When the Road Ahead is in Darkness

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think that I am following your will
Does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road
Though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust in you always
Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
And will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thomas Merton

Descending Darkness

This Sunday’s gospel text is the Transfiguration, a story we hear more than once a year. It is the portrayal of three close companions of Jesus on a journey with their master, who encounter the unexpected in a cloud of unknowing. Instead of a nice picnic on a hillside, they are enveloped in the darkness of a cloud, to find Moses, Elijah, and a transfigured and fearfully Holy Jesus standing before them. Out of their moment of darkness came the light of Christ, showing them the path in a very different way.

We are soon to descend into the darkness of Lent, and this last Epiphany text is a reminder that no matter how dark things seem, the Light of Christ will show the way through. Before we descend into Lent, we are given a taste of the resurrected Christ in all his glory as he is transfigured before the disciples. It is a foreshadowing of the great event at the end of the Lenten journey – the joyous celebration of Christ’s triumph over death at Easter. The Light of Christ will triumph over darkness, in our own lives, in the life of the Church, and in the world.

Sometimes, when the darkness looms fearfully ahead, we have difficulty finding our way. It is at these times that we can remember the great promise of Christmas, that Emmanuel, which means God with Us, is our ever-constant companion, no matter how fearsome the darkness is. We can trust Jesus, Emmanuel, to lead us forth through the darkness and into the light once again. We can trust God to give us the direction we need.

Letting Go

I behold the Christ in you.
I place you lovingly in the care of the All Caring One.
I release you from my anxiety and concern.
I let go of my possessive hold on you.
I am willing to free you to follow the dictates of the indwelling spirit.
I am willing to free you to live your life according to your
Best light understanding.
Husband, wife, child, friend,
I no longer try to force my ideas on you, my ways on you.
I lift my thoughts above you, above the personal level.
I see you as God sees you,
A spiritual being,
Created in God’s image,
Endowed with qualities and abilities that make you needed and
Important not only to me but to God and God’s larger perspective.
I do not bind you.
I no longer believe that you do not have
The understanding you need in order to meet life.
I bless you.
I have faith in you.
I behold Jesus in you.
Herve Marcoux, OMI

Daily Morning Prayer:
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/churchonthewebpage.htm

This Week at St. James:

Saturday: 11:00 Memorial service for Michael Patterson; 6:30 – 11:30 p.m. Patron’s Wine and Music Festival
Sunday: 10:15 Sunday Morning Blender; Candlemas Award; 11:45 Inquirer’s Class; 3:30 Concert with Flutist Reinhard Sunnus; 4:00 Epiphany Evensong
Monday: 9:00 Confirmation Planning meeting; 10:00 CS Lewis Book Study
Tuesday: 5:30 Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
Wednesday: Ash Wednesday Liturgies: 8:30 a.m., Meditation Chapel; 8:40 a.m., Church (academy); 8:00 p.m. Church

Prayers Etc.

Dear Lord,
We give you our hands to do your work;
We give you our feet to go your way.
We give you our eyes to see as you see;
We give you our tongues to speak your words;
We give you our minds that you may think in us;
We give you our spirit that you may pray in us.
Above all, we give you are hearts that you may love in us –
Love the Father and love all humankind.
We give you our whole selves, Lord,
That you may grow in us,
So that it is you who lives, works and prays in us. AMEN Contributed by Susan Baxter

For those on our prayer list:
David; Brittany; Arabella; Lori S.; Owen
Jennifer D.; Rob C.; Nancy K.; Ed S.; Chris
Betsy, Jim and Family; Michelle K; Krista B.; Dolores
Kirby; Mary S.; Rebecca; Andrew; Jason

In Closing:

I close with a prayer that has become very meaningful for many of the women who meet together on Wednesday morning. It is called the Prayer of Abandonment, It is attributed to Charles de Foucauld who lived as a Trappist monk, and later a hermit in the Sahara desert, desiring to be a brother to all he met. Foucauld’s deepest desire was to "shout the gospel with my life."

Father, I abandon myself into your hands.
Do with me as you will.
Whatever happens in my life I desire to discover
You through it.
I thank you for whatever will be.
Let only your will be done in me,
And in all your creatures…
I wish no more than this.
Into your hands I commend my soul.
I offer myself to you with all my heart.
I love you, my God.
I desire to surrender myself into hour hands
Without reserve, and with boundless confidence,
For you are my God, and my all.

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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