Cry, Night

Cry, Night!
You damned souls forever unmoving in your
     un-breath-ed stasis
Mind, will, imagination and love inward-turned
     Frozen now in your eternal genuflection before
     the all-devouring I.
No Evenstar can illumine here

Cry, Dawn!
You happy saints forever poured out in your
     Spirit-ed ekstasis
Soul, blood, imagination and love inward turned
     Outward now in your perpetual kenosis before
     the all-indwelling Thou
Dayspring breaks upon this eager morn.

The quiet in the loud

Today was an ordinary day in mid-June in central Texas: sunny and hot and still.  It was also my day to mow the rather large lawn at my church.  Dayspring Baptist Church is housed on a beautifully rolling piece of property.  It isn't far from a main highway and yet somehow, whether graced with a blessing of stillness and serenity or shielded by the tall Texan trees that separate its grounds from the busyness of the highway, this landscape is always quiet.

The stillness and the quiet of Dayspring's property are not merely physical.  There is an ethereal stillness and an otherworldly tranquility that is infused within the physicality of this place.  An ancient, or better yet, a timeless sanctity abounds here, as if the hills and the trees, the buildings made of stone and the iron bells, the roadrunners and the wild turkeys, the grasses and the flowers all exist in perpetual genuflection before an eternal Presence that knows them and calls them each by name.

In this place, one knows what it is to pray unceasingly; the Presence of the divine Spirit that lays thick in this "thin place"-- this place where the curtain of hiddenness that conceals the superabundance of Beauty that forms all reality is pulled back-- compels prayer.  In this place, prayer becomes as natural as inhalation; prayer becomes the simple language of one's breath.

Hear my prayer

This is a song by my favorite songwriter, Jon Foreman, in his band Fiction Family. These lyrics are the lyrics that have been bleeding out of my heart for as long as I can remember.

Mostly

This is darkest day I've seen
I can't find an opening
I've never felt this rage in me
I've never known this anger

I'm feeling like a curse
I feel like I'm getting worse
I'm bored with war and songs
I've been bitter far too long
Come on prove me long

And tell me I'm no longer
And tell me I'm not crazy
Well maybe just a little bit
Maybe just a little bit crazy
But mostly prove me wrong

They're up to something in my head
I can hear them taunting me
Thanks for nothing imagined friends
I can hear you laughing

I feel like a hearse
Like I'm carrying dead hurts
I'm tired of being right
I'm retiring from that fight
Hey come on prove me wrong

And tell my I'm no longer
Tell me I'm not crazy
Or maybe just a little bit
Maybe just a little bit crazy
But mostly prove me wrong

I'm feeling like a bomb
Like I'm screwing up my song
It's like I don't belong
No point in going on
Hey come on prove me wrong

Tell me I'm not crazy
Or maybe just a little bit
Maybe just a little bit crazy
But mostly prove me wrong

Prayer of Adoration

Prayer of Adoration
Dayspring Baptist Church, 4 October 2009

Our gracious and loving God,
You alone are worthy of receiving all praise and adoration.
Yet how reluctantly praises come to our lips. We are quick to complain, quick to be disappointed, quicker to cry “Encore!” than to shout “Blessed be your name!”
Yet if we are silent, the rocks, the very limestone that shapes this land, will cry out.
So Lord, we come before you, King, Savior, Giver of life
We look to enter the chorus of praise for which we were created-- we recognize that it is our calling to magnify your name for as long as we are gifted with breath.

Let the praises of the heavenly hosts, those thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, be ours this morning; may we in one small church in Waco, Texas, enter into the eternal melody of adoration of the heavenlies:
“Worthy, worthy, is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
We confess that you, our God, are worthy-- beyond worthy-- to receive all praise. Therefore:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!”
We praise and adore you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May adoration be the air that we breathe, today and all days, for you deserve nothing less. Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving: Lent 2009

Our most holy and gracious God, we come before you as a people for whom the prayer of thanksgiving does not come naturally or easily.
We are quick to complain and slow to give thanks. Use this time, Father, to create in us the discipline and the habit of thanksgiving. As we take just a few moments to be intentional in giving thanks, we pray that you, Lord, will be glorified as our hearts and minds testify to your goodness.
Let us offer a few moments of silent thanksgiving to our Lord...
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Lord, for all the blessings of this life, we thank you with gratitude for your abundant grace.
For all the trials of this life, we thank you in faith for the promise of renewal and restoration.
In this time of Lent, we thank you, Jesus, for the 40 days you were tempted in the desert.
We thank you, Lord Christ, that because of your 40 days of fasting, our 40 days are lived in the strong presence of a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).
We give you thanks, Holy Trinity, that you promise your people who dwell now in this season of ashes...
a garland instead of ashes/
the oil of gladness instead of mourning/
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit
We give thanks to you, God, for the work you are doing in us during this season of Lent. We give thanks to you in advance for the beauty of the transformation you are bringing about in our lives through this season. All glory be yours, Father, Son and Holy Spirit divine. Amen.