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Hat tip to Sarah Thomas Baldwin, whose amazing blog is coming soon. posted by John David Walt | at 12/21/2007 08:33:00 PM | 3 comments
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Advent Prayer-- Week 3 Almighty God, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, giver of the Holy Spirit, we gather to thank you for the gift of Christmas and for Advent, the season of preparation. With every week the lights grow brighter, our anticipation heightens and our attention sharpens. We affirm that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us: because the Lord has anointed us. (Isaiah 61:1)
We are looking to you, the Mighty One, who has done great things. Teach us to worship you. Show us what it means for our souls to magnify the Lord. Instruct our spirits in what it means to rejoice in God our Savior. (Luke 1:47-49) For you have done great things for us and we are filled with joy. (Psalm 126:3) You have clothed us with the garments of salvation and covered us with the robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10)
We affirm that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us: because the Lord has anointed us.
As the Son of God was formed in Mary’s womb, so we bless you because your Spirit is forming His life within us for the sake of the World. In a time of unparalleled prosperity, we come before you to pray for the poor. Across the world, countless millions of children roam the streets in search of their next meal. We stand in your presence now on their behalf. In our own community we witness some of the worst poverty of all: lonliness. Make us to be good news to them. We take our stand with them now.
We affirm that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us: because the Lord has anointed us.
We remember the brokenhearted, those whose loved ones have been lost to the hatred of war, the violence of disease, the injustice of death. As those among us stand, receive it as prayer and bind up their brokenness with our love.
We affirm that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us: because the Lord has anointed us.
As your anointed, we plead for release to the captives. For many of our brothers and sisters around the world, the Gospel has meant persecution and captivity. By your Spirit, cause some among us to stand now as prayer for their release and reward. We pray for friends and loved ones in our midst who have become prisoners in webs of addiction. Make our standing on their behalf to become the seeds of your deliverance, the planting of the Lord, to display your glory. (Isaiah 61:3)
We affirm that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us: because the Lord has anointed us.
Give these for whom we pray a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. (Isaiah 61:3) Fill their mouths with laughter and their tongues with shouts of joy so that it may be said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” (Psalm 126:2)
Lord Jesus Christ, make our lives and our life together to magnify you. Cause our glad tidings and good singing to combust into worship that moves the World. We bless you, the one who is, who was and is to come as we pray the prayer you taught us: posted by John David Walt | at 12/20/2007 08:40:00 AM | 0 comments
Monday, December 17, 2007
Matthew 11:25 MY SISTER, MISSIE, SENT THIS TO ME TODAY. WILL TAKE YOU 2:23 TO LISTEN. ITS INSPIRED. COMES FROM KSBJ IN HOUSTON. JD
posted by John David Walt | at 12/17/2007 05:16:00 PM | 2 comments
Thursday, December 13, 2007
MY GRANDFATHER SINGS AGAIN I found a cassette with your voice singing.
The wheels of the tape turned away from time
to let me hear your rendition of Folsom Prison Blues.
When I was a boy, I sat on your lap and you taught
me those words--the song of a lonely prisoner
staring from his cell window at the miles
of metal rail that lead the train past the jail.
When I was a boy, the dollar bill woven in your strings
was a rattling snare of steam; your voice was a wheel
grinding the track, rolling across California.
But now, when that song floats into my adult ears,
you are the whole train pressing on into the distance
and I am the prisoner listening to a whistle blow
the hot sound of freedom. I am watching
the train's slow escape, the soot billow falling behind
to earth as a frown of black cloud.
This is one of my sensei's poem's-- one of my favorites-- from his collection entitled, "Morning and What has Come Since." (Finish Line Press) Dave Harrity's blog is here.
Why do these images feel like Advent to me?
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 12/13/2007 07:07:00 PM | 1 comments
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Chris Seay on Christmas We were with Chris Seay last week at the Refresh Conference in Houston, Texas. He hit us hard with some Christmas challenge. You can get a feel for it here:
posted by John David Walt | at 12/11/2007 02:13:00 PM | 1 comments
Sunday, December 09, 2007
An Advent Prayer for a Season of Preparation Almighty God, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, giver of the Holy Spirit, we gather to adore you in worship. Our heart’s desire is to behold your glory. And yet if we are honest we must admit that your glory is a sight we cannot even imagine and a reality for which we are scarcely prepared.
We hear reverberating in our souls the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3)
We want these days of Advent to be all celebration when they call us to a season of preparation. We want to rejoice and John calls us to repent. We want to feast and John calls us to fast. We want to be awash in the spirit of Christmas and yet you speak of One who is coming who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. (Mark 1:1-8) For all our apparent strength, we confess with the prophet: our lives are as grass and our constancy like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:6-7) Prepare us to behold the Christ, who is the glory of Christmas, the very Word of God made flesh. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him that his glory may dwell in our land. (Psalm 85:9) And so we pray, Prepare the way of the Lord: Make his paths straight.
Make us to know your ways, O Lord; teach us your paths. Lead us in your truth and teach us, for you are the God of our salvation; for you we wait all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5) For with you one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. (2 Peter 3:8) We know your return will not resemble your birth. On that day the heavens will pass away and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. (2 Peter 3:10) For the prepared, your glory will break forth with resplendent joy. For the unprepared, the same glory will be unmitigated terror. And so we pray, Prepare the way of the Lord: Make his paths straight.
Bring down the high ways of our pride and arrogance. Lift up the cancerous valleys of sickness and depression and despair. Make smooth and straight the rough and crooked ways of our secret addictions to sin, our duplicitous ways of relationship and our idolatrous love of money. Teach us the ways of humility, holiness and godliness in our personal lives, with our families, at work and at play. Grant us courage to have the same integrity in every circumstance, to be the same person in every crowd. Teach us the ways of confession and repentance that Christmas might become more than we ever imagined. Prepare the way of the Lord: Make his paths straight.
We wait with longing for the day when faithfulness will spring up from the ground and righteousness will look down from the sky. We long for our lives and our church to be havens where steadfast love and faithfulness meet, where righteousness and peace kiss each other. (Psalm 85:10-11) And as we wait we pray, Prepare the way of the Lord: Make his paths straight. As together we pray the prayer of our Lord, Our Father who art in Heaven. . . posted by John David Walt | at 12/09/2007 07:16:00 PM | 0 comments
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Stay Hungry. . . . Stay Foolish. If you can spare 15 minutes, take a listen to Steve Jobs 2005 commencement address at Stanford. It is inspiring. For you neophytes-- Jobs is the founder of Apple Computers, Pixar and most every other great idea in the past 30 years.
posted by John David Walt | at 12/08/2007 10:08:00 PM | 0 comments
Sunday, December 02, 2007
A Prayer as Advent Opens An Advent Prayer for Attention and Anticipation
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, giver of the Holy Spirit, we bless, honor, adore and bow low before you. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead your people like a flock. You who are enthroned on the cherubim, shine forth. (Psalm 80:1) From ages past noone has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:4)
Come Holy Spirit and inaugurate Advent in our midst. Come and open up the book of a new year of our Lord. Lift our hearts to long for your coming and loose our longing to imagine your Kingdom.
We confess—Advent, the season of holy anticipation, has become for us a sign of anxiety. Like Martha, we busy ourselves with so many things, preparing for a celebration of our own design. We confess—our attention has become distraction. Our hearts, minds and souls are divided as we literally surf the channels of our consumeristic culture. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) Begin anew this Advent to shape us. Make us like Mary to sit at the feet of our Lord Jesus and discover the only necessary thing: your Presence. Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. Shape these days of Advent into a season of undivided attention; of holy anticipation.
As we sing of peace on Earth and good will to all people, open our ears to hear the mournful songs of a war-torn world; the unquenchable cries of ordinary families like our own whose losses are beyond our ability to comprehend. As we prepare to wrap the countless gifts our children will open on Christmas morning, open our hearts to the countless children for whom Christmas morning will be yet another day to survive. Lead us to respond to you in remembering them who will otherwise receive nothing, who are orphaned, whose parents are dead, distant or imprisoned. Open our eyes to see those neighbors nearest to us who are lonely, afraid, sick and suffering. We confess, our lifestyles have become enclaves of escape from the pain and suffering that surrounds us. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) Let this year be different, Lord. Shape our attention in these days of Advent into a lifestyle of love for neighbor and the needy.
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead your people like a flock. You who are enthroned on the cherubim, shine forth. (Psalm 80:1) O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence. (Isaiah 64:1) As we remember and celebrate the birth of the baby in Bethlehem, let us not forget that the King is returning. We confess we have made ourselves at home in a World that is not our home. We know a time is coming when the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; when the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. We know the Son of Man will come on the clouds with great power and glory and he will send out his angels to gather his elect from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Matthew 13:24-27) Stir in our hearts a holy anticipation for the World to come, and an undying urgency for the world that is passing away. By your Spirit make us watchful and wakeful. For you, O LORD, are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)
Come Holy Spirit and inaugurate Advent in our midst. Come and open up the book of a new year of our Lord. Hear us as we pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven. . . . .
Labels: passion year, practicing the story
posted by John David Walt | at 12/02/2007 09:35:00 PM | 3 comments
Today...