Monday, February 1

This stained glass window is found in the Central Church of Christ (Disciples), Orlando, Florida. In addition to this striking windows inside, CCC also has the oldest drive-in worship service in the nation. It began on November 23, 1952.

The church's guide to the stained glass windows describes the Wisdom Window as follows:

Wisom, as understood in the scriptures as coming from God, is more an ethical than an intellectual word. In the state of sin, man confused wisdom with intellectual and philosophical knowledge. Thus, St. Paul derided the Greeks for their seeking after wisdom. The wisdom of God is beyond the comprehension of man. Divine wisdom is not something man reaches for through the mind, but rather it is what God reveals. It is the final knowledge of good and evil.

The window explodes in all directions with a radiance of golden light which penetrates and enlightens all. At the center is the primary symbol of the Christian faith, the cross. We are reminded of Paul's words, "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe...we preach Christ crucified" (I Corinthians 1:21-23).

Today's scripture continues Paul's discussion of "the wisdom of this age" and the deeper wisdom of God's Spirit. Read 1 Corinthians 2:6:-16.

Today's Prayer
Dear God, You are the All Wise Lord of All, seen and unseen.
I pray that you will reveal yourself to me in truth,
for too often I think of you in my terms
and build a concept of you out of cheap stuff.
Forgive the idolatry and vain pride of my efforts.
Enter my life, and fill me with your Holy Spirit.
Give me your blessing and show me your path,
that my life may honor you and bless others
Amen

Thursday, January 28, 2009

                                    

I Baptize Thee, William Johnson, 1940

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Read Acts 10:44-48

Reflection

When Jesus was baptized, as he was coming up out of the water, the Spirit descended on him like a dove. (Matthew 3:13-17) First baptism, then the Spirit.

In this passage from Acts, the Spirit fell on the listeners as Peter was preaching. The people began speaking in tongues and exalting God. Peter realized that he could not withhold the water of baptism from those who had received the Spirit, so he ordered that everyone be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. First, the preaching, then the Spirit and its manifestations, and then the water of baptism.

Both stories (and additional variations) hold a place in the New Testament. The administration of baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit are common to those stories; but the stories tell of differing experiences by different people.

I don't believe that there is a prescribed order by which these things must take place. After all, we are talking about gifts of God's grace. They cannot be reduced to a formula. God works in each of our lives differently.

The more important question is whether we are living out our experiences of baptism and of God's Spirit in a way that is consistent with our new identity and the expectations of Jesus Christ.

Monday, January 25

 The results for "love" in the Visual Thesaurus

Verse of the Day

So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.  (1 Corinthians 14:12)

Voice of the Day

When love works in the community, the community is built up, not necessarily or primarily in numbers. . . . Love usually brings out the best in the ones loving and the ones being loved; love usually elicits love in response. 

J. Paul Sampley, The First Letter of Corinthians, The New Interpreters Bible.

Prayer of the Day

Lord, we rarely give the spiritual gifts much thought, and, when we do, we easily dismiss them as irrelevant to our lives and congregations. Stir in us a desire to discern our own giftedness for the sake of your church. And may all gifts be tested, motivated, and guided by the most excellent gift of love. Amen

Friday, December 11, 2009

The picture is of Thomas Merton's bed in his hermitage at Our Lady of Gethsemini Monastery in Kentucky.

Verse of the Day

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. Amos 8: 11-12

Voice of the Day

Spirituality is not exhausted in the private prayer closet. We carry our experience of God into the places where we conduct our business, raise our families, enjoy our leisure, engage in social and political involvements, and refresh ourselves in friendships. John Indermark, The Prayer Paths of Jesus, p. 43

Prayer of the Day

Faithful God, we await the advent of your final glory when every tear shall be wiped away and hungry people shall have their fill. Grant us the Spirit of all hope that the darkness of war and oppression may give way to the fullness of the victory of Christ. We ask this through Christ our peace. Amen.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Verse of the Day

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Isaiah 35: 6-7

Voice of the Day

Since, for the Christian, God is always incarnate and present, there is no place on earth that is not a possible route to God. In nature's health and beauty, I see God; in nature's deterioration and destruction, I see that God is here also. In the first case a Yes and in the second a No. Sallie McFague

Prayer of the Day

Christ in all things

restore our senses

and give us again

that experience of joy

in all created things.

Christ in all things

in the waves breaking on the shore;

in the beauty of the sunset;

in the fragrant blossom of Spring;

in the music that makes our hearts dance;

in the kisses of embracing love;

in the cries of the innocent.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Verse of the Day

The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know the Lord on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.

Isaiah 19: 21

Voice of the Day

The oldest Christmas tree to be decorated standing in a parlor is described in a fragment of a 1605 travel diary left by an unidentified visitor to Strasbourg. The writer tells of fir trees set up and hung with paper roses of many different colors and with apples, flat wafers, gilded candies, and sugar. In early Christian art the rose was a symbol for the Virgin Mary, and the flat wavers are obviously related to the "host," the communion symbol for Christ. By the seventeenth century, then, the age-old, winter-defying evergreen was a common sight in Christian homes honoring the Christ Child.

Phillip Snyder

Prayer of the Day

We rejoice with joy and singing, for the coming of the Lord is near.

For all who walk in God's Holy Way, those in the pews and in the pulpits, those at home and on the streets, for all who ponder God's promise in their, and all who carry the good news into the world; For all who are nearest to you, O God - the lonely, the out-of-work, the sick, the fearful, the cold, and the hungry. For the one who is sorry, and the one who is ashamed. It is you, our God of hope, who sets all prisoners free.

We are waiting, O God, with all the patience we can muster. Beloved of angels and archangels, Lover of saints and sinners, God our Savior, to you alone we pray, Amen.

The Art History Reading Challenge: The Challenge

The Art History Reading Challenge: The Challenge
I am participating in the 2010 Art History Reading Challenge. There are a variety of such reading challenges on the web. This one requires reading 6 fiction or nonfiction books dealing with art history during 2010. I will soon post the list of books I have chosen. Find a challenge which matches or stretches your current reading, and enjoy!

Friday, December 4,2009

The Japanese Bridge at Monet's Waterlily Pond


Verse of the Day
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. . . . I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.
Philippians 1:21-25

Voice of the Day
Joy because we die not into dust, into nothingness; we die into life, life more complete, more intense, more satisfying than anything we now experience, life face to face with God. Life without end. Joy because we die into love.
Walter Burghardt, S. J. To Be Just Is to Love, p.49

Prayer of the Day
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Verse of the Day

“This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation."

Luke 11:29-30

Voice of the Day

People need to learn how to offer and accept forgiveness and how to serve and be served. As a school of love, the church becomes a congregation where people learn from one another how to love. People need to know that life is not having something to live on but something to live for, that life comes not from taking for oneself but by giving of oneself. People need a sustaining sense of purpose.

Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, p. 18

Prayer of the Day

Father in heaven, the day draws near when the glory of your Son will make radiant the night of the waiting world. May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy which moves the hearts of those who seek him. May the darkness not blind us to the vision of wisdom which fills the minds of those who find him. Amen.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Verse of the Day

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Revelation 22:13

Voice of the Day

They watch for Christ

who are sensitive, eager, apprehensive in mind,

who are awake, alive, quick-sighted,

zealous in honoring him,

who look for him in all that happens, and

who would not be surprised,

who would not be over-agitated or overwhelmed,

if they found that he is coming at once.

This then is to watch:

to desire his second coming, from our affectionate

and grateful remembrance of his first.

John Henry Newman

Prayer of the Day

God of majesty and power,

Hasten the advent of that day

when the weapons of war shall be banished,

our deeds of darkness cast off,

and all your scattered children gathered into one.

We ask this through him whose coming is certain,

whose day draws near: your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Manday, November 30, 2009

Verse of the Day

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1: 5-8

Voice of the Day

The only way that we become convinced of our own sense of empowerment and the power of the Spirit and the truth of the Gospel is by crossing a line -- a line of decision, testing, asking, doing, and owning the consequences. It has a certain degree of non-sensical-ness, unprovability to it. That's why we call it faith. When we cross that line we act in a new way based on what we believe the Kingdom values are. Walking is probably a lot more important than talking, even if we walk the wrong direction for awhile. Richard Rohr

Prayer of the Day

O God, help us to be alert this Advent, alert to your presence in our world today and alert to the salvation you brought through your incarnation in Jesus, and alert to my deep longing for your Kingdom. Amen

Friday, November 27, 2009

Verse of the Day

pray without ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Voice of the Day

In the most general sense, every presence of man or woman before the face of God is a prayer; but this presence must become a constant and conscious attitude - prayer must become perpetual, as uninterrupted as breathing or the beating of the heart.

Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 209

Prayer of the Day

O God, you created the world from the silence of nothingness. You became flesh in the quiet of the night. You claim us with the mere trickling of water. May we continue, day by day, to be attentive to your presence, as near to us as our breath. Amen.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The photograph is of Devil's Tower in Wyoming

Verse of the Day

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world.

John 16:33

Voice of the Day

Hugging is a beautiful Western custom, and we from the East would like to contribute the practice of conscious breathing to it. When you hold a child in your arms, or hug your mother, or your husband, or your friend, if you breathe in and out three times, your happiness will be multiplied at least tenfold.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step, p. 85.

Prayer of the Day

O God of peace, you weave your way through our hearts to share with us covenantal love. May we broaden our understanding of being peacemakers in our world today. Grant this in the name of Jesus whose birth heralded peace on earth. Amen.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

This illustration, a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape, appeared in The Hornet, a satirical magazine, on March 22, 1871. Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species, was published on this day in 1859.

Verse of the Day

The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and the saints and all who fear your name, both great and small, and for destroying those who destroy the earth.

Revelation 11:18

Voice of the Day

Modern evolutionary theory continues to develop. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, with its tree like model of branching common descent, has become the unifying theory of the life sciences. The theory explains the diversity of living organisms and their adaptation to the environment. It makes sense of the geologic record, biogeography, parallels in embryonic development, biological homologies, vestigiality, cladistics and other fields, with unrivalled explanatory power; it has also become essential to applied sciences such as medicine and agriculture. Despite the scientific consensus, there has been political and religious controversy over how evolution is taught in schools, especially in the United States.

Prayer of the Day - A Blessing

May the good Lord show you

how to be frugal, till all are fed;

how to weep, till all can laugh;

how to be meek, till all can stand in pride;

how to mourn, till all are comforted;

how to be restless, till all live in peace;

how to claim less, till all find justice.

Then you will be blessed indeed

and the earth itself shall be blessed

through you.

Monday, Novenber 23, 2009

The artwork is an Advent Cross

Verse of the Day
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up hither!" And in the sight of their foes, the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud. Revelation 11:12

Voice of the Day
A common temptation of religious people who claim to be prophets is to speak at a level of generality that ignores the specificity of context and situation. Christian speakers are too often quick with a general comment, manifesting a vagueness that floats over a situation at a sufficiently uncontroversial and nonthreatening level. This ignores one of the major elements of prophecy, the necessity of commenting on specific matters.
The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol XII, p. 646

Prayer of the Day
O God of Compassion, you come to be with us in our humanity. Enable us to move beyond our stagnant places to embrace your life giving waters of new birth. We ask you to bless us in the name of the Eternal Word, who was, who is, and who will always be. Amen.

Thursday, November 19,2009

Verse of the Day

As for those who in the present age are rich, command then not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17

Voice of the Day

How can I maintain access to the spiritual in myself while living a life of relative affluence and awful money tensions that leave me feeling at times dead and at times in doleful exile from myself? How can I justify wanting and having money when people are starving? How can I let go of my fears about money which totally absorb my thoughts? Why should I want more when I have enough? Why does spending money cause me so much pain?

Prayer of the Day

Set me free, O God, to go off with you today on one wild, specific tangent after another, immersed and amazed in the wonder and even terror of your immense creative beauty. Amen

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Verse of the Day
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. Luke 4:28-29


Voice of the Day
For different purposes we belong to different groups and we live by our loyalties, among which loyalty to the search for truth does not rank as high as it ought. The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and to hold them in the right scale of values. The value of dissent and dissenters is to make us reappraise those values with supreme concern for the truth. Norman Thomas, Great Dissenters, p.13


Prayer of the Day
In the silence before time began, in the quiet of the womb, in the stillness of the morning is your beauty. At the heart of all creation, at the birth of every creature, at the center of each moment is your splendor. Rekindle in me the sparks of your beauty that I may be part of the blazing splendor that burns from the heart of this moment. J. Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal, p.38

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Verse of the Day

I would have younger widows marry, bear children, rule their their households, and give the enemy no occasion to revile us. 1 Timothy 5:14

Voice of the Day

We need the vision of interbeing -- we belong to each other; we cannot cut reality into pieces. The well-being of "this" is the well-being of "that," so we have to do things together. Every side is "our side"; there is no evil side. Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step, p. 14

Prayer of the Day

Your gift of life is a source of joy for us, O God, but the challenge to grow often weighs us down. Give us the courage to live responsibly in all the areas of our lives. Let all that we do radiate our faith and hope in your love for us. Bless all who encourage us on the way, as together we strive for the unity that is yours, Creator, Word, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Monday, November 16, 2009

An icon of Jesus calling the disciples.

There will not be a post today. Our friends Frank and Juliette are in the hospital after a motorcycle accident. Please hold them in your prayers.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The photograph is of the Japanese Bridge draped with wisteria at Monet's garden in Giverny.

Verse of the Day

The rich in this world are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed. 1 Timothy 6: 18-19

Voice of the Day

Jesus suggested that our giving of alms is one of the ways that we can make our repentance real and can live in imitation of God. The church does not take up a collection in worship simply to pay its bills. The church collects money to teach us to be generous like Jesus, to give us the opportunity to practice our repentance in a community of grace. Unruh, Finding Christ Finding Life, p. 13

Prayer of the Day

We confess, O God, that we have not been a repentant people. Frustrated by feelings of hopelessness, we have looked after ourselves rather than care for your people. Instead of giving generously, we have hoarded our possessions and sought more income. Instead of fasting spiritually, we have eaten on the run and satisfied only our stomachs.

Forgive us for choosing our way rather than your way. Amen.