Pax et Bonum

The Online worship resource for St. James Parish

January 21, 2009

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being.
Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric?
Think first about the foundations of humility.
The higher your structure is to be,
the deeper must be its foundation.
---St. Augustine---
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and all the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who live s and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
--Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany--

The Light of Christ

Our gospel for Sunday continues the story of the calling of the disciples. It is part of the great lesson of the season of Epiphany, which marks the light of God coming into the world through Christ.

During winter, I sometimes feel as though I am starved of light.

Yesterday, the sun was shining so beautifully, I had to be out in it, in spite of the 17 degree weather. My canine walking partner, Stella, and I both put on our winter coats, and walked along the Path of Light that circle the fields of the church. The light of the sun soaked into us more deeply than the frigid wind. Oh how I have missed that sunlight!

In the same way that sunlight gives our bodies the vitamin D they so deeply crave, so does the Light of Christ shine upon our souls, feeding us with its life-giving rays. Our souls need light - the light that comes through union with Christ in prayer, in worship, and in relationship one with another.

Jesus came as the Light of the World, to dispel the darkness within and without. He gives us the opportunity to not only be a recipient of that light, but to be a carrier as well.

In Epiphany, I use the blessing from the Book of Occasional Services: "May Christ the Son of God be manifest in you, that your lives may be a light to the world."

May we learn to soak up the rays of Christ’s light, that we may truly be the lights we are called to be.

I Shall Not Be Shaken

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Psalm 62

For now we have our feet on firm ground. We seek the level pathway, the way of the Lord.

As I watched the inaugural events yesterday, I had a sense of truth, purpose and new beginnings. It was reported that while our new president was speaking the crowd was silent.
They wanted to hear what he had to say.

When we are silent before God, we are saying that we want to hear what God has to say. And God speaks in many languages -
the language of presence and image,
the language of hope and challenge,
the language of stillness and the language of movement.

There is no place where we cannot hear the voice of God, if we will be still enough to listen.

For our country, yesterday was a turning point.
A turning point can be a kind of conversion - a turning around to see a new way ahead.

This Sunday is a celebration of St. Paul’s conversion, as well as the third Sunday in Epiphany.

The Psalmist encourages us to think of a rock that is not shaken as we think of what God is for us - And yet, in order to experience conversion, sometimes we have to be shaken up, don’t we?

So here is the paradox for us today.
We are shaken up, but we have not fallen.
We are turning but not away from the Way ahead.

Can we affirm, with the Psalmist, that we have not been shaken away from the beauty and stillness that is the heart of God? Instead we have been shaken so that the old obstacles are falling away and our conversion is as light as a dance step.

I shall not be shaken, but I shall be moved.

Blessings,
Debra

Daily Morning Prayer

Daily Morning Prayer

This Week at St. James

Prayers Etc.

What does love look like?
It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like.
---St. Augustine---

For those on our prayer list:

In Closing:

O thou who camest from above,
The pure celestial fire to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.
 
There let it for thy glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze,
And trembling to its source return
In humble prayer, and fervent praise.
---Charles Wesley---

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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