Prayer for Advent Watchfulness

One of the things I am constantly pointing out to visitors who come to look around Ballybeen, where Dundonald Methodist is based, is the beauty of the surrounding countryside. Despite the encroachment of housing estates up every hillside, there are green hills wherever you look... indeed the picture in the top left of this post is one of Scrabo Tower taken from the nearby Craigantlet hills, both of which can be seen from Ballybeen. If truth be told the estate itself is very green, in the botanical NOT political sense of that word. Yet most people are blind to it most of the time, either so caught up in the business of everyday life that they don't take time to stop and look around them, or because there are so taken in by Ballybeen's reputation as a "loyalist" estate that they are focussed on the signs of that rather than the beauty of creation all around them... One of those days I'm going to have to take some photos to bear this out, or rather get someone who can take a decent photo to do so... because my attempts in the past have been appaling... and actually my point is borne out by the fact that despite an exhaustive trawl online, I couldn't find any scenic photographs taken from or of Ballybeen...

But it's a point well made in this advent season of waiting and watching... How often do we slow down or stop to take a look at the signs of God at work in the world? With that in mind here's a prayer that is appropriate for this season...

Lord open our eyes to your glory about us;

Open our eyes that we may see wonders;

Open our eyes and brighten our darkness.

Open our eyes to your word in creation;

Open our ears to your voice in the breeze;

Open our hearts to your word that brings life.

Open our eyes to the word that is written;

Open our ears so we hear what you say;

Open our hearts and write now upon them.

Shalom

Comments

Living under the Empire... (2) Where is Babylon?

We were driving back from school last week, talking about books that we had been reading and my younger son, Ciaran, asked me "Where is Babylon?" I have to confess that my history is better than my geography, and I said that it no longer exists as an inhabited city, but its ruins were to the north west of the current capital of Iraq, Baghdad. When I checked however, I discovered that it is actually about 50 miles south of Baghdad and the modern town is the administrative centre of the province of Babil... But just as the modern city is but a shadow of the historic capital of 2 ancient empires, first under Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and then the "Neo-Babylonian" empire (under Nebuchadnezzar etc) in the 6th century BCE, so the earthly Babylonian empire/s was/were fleeting in comparison to the enduring metaphorical idea of Babylon. The original Empire under Hammurabi was probably the ultimate origin of some of the early Biblical stories, including the ...

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that ...

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65

Virtual Methodist

Search This Blog