A Prayer for the Journey

God,

Remind me daily why I am on this journey. Remind me that you are leading me, and as I hear Your voice, I will follow You, because I know Your voice1. You are also with me, and Your rod and staff comfort me2. Not only that, but goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life3. That includes today.

Unless you build the house, my work is useless4 because apart from You I can do nothing. 5 May I become so busy or so slothful that I lose touch with you as the Vine. I need to remember that you call me to come to You when I am weary and heavy laden, so that You can give me rest for my soul. As I share Your yoke, I will find that Your yoke is easy and your burden is light. 6I cannot plough the furrow myself.

The good things I do today cannot save me – only grace, as Your gift to me. Thank You for this gift. I receive it with faith.7 Nevertheless, I have been created in You, Christ, for good works, prepared for me by You, Father. All this flows from my identity in You, as Your workmanship. 8 Lead me into these good works, that I may be clear that I am walking in Your will and not labouring in vain.

There will be many voices clamouring for my attention today. Over them all, may I hear Your voice, as You stand at my door and patiently knock, waiting to be invited in so we can share a meal together.9 I open that door now, inviting You in. Let all needs be addressed from this dining room; let all hearts be spoken to from this dining room; may I never leave this room to do ‘ministry’, but remind me that all ministry flows from this meal we are sharing together.

As I walk through this broken world with You today, Lord, I understand that I am chosen of You. I am holy and dearly loved. In response, I choose right now to clothe myself with compassion, with kindness, with humility, with gentleness and with patience. Strengthen me to bear with others, and remind me to forgive what ever grievances I have against others, as a pale reflection of the way You forgave me. Over all these virtues I choose to put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. 10

Prince of Peace, may Your peace rule in my heart since, with my brothers and sisters as one body, we were called to peace. Spring up a fount of thankfulness in my heart11, for Your joy is my strength. 12

Father, in You I stand firm. In You, nothing will move me. I give myself fully, without reservation, wholeheartedly to Your work, because I know that my labour in You is not in vain13 – it has purpose, it has meaning, it has a reason, no matter how mundane, frustrating or humiliating it is.

Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the power, Yours is the glory. Forever and ever.
Amen

1 John 10:4

2 Psalm 23:4

3 Psalm 23:6

4 Psalm 127:1

5 John 15:5

6 Matt 11:28-30

7 Eph 2:8

8 Eph 2:10

9 Rev 3:20

10 Colossians 3:12-14

11 Colossians 3:15

12 Nehemiah 8:10

13 1 Corinthians 15:58

Far from the madding crowd

You've probably heard by now the incident where Joshua Bell, world-renowned violinist played his $3 million Stradivarius in Washington subway station for 45 minutes. I think it was 2007. him. You can watch the astounding video here.

The Times online reports:

The results were astonishing, at least to Bell, who is accustomed to wowing packed concert halls of rapt listeners. Of the 1,097 people who passed him, just seven stopped to listen. A further 20 tossed coins into his fiddle case as they hurried by. Just one person recognized who Bell was. The rest of the 1,097 commuters — all 1,070 of them — walked within a few feet of this virtuoso, his priceless fiddle and the magnificent sound of Bach without any discernible reaction whatsover.

“It was a strange feeling,” Bell later recalled, “that people were actually ignoring me.” Particularly strange, I would guess, when, at the end of each piece, his playing (which usually brings standing ovations) elicited not a single clap. (to read this Times article in full, click here)

I think it's one of the pitfalls of my job, being a Pastor, but I've joined Walmart and Loblaws in starting to think about Christmas...in fact, I've been thinking about Christmas for a couple of weeks already. I've already had to say "no" to a couple of engagements, discovered that I'm double-booked for at least one event and have witnessed my December calendar getting very, very full already!

I hate when Christmas gets so full of stuff that Christ gets lost in the middle of it. He's there, on the sidelines, playing his wonderful music of grace, truth, hope and peace, as I rush by, earbuds in ears trying to figure out how I can slow down enough to spend time with Him this Christmas. If only I could stop. If only I chose to slow down. If only I decided to stay a while, breathe and whisper "Ah, there you are"

In the middle of all the expectations of the oncoming Christmas season, the only one that really counts surely is him. It's not about a season. It's not about expectations. It's not about trimmings and turkey and stuffing and presents...it's about stopping long enough, and often enough to BE with the King of Kings as He graciously welcomes into His presence.

A couple of ideas to get into a place where you can be with Christ this Christmas

• Turn the radio off in the car, and listen to the silence
• Meditate on verses of scripture throughout your day. Chew over what "Wonderul, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of peace"
  
• Set "Sacred Space" as your homepage throughout advent and intentional visit this space-making website of scriptural meditation every day.
• Listen to worship-based Christmas CDs, such as Chris Tomlin's "Glory in the Highest", Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God" (my fave), Graham Kendrick's "Dreaming of a Holy Night" rather than the poppy, whimsical fun ones.