Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
Today's Meditation is Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer from Rev. Austin Fleming, A Concord Pastor.
One lifts up Fall Cleaning for our hearts: simplify, simplify, simplify and the other celebrates A Veterans Prayer for Eternal Peace.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in healthcare, in the workplace, in the Church--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action as we continue to work for peace and justice throughout our world.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer. In this "Season of Ordinary Time" in the Church Year, may this be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
MEDITATION 199: Rev. Austin Fleming: Morning Prayer: Fall Cleaning for our hearts: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify and Evening Prayer: A Veteran's Prayer for Eternal Peace
A Concord Pastor Comments
Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 11/12
Posted: 11 Nov 2020 09:09 PM PST
Image source
Help me sort through my heart, Lord,
and do a little fall cleaning...
Help me separate the good stuff from the junk,
the keepers from the trash...
Help me drop what weighs me down
and overcomplicates my life...
Help me pitch what I don't need,
all that clutters up my way...
Help me let go what steals my joy
and burdens me with worry...
Help me lose what keeps my heart from yours
and clear a space for grace to make a home...
Again and again and again, Lord,
teach me to simplify, simplify, simplify!
It's time to start fall cleaning, Lord:
give me a lighter heart today...
Amen.
NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 11/11
Posted: 11 Nov 2020 05:13 PM PST
A Veteran's Prayer for Peace
A Veteran’s Prayer for Eternal Peace is a 15-foot-high, bronze sculpture at the center of a small park, a memorial to military chaplains, in Des Moines, Iowa.
The hands of a veteran, Lord..
Hands that held and gripped a rifle
are now empty, free, opened up in prayer...
Hands that once held off an enemy's approach,
now beckon, to welcome and receive...
Hands that lifted up a fallen buddy's body,
now raised in prayer to you
to whom we lift the ones we lost...
Hands that trembled once in danger's face,
now steady, calm and grateful
for survival, life and hope...
Hands that stretched to you in loneliness,
away from home and loved ones,
filled now with love of family and of friends...
Hands that reached to you in prayer in time of war,
now opened up in prayer for war to end...
Hands that served a nation's call to stand alert,
now rest, at ease, in hands divine...
Protect them, Lord, our veterans,
and watch over them with care
that awake, they might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace...
Amen.
Thank You, Soldiers by Michael and Angela Souders