Give Us This Day - Lenten Reflections on Life & Grace (Daily Email Event)
Easter Sunday, April 4
I Corinthians 15: 50-57 NRSV
What I am saying, [siblings], is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, April 3
Sabbath Rest
In the stillness of quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair. —Howard Thurman
View Reflection in entirety here.
Good Friday, April 2
Prayer
“Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Maundy Thursday, April 1
Visio divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, March 31
Act of Compassion
This week’s centering word is “mindfulness.” May we become aware of ourselves and therefore more aware of others as we move through the world. Show compassion by being mindful of the state and status of others, their pains, joys, loves, struggles and heartaches.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Tuesday, March 30
Poetry
The Ballad Of Mary’s Son
by Langston Hughes
It was in the Spring
The Passover had come.
There was feasting in the streets and joy.
But an awful thing
Happened in the Spring—
Men who knew not what they did
Killed Mary’s Boy.
And the Son of God was He—
Sent to bring the whole world joy.
There were some who could not hear,
And some were filled with fear—
So they built a cross
For Mary’s Boy.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, March 29
Give Me A Minute
Every day we are asked to wait, to slow down, to pause. In a rush, sometimes faced with life and death decisions, requesting an immediate response and someone replies, “Give me a minute.” Give them sixty seconds.
Most of us think one minute is a short period of time. But, it isn’t. A lot can happen in sixty seconds:
• The human brain can read 900 words
• McDonald’s can sell 4,500 burgers
• Blood can circulate through our bodies and back to our hearts
• Oprah Winfrey makes $600
• Jeff Bezos of Amazon makes $149,353
• And, on average, we will blink our eyes 12 times
We underestimate the power of one minute in serious time, because it’s so passe. But we can destroy a person’s dreams or we can encourage someone to shoot for the stars in one minute. It only takes one minute to begin a relationship and only sixty seconds to end one. One minute to cause undo pain and one minute to create unspeakable joy.
Over the course of the past 10 months, due to COVID, I have grappled with undeniable life changes, changes that happened minute by minute. Some days I stayed inside because I was too anxious to leave the house. Other days, I went to the office as a way to leave the house. Then, there were days when I was excited to go out with my camera and explore nature, capturing flowers beautified by the sun and images enhanced by the mysterious effect of the evening. Each day’s decision was a spontaneous response, often happening all in one minute.
The late Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, President of Morehouse College in his poem “LIFE IS JUST A MINUTE” tell us:
Life is just a minute—only sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon you—can't refuse it.
Didn't seek it—didn't choose it.
But it's up to you to use it.
You must suffer if you lose it.
Give an account if you abuse it.
Just a tiny, little minute,
But eternity is in it!
In the haste of all that is happening in our daily lives, threatened with life and death decisions, let us all take time to pause, slow down, reflect and pray, “Lord, give me a minute.”
Rev. Regina D. Langley, PhD
Member of the Princeton University Chapel Community
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, March 28
Romans 12:1-2, 9-12 NRSV
I appeal to you therefore, [siblings], by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve God. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, March 27
Sabbath Rest
“What would it mean for Christians to give up that little piece of the American Dream that says, “You are limitless”? Everything is not possible. The mighty Kingdom of God is not yet here. What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed? What if being people of “the gospel” meant that we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough.”
― Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, March 26
Prayer
O My God! Source of all mercy!
I acknowledge Your sovereign power.
While recalling the wasted years that are past,
I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain.
Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things.
Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace,
both now and in the future,
that I may appear before You in “wedding garments.”
Amen
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, March 25
Visio divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, March 24
Act of Compassion
This week be encouraged to practice generosity as compassion. Be generous with your time and attention; generous in your interpretation of others. Maybe drop a coin in an expired meter, give an extra tip to an essential worker, or give generously to an organization that exercises compassion in the world.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Tuesday, March 23
Poetry
Silent God By Edwina Gateley
This is my prayer—
That, though I may not see,
I be aware
Of the Silent God
Who stands by me.
That, though I may not feel,
I be aware
Of the Mighty Love
Which doggedly follows me.
That, though I may not respond,
I be aware
That God—my Silent, Mighty God,
Waits each day.
Quietly, hopefully, persistently.
Waits each day and through each night
For me.
For me—alone.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, March 22
The Simple Things
As exhausting as the last year has been, I have found immense grace in the quiet—the quiet of my home, of the city streets, of offices. There has been grace in turning things off, such as the television, social media, and my mind. When I am able to quiet my mind and push out forces that are trying to consume me, I find peace. Not because this season is easy, but because many of life’s daily habits are more simple. I travel less, feel less obligated to see people, take more time to maintain my sanity, and on many days, I work in the comfort of my own home. Much of what I just named are privileges of my circumstance, and it is something I count as a blessing. It is a grace that I get to do those things.
A dear professor of mine said that living in a pandemic is like having a fire alarm constantly going off; it puts our bodies in constant fight or flight mode. It effectively reduces our ability to function. A simplified life is not only a gift but necessary right now. The small wins make life meaningful, like the win of putting on clothes other than sweats and brushing your teeth. Even seeing a friend, being outside, walking, and breathing are all gifts and gifts that I have taken for granted at another time. And now, it’s the small wins that define my life and give me life.
In some ways, it feels like a reset. When things are broken, we turn them off, give them a minute, then turn them back on. That is what life feels like. The simple tasks, the quieting of the mind, give me a chance to reset. To find value in them and rediscover what I truly need. It is not the fanfare; it’s the simple things.
Alexandra Miller-Knaack,
2020-2021 Princeton Chapel Seminary Intern
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, March 21
Philippians 4:4-9 NRSV
Rejoice in God always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. God is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, March 20
Sabbath Rest
“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” ― Parker Palmer
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, March 19
Prayer
If Lord, Thy love for me is strong
As this which binds me unto thee,
What holds me from thee Lord so long,
What holds thee Lord so long from me?
O soul, what then desirest thou?
Lord I would see thee, who thus choose thee.
What fears can yet assail thee now?
All that I fear is but lose thee.
Love’s whole possession I entreat,
Lord make my soul thine own abode,
And I will build a nest so sweet
It may not be too poor for God.
A soul in God hidden from sin,
What more desires for thee remain,
Save but to love again,
And all on flame with love within,
Love on, and turn to love again.
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, March 18
Visio divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, March 17
Act of Compassion
This week show compassion through gratitude. May we say thank you for the many graces and joys in our lives. Name those things which you are thankful for, tell others you are thankful for them.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Tuesday, March 16
Poetry
The Walk by Ann Weems
Those of us who walk along this road
do so reluctantly.
Lent is not our favorite time of year.
We’d rather be more active—
planning and scurrying around.
All this is too contemplative to suit us.
Besides we don’t know what to do
with piousness and prayer.
Perhaps we’re afraid to have time to think,
for thoughts come unbidden.
Perhaps we’re afraid to face our future
knowing our past.
Give us the courage, O God,
to hear your word
and to read our living into it.
Give us the trust to know we’re forgiven,
and give us the faith
to take up our lives and walk.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, March 15
Communion
In non-pandemic times, the community I serve, Princeton Presbyterians, gathers for worship in a small chapel tucked just outside the orange bubble. We pray, sing, preach, and celebrate communion every Sunday evening of the academic year. After worship, anyone who wants (which is usually most of us) huddle around the communion table, eating the rest of the homemade, still-warm bread and talking about the week ahead. The service is called “Breaking Bread Worship” for a reason–we break bread together.
Like so much over the last year, we’ve had to pivot and adapt the worship life of Princeton Presbyterians.
Now, we gather over zoom. We still worship–songs, prayer, preaching, and fellowship. We’ve shifted to celebrating communion less frequently in the virtual space. People bring their own elements when we do–crackers, tortilla, goldfish, whatever staple they have on hand. We remember the words of Jesus, and we eat and drink the elements in front of us. But it’s not the same. I do miss being in person, around the table, sharing a meal. Even still, I remain grateful for the community.
I’ve seen God’s grace as students continue to show up on Zoom from California to London. I’ve seen God’s grace as recent graduates and friends who have moved elsewhere in the country join in when they are able. I’ve seen God’s grace, as one Breaking Breader puts it, as we practice “physically distancing and social solidarity.” I’ve seen God’s grace in the communion of the people, the saints among us, the virtual gathering of the community.
In the Presbyterian tradition in which I serve, we believe that transformation of the community happens when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. The bread and wine/juice are used by God to nourish the people. Jesus Christ is made spiritually present to us in the meal. Through this encounter of Jesus, the people gathered are transformed for the life God calls us to– to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
That transformation is still happening even as we gather virtually. We are nurtured for our lives Monday through Saturday as we gather on Sunday. We see and hear that we are not alone. We are reminded of God’s love for us and for the world, and that is the daily bread I need for the week ahead.
Rev. Len Scales
Chaplain with Princeton Presbyterians
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, March 14
Matthew 6:25-34 NRSV
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, March 13
Sabbath Rest
“The spiritual rest, which God particularly intends in this Commandment, is this: that we not only cease from our labor and trade, but much more, that we let God alone work in us and that we do nothing of our own with all our powers.”
—Martin Luther
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, March 12
Prayer
“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.”
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, March 11
Visio divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, March 10
Act of Compassion
This week we move to be attentive as an act of compassion toward others. Look up! Look out! Where might you encounter the image of God in those around you? Be attentive to one another, make eye contact with the checker at the grocery store, be attentive to those who are often overlooked and commodified.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Tuesday, March 9
Poetry
Just Like Job
By Maya Angelou
My Lord, my Lord,
Long have I cried out to Thee
In the heat of the sun,
The cool of the moon,
My screams searched the heavens for Thee.
My God,
When my blanket was nothing but dew,
Rags and bones
Were all I owned,
I chanted Your name
Just like Job.
Father, Father,
My life give I gladly to Thee
Deep rivers ahead
High mountains above
My soul wants only Your love
But fears gather round like wolves in the dark.
Have You forgotten my name?
O Lord, come to Your child.
O Lord, forget me not.
You said to lean on Your arm
And I’m leaning
You said to trust in Your love
And I’m trusting
You said to call on Your name
And I’m calling
I’m stepping out on Your word.
You said You’d be my protection,
My only and glorious saviour,
My beautiful Rose of Sharon,
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Joy, joy
Your word.
Joy, joy
The wonderful word of the Son of God.
You said that You would take me to glory
To sit down at the welcome table
Rejoice with my mother in heaven
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Into the alleys
Into the byways
Into the streets
And the roads
And the highways
Past rumor mongers
And midnight ramblers
Past the liars and the cheaters and the gamblers.
On Your word
On Your word.
On the wonderful word of the Son of God.
I’m stepping out on Your word.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, March 8
Marveling together at the owls
It was after dark when my mom, brother, and grandma returned home from their walk, ecstatic. They had been strolling along the Highline Canal, a waterway that winds through Denver, when someone pointed out a pair of baby great horned owls peering down from a cottonwood.
I relish wildlife sightings, so I was less than thrilled to have missed not one, but two great horned owlets. The next evening, I convinced my mom to drive back with me. Fortunately, the babies were still perched in the same tree, this time with a parent.
A passing cyclist pulled over to ask what we saw. A couple walking along the trail stopped to make conversation. Someone with professional camera equipment arrived. All the while, the owlets treated their growing audience to an adorable dance, shifting their weight from one claw to the other and bopping their heads back and forth.
The owls, we learned, were regulars. The couple told us the parents had roosted in nearby trees for some time and estimated that this year’s brood, just beginning to fledge, was three weeks old.
Back in the car, I realized three months had passed since I had conversed so spontaneously. That night marked my first time speaking with passersby during the pandemic.
Over the days that followed, I visited the owls often. I paced beneath the trees, craning my neck to spot the tawny tufts that betrayed them. My tilted head drew attention, and I showed the owls to anyone who asked what I was trying to see.
By compelling us to remain home, COVID-19 has revealed how urgently we need contact with the natural world. Being outside offers solace and beauty. I think of the new beginning those fuzzy owlets embodied. Just by being, they proclaimed the cyclical constancy of God’s creation.
But the owls were not just a symbol of the world we inhabit. Their presence brought people — masked and socially-distant, but no less resolved to forge connections — together.
Community requires our cultivation; we cannot take the relationships we cherish for granted. As Christians, we are called to care for and about one another. Now is not the time to withdraw from the people around us.
We all share the task of caring, of taking an interest in each other’s lives, of marveling together at the owls, whatever form they may take.
Jonathan Ort, ‘21
Princeton University Chapel Deacon
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, March 7
Isaiah 40:21-31 NRSV
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is God who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
The One who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
who is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from God,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Holy One is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
God does not faint or grow weary;
God’s understanding is unsearchable.
God gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for God shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, March 6
Sabbath Rest
“Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week. ”
― Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, March 5
Prayer
“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.”
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, March 4
Visio divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, March 3
Act of Compassion
This week’s centering word is “sacrifice.” May we allow our compassion during this time of Lent to move us in acts of sacrifice for one another. Sacrifice your time, energies, or priorities this week to uplift someone else.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, March 2
Poetry
For Courage
by John O’ Donohue
When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside
When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen
When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That is is your own thinking
That darkens your world
Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,
Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.
Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.
Close your eyes
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.
A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, March 1
An Impossible Task
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
The verse from Micah (6:8) is reassuring and exasperating at the same time. “Do justice.” What does justice look like within a broken system? This year, calls for justice for Breonna Taylor went unmet—but as important as those calls were, their goal could never truly have been achieved: the only real justice would have been for her to be allowed to live. How does one person’s resolve change anything when far more powerful systems and institutions stand in their way? “Love kindness.” Kindness for whom? For people who we don’t think deserve it? For ourselves, when we don’t think we deserve it?
Micah seems to give us contradictory instructions: do justice, but show kindness (or “mercy,” in some translations) even when it would seem more just not to. “Walk humbly.” How, when you live in a world where humility is seen as a weakness? No, God doesn’t require you to get good grades or to earn money or exercise or compete with your neighbor in all of those areas—but other people do. Justice and kindness usually don’t pay very well.
The task Micah assigns us is impossible. With the best intentions, we never completely manage to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly—and even if we did, it would never be enough. In the face of the world’s suffering, each small act of justice or kindness or humility feels almost laughable. We will never be finished. We will never come close.
But we don’t have to. God has given us this day to do one day’s worth of work, and that is all we have to do today. It’s okay to be tired, daunted, even hopeless. To paraphrase the Mishnah, the only failure would be to give up.
If we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly every day of these forty days of Lent, the world will not be radically different from the way it was before. If we continue every day of our lives, the world still will not be whole. But God has given us this day to do our best.
—Rosamond van Wingerden, ‘20
Princeton University Chapel Deacon
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, February 28
Proverbs 3:1-6 NRSV
My child, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments;
for length of days and years of life
and abundant welfare they will give you.
Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and of people.
Trust in God with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge God,
and God will make straight your paths.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, February 27
Sabbath Rest
“Sabbath observance invites us to stop. It invites us to rest. It asks us to notice that while we rest, the world continues without our help. It invites us to delight in the world’s beauty and abundance.”
— Wendell Berry
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, February 26
Prayer
"Lord, you are closer to me than my own breath,
nearer to me than my hands and feet.
Amen."
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, February 25
Visio Divina
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Wednesday, Feb 24
Act of Compassion
This week’s focus for acts of compassion is on community. May we seek to forge connections and build meaningful relationships. Perhaps it’s time to send that overdue letter, to send a text to reconnect with someone, or make time for that phone call.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Tuesday, Feb 23
Poetry
Go to the Limits of Your Longing by Rainer Maria Rilke
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Monday, Feb 22
Year of Wonders
In 1667 John Dryden wrote his poem annus mirabilis, or Year of Wonders. The previous year had seen the Great Fire of London, which destroyed the dwellings of perhaps 70,000 people, and also the final sweep through England of the bubonic plague, which killed almost a quarter of London’s residents alone. A “year of wonders” – really? Samuel Johnson believed that the poem’s title reflected Dryden’s own wonder that things had not been even worse.
From the depths of our own Plague Year I must admit that a sense of wonder is not my first reaction. Isolation, illness, death, economic precarity or even, for some, collapse. Mask wars, overwhelmed ICUs, hoarding, refrigerated trucks for the bodies, food pantries for the newly hungry, miles-long lines for drive-up testing, fellow grocery shoppers no longer neighbors but suspicious, callous vectors for disease, politicians prioritizing their own hold on power over the very lives of others.
I want to think that Dryden titled his poem for the extraordinary wonders he saw while death swirled everywhere around him,
When spotted deaths ran arm’d through every street,
With poisoned darts, which not the good could shun,
The speedy could outfly, or valiant meet.
I want to think of our own perilous days not only as a time of horror but also of beauty, of honor, of wonder and grace. And the evidence truly is everywhere around me; it is my choice whether to notice it or not.
The separation I’ve endured from friends and colleagues has been hard, but it has made me cherish those relationships more than ever. It has strengthened them, and thanks to Zoom even reignited a few. My college-aged children have spent many months at home – not where they want to be! – but the time with them has been such a gift, such a source of joy. I know them better as young adults than I ever could have without our seclusion together. The long walks that I take to get some exercise have connected me so profoundly to the natural beauty that is right outside the door of my home. I’ve slowed down my life enough to practice quiet gratitude.
So many people have risen to the occasion of our current crises to extend themselves in showing compassion and mercy. Goodness abounds. The restraints on our lives are encouraging more people to commit to the changes in habits that will help address our ecological crisis, to be more generous with their resources, and to participate more fully in movements for justice. The constant companionship of death and loss has made many of us more appreciative of the fragility and loveliness of simply living. These are truly days of Godly wonder and grace if we choose to see them that way.
Rev. Alison Boden, PhD
Dean of Religious Life & of the Chapel
View Reflection in entirety here.
Sunday, Feb 21
Psalm 32 NRSV
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom God imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to God,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not stay near you.
Many are the torments of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in God.
Be glad in God and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Saturday, Feb 20
Sabbath Rest
“Stop for one whole day every week, and you will remember what it means to be created in the image of God, who rested on the seventh day not from weariness but from complete freedom. The clear promise is that those who rest like God find themselves free like God, no longer slaves to the thousand compulsions that send others rushing toward their graves.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
View Reflection in entirety here.
Friday, Feb 19
Prayer
"Lord, grant that I may always allow myself to be guided by you, always follow your plans, and perfectly accomplish your holy will. Grant that in all things, great and small, today and all the days of my life, I may do whatever you may require of me. Help me to respond to the slightest prompting of your grace, so that I may be your trustworthy instrument, for your honor. May your will be done in time and eternity-by me, in me, and through me."
― Saint Teresa of Ávila
View Reflection in entirety here.
Thursday, Feb 18
Visio divinia
Visio divina invites us into "divine seeing” and to encounter the divine through images.
- What emotions does this image evoke in you?
- What does the image stir up in you, bring forth in you?
- Does this image lead you into an attitude of prayer? If so, let these prayers take form in you. Write them down if you desire.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Ash Wednesday, Feb 17
Act of Compassion
This week’s centering word is “compassion.” May we embrace the world — not in pity — but in deep empathy that compels us to extend into the world, to move beyond ourselves. Perhaps it is as simple as writing a thank you note to someone or reading about stories different from your own.
View Reflection in entirety here.
Dear Friends,
Lent is a season of grace that ushers us into new life. To guide your Lenten journey we invite you to sign up to receive daily Lenten Reflections from our office.
Join us for 40 days of prayer and reflection. This year's Lenten theme, "Give Us This Day: Lenten Reflections on Life & Grace,”gives testimony to how members of our community have navigated daily life and seen God's grace over the last year. This year's devotional will gather us together in heart, mind, and spirit as we follow the weekly outline: Sunday - Scripture Reading; Monday - Devotional; Tuesday - Poetry; Wednesday - Act of Compassion ; Thursday - Visio Divina; Friday - Devotional; Saturday - Sabbath Rest.
Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames
Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
This is a fully virtual event / receive a daily Lenten email reflection.