Christmas 1

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Here in California, we have had some intense rain storms recently with beautiful sunny skies between storms. While I love the sound of the pouring rain in the percussive rhythms of the falling raindrops, the wind accompanying the rain is scary. The sound of the wind and the possibility of damage from falling trees and driving rain changes my perception of rainstorms.

While rain can be cleansing it can also be destructive. Floods leave a mess of mud, grime, damage and destruction. Wind can both cleanse the air and stir up dust, dirt, leaves and allergens! I have sometimes felt drowned in a deluge of emotions and buffeted about by the winds of change.

In this collect, we ask God to pour upon us the new light of Jesus, the Incarnate Word. This is like both the sunny days between rain storms and the storms themselves. The storms mix things up, stir up the dirt and mud and creepy things. The Light of the Incarnate Word, Jesus, helps us sort things out, throw out what we don't need and choose what we want to keep. As the Light is poured upon us, it both washes away the old, changes the landscape and illuminates that which we don't want to see or are too blind to see. It can be shocking, scary, comforting, cleansing and illuminating to have the God's light poured upon us.

If we are open to God's Light, we open ourselves to being changed, being cleansed, and being made new every day. If we accept the new light of God's incarnate Word, we will see things more clearly, our path will be illumined, we will have more choices and be more able to choose wisely. We will be better equipped to weather the storms of disappointment, despair, confusion, or grief because we will know God is present in the storm and in the calm.

This day, I will look for where the Light of the Incarnate Word is cleansing, stirring up and illuminating aspects of my life. I invite you to do so also.

Collect of the day

It has been over a year since I posted anything on this blog. Funny how time moves on and on, faster and faster until I am surprised at how much has happened and what time it is! How time flies? Where does it go? Everywhere, nowhere around and around...

I have been searching for a prayer discipline these past months and have landed on the prayer discipline of praying the collects of the day, starting with the Collect for the First Sunday after Christmas.

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

One could get stuck on Almighty God. The reality of a loving Almighty God is often overwhelming to me. But going on to 'you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate word"..where will I experience that outpouring today? How will I know, feel, hear, see such an outpouring of new light. How will I know God has enkindled this light in my heart today, so it will shine forth in my life? Will I simply be open to the shining of the light or will I feel it shining through me to others? I look forward to finding out how this collect will be part of me today.

I hope you will join me in praying these collects and share your thoughts with me and others.

Joy and peace be with you this day and always.

Marcia

The wind

It is windy today. The strong fall wind that blows the leaves off the trees, breaks creaky branches and swirls around us as we walk through it from home to car to office to car to store to car and on walks around the neighborhood. It is the arrival of Fall wind, changing the seasons, bringing cool air to soothe us as it blows the dust and dirt around which causes us to sneeze, cough and have to sweep more often. A mixed blessing for sure!

It is a fall wind that brings no rest - more cleaning, more sweeping, more creating 'back blows' with electric or gas leaf blowers (instead of 'back fires' to stop a blaze) to try to stay on top of the falling leaves. Doesn't work of course. The wind and leaves will go their merry way until they are done, leaving us to sweep, blow, pile, jump into, shuffle through and completely enjoy to sounds and feel of fall.

The Holy Spirit does the same thing. Blows through our lives, stirring up the dust and dirt, blowing out the old thoughts and the creaky habits to make space for rest and allow new growth. Stand in the wind of God as in the wind of nature. Let it blow through you, clearing your spirit of the past and helping you brush away that which isn't useful or helpful anymore.

Joyfully clean up the mess left behind and make space for the surprises God has in mind for you.

A new thing

With God as my guide, I am creating a new thing in this Blog. Not new to the world, but new to me. Random Spiritual Thots are something I do well and often. While my thoughts do not always make sense to others and sometimes not even to me, they are indeed random, spiritual and mine.

I believe most of my thoughts are spiritual because the Holy Spirit flows through me, as through you and all creation. Many of my thoughts are not relevant to anyone but me when I think them, but when I share them I am often surprised at how many other people have had similar if not the same spiritual thought. I am also often surprised when others who have had similar thoughts, don't consider them spiritual.

In the All Saints Day reading from Revelation, the one seated on the thone says, "see, I am making all things new." all new, all the time, we are being made new. Our old stuff is being recycled, composted and prepared for God's new stuff to be planted in us. We are always being created and being recreated. We are always being prepared for new life in Christ. We are always moving and shaking with the Holy Spirit to bring light to the dark places in the world.

See, I am making all things new! Alleluia! Amen!