Received: 2024-09-05 21:00:22

I am asking for prayer for my health. I've been struggling with some medical issues that have interfered with attending church as well as working from home. Asking for God to provide for my needs, including groceries, and that God would bring some comfort.

I want to read a poem to you called Blessing In The Chaos by Jan Richardson. And then following that, we’re actually just going to sit for a few minutes and gaze at some gorgeous nature; we’re just going to drink it in. 

We often fill this space with a lot of words and a lot of thoughts, and in that, sometimes we can miss the presence and beauty of God so often found more deeply in silence, in stillness, in the quiet spaces. We don’t want to miss that, today. 

To be clear – there’s nothing for you to do here, nothing to accomplish, in these moments. There’s no specific goal, you don’t need to “achieve” some special union experience. Just let your body, your soul, and your spirit take some deep breaths. Knowing that they probably need them. 

POEM | Blessing In The Chaos 

To all that is chaotic in you, let there come silence. 

Let there be a calming of the clamoring, a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you, that have made their home in you, 

that go with you even to the holy places but will not let you rest, will not let you hear your life with wholeness or feel the grace that fashioned you. 

Let what distracts you cease. Let what divides you cease. 

Let there come an end to what diminishes and demeans, and let depart all that keeps you in its cage. 

Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos, where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.

Contemplations
Blessing in the Chaos | Practicing Rest

Ready for what's next?

Contemplations
Wounded Saviour

Think of the way that Jesus – the one who just literally conquered death and proved his dominance over mortality – reveals who he is to Thomas. Instead of Jesus performing another miracle to convince, He invites his disciple to touch his wounds.... 

Bible Study
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What we’re wanting to do here is to shake up both over-familiarity (for those who have been reading the Bible for a long time) that can sometimes cause the Bible to feel stale, as well as to think more deeply about what some of the ancient words and metaphors really mean, and what they might look and sound like in our present day context. 

Activities
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I wonder how many of us are looking at the weeks ahead, and feeling like love is going to be pretty hard, in some situations. That maybe we’ll be in encounters – whether at family dinners, work parties, even extra time at home – with people we actually find it hard to love...