Good morning,

Not a lot to say this morning, or perhaps too much to say, and I want to use a big block of time today to work on my novel.

I printed off the Morning Prayer readings I pasted below and sang part of it, read part of it out loud, highlighted portions of it, all the while searching for what God is saying to me today and what He might want me to say here.

First, I urge you to approach reading the Bible with faith that God wants to speak to you and has something to say to you today that is relevant and applicable to your life.

Don't get dissuaded by how hard to understand some chapters are. Persist. At the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website, www.ccel.org, you can find a whole range of translations and commentaries that can richly illuminate troublesome texts. Don't stop trying until something comes alive for you. There is nothing more awesome than knowing that the Living God is with you, personally interested in the details of your life, wanting to pour out abundant blessing and joy and speaking words of life to you that directly apply right now to your circumstances.

Today's lesson makes it clear that God hears us in our distresses, that, while He has no tolerance for sin and we will suffer its consequences, He will deliver us when we call upon Him.

If you have a hard time understanding while reading silently, or a hard time lining up your thoughts and feelings with the words on the page, try saying them out loud. Sometimes that helps you to hear the meaning. You might find that before you know it joy is seeping into your being and you are no longer reading meaningless words, but that you are praising God in body, soul, mind and spirit. What a wonderful place that is to be, when all the parts of you are of one accord.

But, I acknowledge that this is not easy to attain. I noticed yesterday in church, during a beautiful service, my mind was wandering, I was not joyfully engaged in the singing most of the time, I was thinking about my novel, about some prayer needs of others, other odds and ends. It occurred to me that I need to do a better job of preparing my heart and mind for worship before I go to church so that I can enter into what is a beautiful service. I wondered too if the priests sometimes have to fight with their own wandering thoughts say if someone's singing in the wrong key, or is racing too fast through of the liturgy or stumbling over the pronunciation of names while chanting the lessons.

This morning, while I sat in silent prayer listening, waiting, focusing on God's Presesnce, asking Him to illuminate the words I had read or sung or prayed, I found myself thinking about the ham and brocolli in the fridge and the new potatoes and wondering whether I should cook them for supper tonight or get some chicken out of the freezer.

Be patient with yourself when things like this happen, and press in anyway. Keep bringing your attention back.

In Psalm 107, I noticed one verse that repeated, like music.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Notice the wonderful sound doctrine in the prayers, and the creeds and how, as you affirm these out loud you are reminding yourself of who God is, and why Jesus died for you.

I leave you this morning with this from the Second Lesson:

"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are not more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

Look at how this is like a musical theme that resonates with the Te Deum Laudamus

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,


I feel that over the last few weeks as I've developed a habit in doing the prayers that I have a whole repository of verses and stories and teachings that are like a forcefield in my subconscious, replacing the forcefield that can so easily come in by osmosis through the world, through the newspapers, television, through wordly conversation. Instead of images from the movies I watched over the weekend, I see Hezekiah receiving a healing and I see the shadow on the sundial move as a sign from God. I see him showing his treasury to the ambassadors from the King of Babylon. And from today's lesson, I hear the scribe discovering the book of the law in the temple and reading it to the king and the king repenting, rending his clothes.

I see the woman at the well, the rich young ruler, Matthew the tax collector.

I know all these stories have something to teach me about my spiritual journey and even if the meaning is not clear right now, at some point, a part of one of these stories will well up full of import and life.

In the sermon yesterday, Scott, one of the ordinands, talked about knowing Jesus, and the different ways He speaks to us, whether it is through Scripture, through other Christians or even sometimes in an audible voice. He said that God gives us enough light for each leg of the journey, rather than the illuminating the whole journey all at once. This requires us to be faithful in prayer so that we will know where He would have us go.

Let us do our part to build on the foundation of the Apostles....to build on the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ....let us appropriate today what it means to be a member of the household of God.