There is a day
When the road neither
Comes nor goes, and the way
Is not a way but a place.
---Wendell Berry---
---Sabbath Poems---

Daily Sabbath

For the last couple weeks, a group of women have gathered at 7:00 pm on Monday evenings for a time of Contemplative Prayer. We check in with each other, share a bit of scripture together, and then allow that scripture to help us enter into silent prayer. It is a moment in time in which chronos, measured time, ceases to exist, and we enter into Sabbath time, kronos, God’s time.

There are many forms of contemplative prayer. Perhaps the most known is called "Centering Prayer" in which the person sits in silence for 20 minutes once or twice a day, meditating on a word or phrase that is meaningful. Many people find this form of meditation very helpful. Other forms of contemplation also create a moment of Sabbath within one’s day. Taking time to contemplate the beauty of God’s creation, to ponder an icon, or meditate on the cross - each of these and many more can take us into a place of God’s space and time, removing us from the stress and concerns of life for a time.

This evening, Debra Donnelly-Barton will be sharing with us about the Sabbath of the Present Moment in our Lenten Series. Debra is a spiritual director who has had much experience in contemplative prayer. Tonight she will bring to us her wisdom on finding a piece of Sabbath every day.

O Holy Spirit,
As the sun is full of light,
The ocean full of water,
Heaven full of glory,
So may my heart be full of thee.
--Puritan Prayer--

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." John 4: 13-14

A thirst for Holiness

In the desert, thirst is no laughing matter. The Israelites, wandering with Moses, couldn’t just go over to the nearest 7-11 and order one of many types of water.

As I write to you this morning, we’ve had buckets of rain at Chincoteague filling the streets and any other bits of low marshy ground. The drying up goes on now with the sun but yesterday we wondered if we would ever feel dry or warm again. Like the Israelites, we were wandering through an expanse of wetness and wanted something different.

But that seems to be the way of humanity.
What have you done for me lately, God, could easily be our daily mantra as we struggle to comprehend what it is that God is really offering.

The woman who meets Jesus at the well is struggling herself with sin and longing.
She wants what Jesus is offering, but cannot even
understand his words let alone his presence.
How can she make sense of the offer of "living water"
which quenches the deepest thirst?
How can we make sense of the offer of water leading to eternal life?

But she is thirsty, and so are we.
We are thirsty for God’s touch and God’s presence.
We long for God’s comfort and reassurance.
Lent is a season to cultivate thirst.
So as we give things up, or take things on, let us remember our true thirst
will not be quenched by anything other than the living water of the Christ.
Cultivate thirst this week and become open to receive the living water,
which is even now pouring down.

Blessings,
Debra

O God, you are my God,
Earnestly I seek you;
My soul thirsts for you,
My flesh longs for you,
In a dry and weary land
Where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
And beheld your power and your glory
Because your love is better than life,
My lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
And in your name I will lift up my hands….
---Psalm 63:1-4---

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

This Week at St. James:

Wednesday: 6pm Soup Supper; 7pm Lenten Series: Debra Donnelly-Barton, "The Sabbath of the Present Moment"
Thursday: Newsletter Folding
Saturday: 12:00 Lunch with St. Mary’s, Walbrook
Sunday: 10:15 Children’s Eucharist and Parent meeting; 11:45 Inquirer’s Class; 4-6 pm Confirmation
Monday: 10:00 CS Lewis Book Study; 8 pm NT Wright at St. Mary’s Seminary
Tuesday: 4 and 8 pm NT Wright at St. Mary’s Seminary
Wednesday: 8:30 Healing Eucharist; 9:30 Bible Study; 6pm Soup Supper; 7pm Lenten Series: The Rev. Amy Richter "Sabbath in the New Testament"

Prayers Etc.

God of the day and of the night,
in me there is darkness,
but with you there is light.
I am alone, but you will not leave me.
I am weak, but you will come to my help.
I am restless, but you are my peace.
I am in haste, but you are the God of infinite patience.
I am confused and lost,
but you are eternal wisdom
and you direct my path;
now and for ever. Amen
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945--

For those on our prayer list:
David; Arabella; Brittany; Lori S.; Owen
Jennifer D; Rob C; Nancy K; Ed S; Betsy, Jim & Family
Michelle K; Krista; Dolores; Kirby; Mary S.
Rebecca; Andrew; Jason; Chris; Mary M.
Bill D.; Susan L.; Elizabeth C.; The Browning Family
Vicky; Don; Joe; Oliver

In Closing:

We taste of you our living bread,
And long to feast upon you still;
We drink of you, the fountainhead,
Our thirsting souls to quench and fill.

For you our restless spirits year
Wherever our changing lot is cast;
Glad, when your presence we discern,
Blest, when our faith can hold you fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay;
Make all our moments calm and bright;
Oh, chase the night of sin away,
Shed o’er the world your holy light.
---from The Hymnal 1982, 649---

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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