Scripture: Psalm 10 (click link to read)
Friends, where do you see God at work in our world? When was the last time you were surprised by an appearance God made to you? In times of crisis, when it feels like enemies (seen an unseen; human and non-human) are closer at hand than the God who loves and abides with us, the hiddenness of God can make it hard to believe in unwavering divine presence.
Many thanks today to Dot Hyde, who shared the following bits of creative writing that can help us to reflect on God’s devotion to making appearances among us – appearances that help to strengthen our faith-filled belief in the One who believes in us.
“God” – by Brian Doyle
(Dot notes “this is how it is written” – clearly a unique style with nonconformist capitalizations and phrasing! :))
By purest chance I was out in our street when the kindergarten
Bus mumbled past going slow and I looked up just as all seven
Kids on my side of the bus looked at me and I grinned and they
Lit up and this crap about God being dead and where is God
And who owns God and who hears God better than whom is the
Most egregiously stupid crap imaginable because if you want to
See God and have God see you and have this mutual perception
Be completely untrammeled by blather and greed and comment,
Go stand in the street as the kindergarten bus murmurs past. I’m
Not kidding and this is not a metaphor. I am completely serious.
Everyone babbles about God but I saw God this morning just as
The bus slowed down for the stop at Maple Street. God was six
Girls and one boy with a bright green and purple stegosaurus hat.
Of course God would wear a brilliantly colored tall dinosaur hat!
If you were the Imagination that dreamed up everything that ever
Was in this blistering perfect terrible world, wouldn’t you wear a
Hat celebrating some of the wildest most amazing developments?
“To Believe” – B.J. Morbitzer
To believe is to know that every day is a new beginning. Is to trust that miracles happen,
and dreams really do come true.
To believe is to see angels dancing among the clouds, to know the wonder of a stardust sky and the wisdom of the man in the moon.
To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart, the innocence of a child’s eyes and the beauty of an aging hand, for it is through their teachings we learn to love.
To believe is to know we are not alone, that life is a gift and this is our time to cherish it.
To believe is to know that wonderful surprises are just waiting to happen, and all our hopes and dreams are within reach.
Prayer:
Mysterious God, when life is particularly difficult and we are in the trenches, it can be hard to see or hear or feel you near. Please make our spirits, our eyes, ears, and minds, ever more sensitive to the many ways you gesture to us, smile at us, embrace us with your gentle, sustaining love. Amen.
Music: “Holy, Holy, Holy” (click link to listen) Performed by First-Plymouth Church, Lincoln, NE