weekend off.

Any wonder I need prayer and coffee? Mmmm.... coffee.

Morning 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.

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. Help us to discern your will -- help us to find our way in this broken and hurting world.

Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd of the sheep, you gather the lambs in your arms and carry them in your bosom: We commend to your loving care the children and adults who died yesterday in Greece. Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit into the hearts of the relatives and into our hearts, to direct and rule us according to your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth.

Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hospital Visits and Waiting Rooms

Three hospitals in two days -- people hurting yes, but mostly people being anxious. Not knowing how surgery will turn out, not knowing the progression of disease, not knowing what exactly the problem is, being alone, feeling alone, feeling abandoned. The human condition.

We went to the "Gospel of John" starring Brad Sherrill -- website is www.gospelofjohn.com. I've seen it I don't know how many times -- the Loving Husband has seen it at least 6 times and myself many many more. Everytime I experience it, something new hits my ears -- I see more interconnections in the text, I get shocked again by the story. The elemental nature of the text -- fire, water, spirit and earth came through to me last night. As well as the fact that John is such a testimony -- the language itself and the message.

I was struck again by the Old Testament allusions -- the raising up of the snake by Moses, the quotes of Isaiah, the interweaving of Psalm 22 in the passion narrative. I was struck again by how unique the testimony of this Gospel is -- no agony in the Garden -- the agony is elsewhere. No institution of communion at the last supper -- it's elsewhere. The pivot of the narrative in the Lazarus story.

But what really struck me was the phrase "eternal life." We hear it in the familiar John 3:16, but we find it also in John 6:56 "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John contains the words "eternal life" 16 times. Why do we focus so much attention on John 3:16?

Off to the hospital...

Morning Prayer

Hear us, O God, in your dear love,
Let our prayers rise to you above,
And help us, this and every day,
To live as truly as we pray.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Lord, I thank you for the faithfulness of your servants. I thank you for their committment and the grace and love that come from you through them. I thank you for that great cloud of witnesses that surround us -- the saints who are dwelling with us and those who have gone on before us. Thank you for Brad, who shares your word in unique ways. Thank you for Gordan who minsters in unique ways. Thank you for Phil who proclaims your Word and encourages even in uncomfortable circumstances. Thank you for Janet and those who can minister to those who are hurting and suffering. Thank you for John whose individualized ministry means so much to us handful of people. Thank you for friends, for Dave, Allison, Lynn, Sylvia, for the women and men I have met via the internet who minister to myself and each other, mostly unaware. I pray for those today who are sick and ill and suffering -- in spirit and in the body.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;
Govern and uphold them, now and always.
Day by day we bless you;
We praise your name for ever.
Lord, keep us from all sin today;
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
Lord, show us your love and mercy;
For we put our trust in you.
In you, Lord, is our hope;
And we shall never hope in vain.

Morning Prayer for a dark morning

Meditation:
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
-- 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NIV)

Psalm 102
1 LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you;
hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.
2 Incline your ear to me;
when I call, make haste to answer me,
3 For my days drift away like smoke,
and my bones are hot as burning coals.
4 My heart is smitten like grass and withered,
so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 Because of the voice of my groaning
I am but skin and bones.
6 I have become like a vulture in the wilderness,
like an owl among the ruins.
7 I lie awake and groan;
I am like a sparrow, lonely on a house-top.
8 My enemies revile me all day long,
and those who scoff at me have taken an oath against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes for bread
and mingled my drink with weeping.
10 Because of your indignation and wrath
you have lifted me up and thrown me away.
11 My days pass away like a shadow,
and I wither like the grass.
12 But you, O LORD, endure for ever,
and your Name from age to age.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to have mercy upon her;
indeed, the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants love her very rubble,
and are moved to pity even for her dust.

Lord, when they came for you in the garden, you experienced the pain of the betrayer’s metaphorical knife in the back. Lord, he was someone you loved and I ask myself how could you bear it? Have mercy on me, even though what I experience is only a shadow of what you felt. Help me to forgive -- especially those who I love and are close to me. Keep me from participating in sin by giving me forbearance. Grant me the wisdom to find a way to repair or transcend the situation. Help me be a solution to the problem and not part of it.

Lord, I do not understand all the things that trouble me now. Therefore I thank you for these problems, because it has brought your will into sharp focus, it has brought me closer to you and to others, and it teaches me my need for you. I ask for your grace to persevere in faith as long as this stress in our lives shall last. I ask for wisdom to know when and how to be helpful to others -- and how to ask for help when I need it. I hand it over to you, so that your will be done. Thank you for you loving care, which I know endures forever. Amen.

Walking in sunlight all of our journey;
Over the mountains, through the deep vale;
Jesus has said, "I'll never forsake you,"
Promise divine that never can fail.

Fun little game

From Emily.
Go to google. Type "(your name) is" and paste your favorite 10 responses.

1. Mommy is this OK? (Is *what* OK?)
2. Mommy is sick. (And tired of doing housework.)
3. Mommy is a punk rocker. (in birkenstocks)
4. My Mommy is my hero. (How sweet!)
5. Mommy, is Aunt Sally in the rice puffs? (We don't have an Aunt Sally.)
6. Mommy is the household's sadistic disciplinarian, dismissing Grandma at every turn. (We don't have a grandma.)
7. Mommy is a deceitful gold-digger who has married Daddy for his money. (Daddy has money?)
8. Mommy is friggin’ huge. (Let's don't get personal, here.)
9. Mommy is insane. (Refer to number 8.)
10. Mommy is stretchy. (And bounces back rapidly.)

You try it.

Morning Prayer

Every morning we will raise
to our God our songs of praise.
Every morning we will raise
to our God our songs of praise.

What this day will bring to pass,
gladness or sorrow we cannot guess.
You, who give the light divine,
shine on us, Christ Jesus, shine.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

For the Lord is good;
his mercy is everlasting;
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

O Loving God, whose beloved Son became poor that we might be rich: save us from our love of this world, so that we may love you and serve you with singleness of purpose and heart. Let us bask in the Light of Christ that shines on us daily, bursting through the clouds that gather around us. You divide day from night, darkness from light, the mourning of death into the morning of new life. You change shadows into sunlight. Let us use your light as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infects our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come. Come Lord Jesus. Come. Amen.

Read "Today at the Mission"

Here.

What can be do for this broken world? How long, o Lord, how long?

By the way

I hope the person who found me yesterday using the search "Somewhere over the rainbow funeral sermon" liked what they found. I thought I did a good job on that one. Facinating to see how people find you on the internet. I was the number two hit.

I was also the number two hit for "ash wednesday burn water lye" which is a good thing. It's not good to be burned by your Ash Wednesday ashes.

But I don't think the person looking for "mending children's clothes poem" found much... or the search for the "genealogy of dr. vivien thomas."

But I would love to know what they thought of the sermon.

Morning Prayer

Every morning mercies new
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Every morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day:
For your mercies, God, are sure;
Your compassion does endure.

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. Sprinkle us with showers of blessing -- the blessings that fall like rain on this parched world. Help us to be cisterns of blessing for others -- full of your living water. Help us live for You in this world, by Your Word and precepts and not by the conflicting voices that we hear around us.

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Just in case

You were feeling particuarly sinful today, I have found an online solution.

Here is a website that offers absolution of sins, online. A quote from this page:

We don't require anyone to believe anything from any belief system. In forgiveness of sins we knew we should make some presentation of entitlement other than the approval of the Church's Board of Directors. We did and for most it was sufficient for acceptance or at least the end to inquiry. For some nothing would suffice beyond their Sunday School training days regardless of their present lifestyle, so we accepted the reality of the situation and continued in good-faith and sincerity asking others to do the same.

My response -- Oka-a-ay? What the heck does this mean??

I think I'll stick to the old fashioned thing -- i.e. confession and repentance.

From Morning Prayer

Open my lips, O Lord,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

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 failed to do.
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.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day. Preserve us with your mighty power, so that we won’t fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us so that we will do your will, so that when we end this day, we will rejoice in your providence and grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

OK, I hadn't taken this one...

but it's pretty accurate.

You scored as Mystical Communion Model. Your model of the church is Mystical Communion, which includes both People of God and Body of Christ. The church is essentially people in union with Christ and the Father through the Holy Spirit. Both lay people and clergy are drawn together in a family of faith. This model can exalt the church beyond what is appropriate, but can be supplemented with other models. Mystical Communion Model 89% Servant Model 84% Sacrament model 84% Herald Model 22% Institutional Model 11% What is your model of the church? [Dulles] created with QuizFarm.com

This is a day of new beginnings

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that's gone.
...
Then let us, with the Spirit's daring,
step from the past and leave behind
our disappointment, guilt, and grieving,
seeking new paths, and sure to find.

-Brian Wren, 1978, UMH 383

Most people consider January 1st the beginning of the new year -- where all things are fresh and new. Time to forgive and forget, time to start over, to zero the counters and see where we can go from here.

The Liturgical year begins right after Thanksgiving with Advent. The fiscal year for a lot of businesses is July 1.

My year begins the week school starts. Today is the beginning of my new year. All things are forgiven and forgotten. There is nothing ahead but possibilites. Yes, consequeces of the past can and will remain -- the scars never really fade, but we take a moment and remember move on and beyond them, easing their tightness with balm.

I began a diet (I need to loose an entire 6th grader...), I am going to seriously begin to do the spiritual disciplines again in the morning -- prayer, fasting, meditation, study, contemplation. I am going to start walking again, even thought it hurts. I am reducing the clutter in my life -- material possessions, but also the busy-ness of modern life. It is not a deprivation of my children if we get rid of soccer, Girl Scouts and piano lessons -- and only do Church and karate. It will allow them time for quiet and contemplation, free play, exploration of the backyard, exploration of who they are aside from their activities (Mommy too.)

I have also been cleaning strange and hidden things -- under and behind the washer and dryer, under the refrigerator, in the base cabinets in the kitchen. I painted the interior of the cabinets yesterday and Saturday. For the first time in years, it not only is clean (I actually have scrubbed the paint off in places), but I have covered all the stains and wear on them with paint -- It looks so clean. The exterior painting will come sometime soon, but I dwell in the idea of "white washed tombs." What good does it do if the outside is pristine, if the inside is full of dirt and wear?

I was going to do an art project a while back -- I was going to take a white and gold chasable and make it beautiful -- and then line it with a piece of cheap cloth with stains, tire tread marks and words of filth written in a coarse hand. The lining would be ripped and unrepaired. A commentary on the priesthood, as a whole. But starting with me.

Here is an interesting website about the practice of faith. I don't agree with it one hundred percent, but it is good for contemplating.

But first rest. And rest can be a spiritual discipline.

Christ is alive, and goes before us
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
our God is making all things new.

Kittens

Begging is occuring. We visited with some kittens this afternoon. When they get to 7 or 8 weeks old, the daddy and I *may* consider having them come live with us (official line). Unoffical, oooo.... they are so cute!! The tabby is mine. Mine I say. Mine. Hiss. Grrr... Keep your paws off my kittens.

Beau (number 32)? or Mittens?
Every tabby in our household has been Beau. Named after a cat that my g-g-grandmother had that she named after General Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard. Upon whom, my g-g-grandmother had a crush.



and the Vicar of Dibley (if it's a girl) otherwise the little one suggested Darth Kitty, Kitten of Darkness.



What do you think?

Dragon Update

The baby dragon in the dining room is doing well. It is now hunting on its own, consuming several Barbies a day. It changes colors frequently -- mostly back from red to green with an occasional yellow or gold. The S.A.S.D. (Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologist) have noticed that the baby dragon (Smauglybob) changes with the paraments in the church so it is indeed a Draconus Liturgicous. Here's a picture on a recent outing.

I have too much

I have too much going on right now. It's a mad rush to get the kids ready for school -- and I have contracted to have the exterior of the house painted. The painters start on Monday -- and I have asked for an estimate for the interior. I've managed to burn myself with Jello (second degree) and my eldest has dropped her father's laptop computer. I anticipate an outcry for the sacrifice of my first-born, but I hope that I can convince the Loving Husband that Mercy is greater than Justice. Busy-ness is actually ramping up right now. I am looking forward to the "rest time." I can't even string together two thoughts right now to make a passable blog entry...

Busy kind of day

Today is your basic busy day. Registration for school for the kids. Open house this afternoon. Admin Council tonight. Busy-ness. Which if you use normal spelling rules becomes business. I've been contemplating a lot of things recently. Gluttony is one of them. Gluttony is more than just food, I have come to realize. I wonder if gluttony is anytime we fill our lives up with stuff and activities so that we do not have to think about the voids we have inside. Being busy makes us think we are "accomplishing something" that gives our lives a sense of value -- and then we say that we value peace and quiet, contentment, stillness. Is that not a conundrum? It actually makes little to no sense.

I am becoming a fan of a regular schedule -- routine. Structure. When the kids are in school and I am not, I can easily structure in a space for contemplation. When there is no structure, I cannot seem to find that space or time. There is a sort of discipline to be found in a structured space for stillness.

I've blogged before about seasons of life, seasons of time in the year. I am entering into that season again where I can take that time to contemplate -- to reorder and restructure my house so that there is room. I'm looking forward to it.

What's new in your life?

More pictures

I am going to post a few more pictures today -- but first, RLP has launched a new site and has a chat box available. Addicitive, I'm telling you. Addicitive.

Spaceship One


T6s


B25


Liberty Bell (B17)


Formation including Glacier Girl


A Wisconsin Barn -- the countryside is beautiful

Home.

Feels wonderful.

However, more than 12 hours from door to door for an hour and a half plane trip seems excessive.

Tired -- so here's some pictures.



The obligatory airshow picture


The airplane the Loving Husband is building in the basement


Glacier Girl


Global Flyer


P51

Are you lonely tonight?

I suppose I am. I'm in a stranger's house (rented for the week) with the kids and the husband gone to the EAA museum -- we've had wave after wave of people in the house this week. All men. The testosterone levels were/are high. I am ready to go home. I want to watch movies that don't have any bombs going off or any airplanes. Nothing about WWII either. I want a chick-flick.

What's new in your life?

From Oshkosh

Sheet Music for Hail Columbia found here -- and image of an original piece from around 1898. Which I think is just too cool.

A midi file can be found here.

And here is a picture of White Knight and Spaceship One landing at Oshkosh on Monday. I have a lot of pictures to post, but no way to get them online at this time. I am depending on internet cafes and the computer at the house we are renting. The EAA website is a great site for information about the show. Check it out here. Tonight Harrison Ford is going to speak at the Theatre in the Woods. Should I go?? Hmmm... Let me think.

And today I am meeting IRL another blogger (a RevGalBlogPal). Oh, boy, I can't wait!

Hail Columbia!

Yesterday and today I have stood in the presence of some giants of aviation and within a foot of Spaceship One, which is the first independent spacecraft to reach the outer bounds of space. This morning I watched on television the launch of the Discovery and was strangely anxious. I have followed the space program since a child -- I wanted to be an astronaut. I have a wall covered with original photographs of many of the great moments in the history of NASA. I cheered on a close friend when she applied for the teacher in space programs so long ago -- she made the final ten and we consoled her at the death of her friend Christa. I remember that day so vividly -- as well as the day that the Apollo One caught on fire. I remember the shock and sadness when I watched and realized that Columbia was not going to be landing.

After the Discovery took off this morning, there was a call for a moment of silence for the crew of the Columbia and then they played this song.

Hail Columbia, happy land!
Hail, ye heroes, heav'n-born band,
Who fought and bled in freedom's cause,
Who fought and bled in freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was gone
Enjoy'd the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.

Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Immortal patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize,
While off'ring peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven's we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.

Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Behold the chief who now commands,
Once more to serve his country stands.
The rock on which the storm will break,
The rock on which the storm will break,
But armed in virtue, firm, and true,
His hopes are fixed on Heav'n and you.
When hope was sinking in dismay,
When glooms obscured Columbia's day,
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolved on death or liberty.

Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Sound, sound the trump of fame,
Let Washington's great fame
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let ev'ry clime to freedom dear,
Listen with a joyful ear,
With equal skill, with God-like pow'r
He governs in the fearful hour
Of horrid war, or guides with ease
The happier time of honest peace.

Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

As Robert Crippen said "There's heavy grief in our hearts, which will diminish in time, but it will never go away and we will never forget. Hail Rick, Willie, KC, Mike, Laurel, Dave and Ilan. Hail Columbia."

Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.
Hail Columbia, indeed.

(Note: Hail Columbia is our first national anthem.)

More here.