A List of Praises

Today is the Forward on Climate Rally in Washington D.C, sponsored by 350.org, to encourage President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and to take the lead in resolving the climate crisis. Click here to follow the action live from Washington and to learn more about the proposed pipeline and other climate issues. 

But first, you are invited to fill your spirit with gratitude for the many wondrous gifts that God has so freely given in and through creation. This poem by Anne Porter is a great place to start.

A List of Praises
by Anne Porter
Give praise with psalms that tell the trees to sing, Give praise with Gospel choirs in storefront churches, Mad with the joy of the Sabbath, Give praise with the babble of infants, who wake with the sun, Give praise with children chanting their skip-rope rhymes, A poetry not in books, a vagrant mischievous poetry living wild on the Streets through generations of children. Give praise with the sound of the milk-train far away With its mutter of wheels and long-drawn-out sweet whistle As it speeds through the fields of sleep at three in the morning, Give praise with the immense and peaceful sigh Of the wind in the pinewoods, At night give praise with starry silences. Give praise with the skirling of seagulls And the rattle and flap of sails And gongs of buoys rocked by the sea-swell Out in the shipping-lanes beyond the harbor. Give praise with the humpback whales, Huge in the ocean they sing to one another. Give praise with the rasp and sizzle of crickets, katydids and cicadas, Give praise with hum of bees, Give praise with the little peepers who live near water. When they fill the marsh with a shimmer of bell-like cries We know that the winter is over. Give praise with mockingbirds, day's nightingales. Hour by hour they sing in the crepe myrtle And glossy tulip trees On quiet side streets in southern towns. Give praise with the rippling speech Of the eider-duck and her ducklings As they paddle their way downstream In the red-gold morning On Restiguche, their cold river, Salmon river, Wilderness river. Give praise with the whitethroat sparrow. Far, far from the cities, Far even from the towns, With piercing innocence He sings in the spruce-tree tops, Always four notes And four notes only. Give praise with water, With storms of rain and thunder And the small rains that sparkle as they dry, And the faint floating ocean roar That fills the seaside villages, And the clear brooks that travel down the mountains. And with this poem, a leaf on the vast flood, And with the angels in that other country. What is your list of praises? How can you best honor the things for which you are most grateful?

What Is Contemplation?

Today is the first day of our Saturday adult formation discussion of Thomas Merton's book, "What Is Contemplation?" Merton claims that contemplation is an essential Christian experience, and that when you begin a life of contemplation, "you have left the beaten path and are traveling by paths that cannot be charted or measured." Today's meditation is from chapter one:

"What is Contemplation?"
by Thomas Merton

Infused contemplation is a powerful means of sanctification. It is the work of love and nothing is more effective in increasing our love of God. In fact, infused contemplation is intimately connected with the pure and perfect love of God which is God's greatest gift to the soul. It is deep and intimate knowledge of God by a union of love....If intimate union with God you must be willing to pay the price for it. 

The price is small enough. In fact it is not even a price at all: it only seems to be so with us.We find it difficult to give up our desire for things that can never satisfy us in order to purchase the One Good in Whom is all our joy - and in Whom, moreover, we get back everything else that we have renounced besides!

The fact remains that contemplation will not be given to those who willfully remain at a distance from God, who confine their interior life to a few routine exercises of piety and a few external acts of worship and service performed as a matter of duty. Such people are careful to avoid sin. They respect God as a Master. But their heart does not belong to [God]. They are not really interested in [God], except in order to insure themselves against losing heaven and going to hell.

From "What is Contemplation" by Thomas Merton, Templegate Publishers, Springfield, Illinois, 1978.
Available at Amazon.com.  

What is willfully keeping you at a distance from God?

Praying with Psalm 31

Below, side by side, are two translations of psalm 31, which is the psalm appointed in our lectionery for today's morning prayer. The NRSV, translated relatively straightforwardly from the hebrew, is in the purple text, and the Nan Merrill version, translated into the vernacular of prayer, is in the blue text. You are invited to read each one through on its own. And then choose the one that most touches your own spirit at this time in your life. Sit with that translation of the psalm. Imagine how Jesus found comfort in this scripture, as the psalms were very likely the guide for Jesus' own prayers....perhaps even as he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, so says the Gospel according to Luke.

Psalm 31 and Psalm 31

As translated in the New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible

As translated by Nan Merrill

(From her excellent book, Psalms for Praying: An Invitation To Wholeness. Available at Amazon.com )

To the leader. A Psalm of David.
In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;     In you, Beloved, I would make my home;
do not let me ever be put to shame;     Though I be humiliated with guilt,
in your righteousness deliver me.     Your mercy and forgiveness will deliver me!
Incline your ear to me;     Hear me,      
rescue me speedily.     and hasten to my assistance!
Be a rock of refuge for me,     For you are my strength
   a strong fortress to save me.      and have the power to raise me up!

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;      Yes, you are strength and truth to me,
   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,      You are my teacher and my guide;
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,      The fire of your abiding love 
                                                                                                              cleanses my heart.
   for you are my refuge.      Loosen the webs that entangle me, 
                                                                                                that veil my love for you.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;           Into your heart I commend my soul.
   you have redeemed me,      You have redeemed me O Love, 
O Lord, faithful God.         O Faithful One!

You hate those who pay regard      Those who put their focus and trust
to worthless idols,      in false idols 
   but I trust in the Lord.     separate themselves from You,        
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,     O Love.  
   because you have seen my affliction;     Though You have seen my guilt and have   
                                                                                                            noted my wrongdoings,
   you have taken heed of my adversities,   You have not left me alone with my fears;
and have not delivered me 
into the hand of the enemy;     rather, You have forgiven my folly
   you have set my feet in a broad place.      and set my feet on Love's path.
                        My heartfelt gratitude knows no bounds, O Gracious Mender of Souls!

Be gracious to me, O Lord,      Be a comfort to me, Beloved,
for I am in distress;        for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,     my eyes are dim from weeping,
   my soul and body also.      my soul is deep with grief.
For my life is spent with sorrow,     For my life is worn away with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;    My body is weakened
my strength fails because of my misery,     and my bones waste away with misery.
   and my bones waste away. 

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,      All my fears rise up to mock me,
   a horror to my neighbours,     my neighbors turn away,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;     My friends dread to see me
   those who see me in the street flee from me.      and flee from my sickness of soul.
I have passed out of mind      My mind, too, has left me 
like one who is dead;     like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel.      I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—     Yes, I hear the voices around me 
                                                                                                        whispering of my plight  -
   terror all around!—       fears rise up on every side!
as they scheme together against me,     Isolation, rejection, fear surround me
   as they plot to take my life.      and conspire to overwhelm me,

But I trust in you, O Lord;     Still, I trust in You, O Beloved,
   I say, ‘You are my God.’      I repeat, "You are my Life."
My times are in your hand;     My life is in Your hands;
   deliver me from the hand      Deliver me from the fears
of my enemies and persecutors.      which separate me!
Let your face shine upon your servant;      Let Your face shine on me!
   save me in your steadfast love.       Hold me in Your steadfast love!
Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,    Let me know Your forgiveness, O Love,
   for I call on you;     for I call upon You;
let the wicked be put to shame;      let my fears be cast out,
   let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.      let them be transformed.
Let the lying lips be stilled     Let me speak only truth, Beloved,
   that speak insolently against the righteous     that I might live with integrity,
   with pride and contempt.    offering my work and praise to You.

O how abundant is your goodness     O how abundant is Your goodness,
   that you have laid up for those     which is ever-present to those 
who fear you,      who reverence You,
and accomplished for those     and available to all
who take refuge in you,      who make Your Heart their home,
   in the sight of everyone!      openly for all to see!
In the shelter of your presence you hide them   Like a mother hen, you shelter them
   from human plots;     from the temptations of the world;
you hold them safe under your shelter    You hold them safe under Your wings
   from contentious tongues.      from the enemy.....fear.

Blessed be the Lord,     Blessed be the eternal Beloved,
   for he has wondrously shown his     who wondrously showered me
steadfast love to me      with steadfast Love
   when I was beset as a city under siege.     when I was overwhelmed by fear.
I had said in my alarm,      I had cried out, "Where are You?
   ‘I am driven far from your sight.’    Have You left me alone forever?"
But you heard my supplications     You heard my fear-filled pleas
   when I cried out to you for help.      and enveloped me in Love.

Love the Lord, all you his saints.   Listen in the silence, all you saints!
                                                                      For Wisdom makes her home there.
   The Lord preserves the faithful,    The Beloved upholds the faith-filled,
                                                      those who embrace goodness and walk in the Light.
   but abundantly repays    Those who choose to remain in illusion
the one who acts haughtily.    separate themselves from truth and know not Love.
Be strong,       Be strong
and let your heart take courage, and let your heart take courage and be encouraged,
   all you who wait for the Lord.   all you who would serve with Love
                                                                                      in the Oneness of Light.

Amen & Amen