Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation: Week 1
Week 1- Monday
The Lord be with you.
And also with you. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 369 BCP)
There is no quicker way to quiet a crowd of Episcopalians than to say, “The Lord be with you.” The same thing is true of Catholics, or Lutherans, or Methodists. We all respond almost automatically to the call of “The Lord be with you.” It is a beginning and an invitation. With this bidding we ask the Lord to be present, not only to us, but to each person present. It is a prayer and a proclamation that here and now we are in the presence of God in Christ. Here in this place we acknowledge that we are the people of God, you and me and the toddler climbing under the pew. We recognize the presence of Christ in and among us despite our failings and distractions. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. So as I say, “The Lord be with you,” know that your response is your prayer for each of us.
How are you aware of God’s presence with you today?
Week 1- Tuesday
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
My scientifically minded son would scoff at this image of lifting up our hearts. After all what is a heart but a biological pump. Yet for over a thousand years this image has been used. Our hearts, not our brains, are lifted up to God. Our hearts carry with them our emotions, our connections, our passions. This is the image of the center of our being. There is something amazing about a gathering of people who lift to God their whole selves. Imagine this petition spoken in open air chapels in Kenya or snow shrouded gatherings in Iceland, centuries ago in soaring Medieval cathedrals or by a frightened group huddling in the catacombs. Around the world, through time, we join with them and speak the words that gather us together in the Presence of the Lord, “Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.”
Gather all those parts of yourself and lift them up to the Lord.
Week 1- Wednesday
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I always have to think carefully when I say these words. There is a parallel set from the 1928 Book of Common prayer that runs through my mind, “Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. It is meet and right so to do. It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.” Giving thanks and praise to God is the right thing to do. More than that, it is our duty. Duty is not a popular word. It conjures up images of drudgery and those things we are forced to do. For all its negative overtones, there is a certain freedom in duty. Duty provides a framework. Duty lets us know the expectations and the right way to go. Sometimes duties can fill us up and weigh us down, but life without any expectations devolves into chaos. There is a balance between duty and anarchy. So we give thanks to God. It’s the right thing to do, and doing the right thing brings contentment.
What do you thank God for today?
Week 1- Thursday
God of all power, Ruler of the Universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.
Glory to you for ever and ever. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
Our Universe is expanding. Every second of every day of every hour our universe is expanding. Our knowledge of our universe is expanding. We know more than has ever been known about distant stars and planets. We know more than has ever been known about life in the deep oceans, about the creatures that lived in the distant past of our world. Even with all of that knowledge we know only a fraction of a fraction of how this universe functions. We have only scraped the surface of the mysteries that are contained in time and space. So we acknowledge, with wonder, the one who created and is still creating this expanding universe. We give praise to the one who spins the galaxies and still delights in knowing each of us.
Find a time to look at the stars (or check out the gallery at http://hubblesite.org/) .
Week 1- Friday
At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I’ve been busy this week. Doing what, you ask? Just the usual things, the grocery and cooking dinner, driving here and there with one errand and another. It’s a normal week. Today I’m hoping for a nap. “All things”—the wording takes us up and out of our routine. “All things”—it brings to mind a set of National Geographic photos. You know the ones, wonderful artistic pictures of wind sculpted canyons and dense jungles, photos of people in exotic dress and city markets. All things exist at God’s command, including the pesky fly that keeps annoying me and the cold wind that cuts me to the bone, and the grumpy customer service person who keeps me waiting ages just to answer one question. I have the chance to step back a pace and hear God’s voice at creation that declares all of creation “Good,” even the mold growing in the back of the refrigerator.
What part of God’s creation have you encountered today? Can you see the good in it?
Week 1- Saturday
Galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I’m often up in the middle of the night. The house is silent. There are no trucks or cars rumbling by. I’m alone, an island in the middle of the night. All kinds of experience can leave us on our own, islands, cut off from the mainland of people and activity. Unemployment cuts us off from our connections with colleagues. Grief cuts us off from others in the cloud of our sorrow. Pain and illness isolate us as our world shrinks to the bounds of our own bodies. We can become trapped on our small patches of life. We can also throw a rope across the divide. We can grab onto the lifeline that is thrown to us. We live on a floating island that can be brought closer to others if we wish. Christ’s hand is always reaching across the divide.
What isolates you? Who is reaching out to you? Who needs your hand to reach out to them?
Week 1- Sunday
By your will they were created and have their being. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
It is always interesting to meet someone new. Although they may remind me of someone I have known in the past, each person I meet is unique. They have a unique take on the world and on life and on faith. It’s an observation that St. Paul makes in I Corinthians (chapter 12). We are all different, yet he goes on to talk about our connection with one another. We need each other, we need the insights and understandings that each of us possess. We need the strengths, weaknesses, and experiences that have shaped each of us. Each of us has our own being, our own self and yet . . . and yet . . . we need each other. God chose to create each of us as we are because we are needed. It’s kind of mind-blowing to think that you and I are necessary to the universe, to the world, to the nation, to this town, and to this community of faith. By God’s will you were created, and I, for one, am glad you were.
What have you been given that you can add to your community?
Back to list
The Lord be with you.
And also with you. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 369 BCP)
There is no quicker way to quiet a crowd of Episcopalians than to say, “The Lord be with you.” The same thing is true of Catholics, or Lutherans, or Methodists. We all respond almost automatically to the call of “The Lord be with you.” It is a beginning and an invitation. With this bidding we ask the Lord to be present, not only to us, but to each person present. It is a prayer and a proclamation that here and now we are in the presence of God in Christ. Here in this place we acknowledge that we are the people of God, you and me and the toddler climbing under the pew. We recognize the presence of Christ in and among us despite our failings and distractions. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. So as I say, “The Lord be with you,” know that your response is your prayer for each of us.
How are you aware of God’s presence with you today?
Week 1- Tuesday
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
My scientifically minded son would scoff at this image of lifting up our hearts. After all what is a heart but a biological pump. Yet for over a thousand years this image has been used. Our hearts, not our brains, are lifted up to God. Our hearts carry with them our emotions, our connections, our passions. This is the image of the center of our being. There is something amazing about a gathering of people who lift to God their whole selves. Imagine this petition spoken in open air chapels in Kenya or snow shrouded gatherings in Iceland, centuries ago in soaring Medieval cathedrals or by a frightened group huddling in the catacombs. Around the world, through time, we join with them and speak the words that gather us together in the Presence of the Lord, “Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.”
Gather all those parts of yourself and lift them up to the Lord.
Week 1- Wednesday
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I always have to think carefully when I say these words. There is a parallel set from the 1928 Book of Common prayer that runs through my mind, “Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. It is meet and right so to do. It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.” Giving thanks and praise to God is the right thing to do. More than that, it is our duty. Duty is not a popular word. It conjures up images of drudgery and those things we are forced to do. For all its negative overtones, there is a certain freedom in duty. Duty provides a framework. Duty lets us know the expectations and the right way to go. Sometimes duties can fill us up and weigh us down, but life without any expectations devolves into chaos. There is a balance between duty and anarchy. So we give thanks to God. It’s the right thing to do, and doing the right thing brings contentment.
What do you thank God for today?
Week 1- Thursday
God of all power, Ruler of the Universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.
Glory to you for ever and ever. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
Our Universe is expanding. Every second of every day of every hour our universe is expanding. Our knowledge of our universe is expanding. We know more than has ever been known about distant stars and planets. We know more than has ever been known about life in the deep oceans, about the creatures that lived in the distant past of our world. Even with all of that knowledge we know only a fraction of a fraction of how this universe functions. We have only scraped the surface of the mysteries that are contained in time and space. So we acknowledge, with wonder, the one who created and is still creating this expanding universe. We give praise to the one who spins the galaxies and still delights in knowing each of us.
Find a time to look at the stars (or check out the gallery at http://hubblesite.org/) .
Week 1- Friday
At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I’ve been busy this week. Doing what, you ask? Just the usual things, the grocery and cooking dinner, driving here and there with one errand and another. It’s a normal week. Today I’m hoping for a nap. “All things”—the wording takes us up and out of our routine. “All things”—it brings to mind a set of National Geographic photos. You know the ones, wonderful artistic pictures of wind sculpted canyons and dense jungles, photos of people in exotic dress and city markets. All things exist at God’s command, including the pesky fly that keeps annoying me and the cold wind that cuts me to the bone, and the grumpy customer service person who keeps me waiting ages just to answer one question. I have the chance to step back a pace and hear God’s voice at creation that declares all of creation “Good,” even the mold growing in the back of the refrigerator.
What part of God’s creation have you encountered today? Can you see the good in it?
Week 1- Saturday
Galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
I’m often up in the middle of the night. The house is silent. There are no trucks or cars rumbling by. I’m alone, an island in the middle of the night. All kinds of experience can leave us on our own, islands, cut off from the mainland of people and activity. Unemployment cuts us off from our connections with colleagues. Grief cuts us off from others in the cloud of our sorrow. Pain and illness isolate us as our world shrinks to the bounds of our own bodies. We can become trapped on our small patches of life. We can also throw a rope across the divide. We can grab onto the lifeline that is thrown to us. We live on a floating island that can be brought closer to others if we wish. Christ’s hand is always reaching across the divide.
What isolates you? Who is reaching out to you? Who needs your hand to reach out to them?
Week 1- Sunday
By your will they were created and have their being. (Eucharistic Prayer C pg. 370 BCP)
It is always interesting to meet someone new. Although they may remind me of someone I have known in the past, each person I meet is unique. They have a unique take on the world and on life and on faith. It’s an observation that St. Paul makes in I Corinthians (chapter 12). We are all different, yet he goes on to talk about our connection with one another. We need each other, we need the insights and understandings that each of us possess. We need the strengths, weaknesses, and experiences that have shaped each of us. Each of us has our own being, our own self and yet . . . and yet . . . we need each other. God chose to create each of us as we are because we are needed. It’s kind of mind-blowing to think that you and I are necessary to the universe, to the world, to the nation, to this town, and to this community of faith. By God’s will you were created, and I, for one, am glad you were.
What have you been given that you can add to your community?
Back to list