Category Archives: Biblical Reflection

Lent 2016, Week Five: Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

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I arise today,

through God’s strength to pilot me,

 God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me,

 God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me,

 God’s word to speak for me,

 God’s hand to guard me, 

God’s shield to protect me,

 God’s host to save me

 From snares of devils,

 From temptation of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

 afar and near.

It is a song of praise to God for all God is and does. And well it should be.

But to understand the depth of praise we need to start with ourselves. To look inside. To look inside deeply. To see deeply. Only then, when we see ourselves deeply, can we understand the depth of praise expressed in these words.

When we look deeply we can begin to see. The uncertainty about life that requires a pilot. The weakness of spirit that requires upholding. The straying from who we truly are that requires a guide. The blindness to the pain of others that requires new eyes. The deafness to the cries of the oppressed that requires new ears. The silence in the face of injustice that requires a new mouth. The danger to life and love we help create that requires a guard. The foolishness of our egos that requires protection. All the ways we are lost that require saving from that which seduces and tempts us, from those who wish us ill.

This kind of looking within is not easy. It means seeing things in ourselves we would rather not see. It inevitably leads to struggle and perhaps even suffering.

But this kind of looking is the only way to new life. It is the dying that makes resurrection possible.

We cannot do it – not even think about doing it – unless we have faith. Faith that when we arise today and every day we will be upheld by the strength, might and wisdom of God. And that in all we are about God’s eye, ear, mouth, hand and shield will offer us whatever it is we need to face whatever it is we see.

And then through the grace and mercy of God these words of praise touch the depth of our being and we know life that is both abundant and full.

Offered by Jeff Jones, pastor, writer, follower of Jesus.

God given strength

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I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, 2nd stanza

Taken out of the rest of the poem, this looks suspiciously like something we might read in church. A creed of some sort. And it is, but not in the usual way. It’s not an “I agree with the general ideas or principles” kind of thing: it’s a “there isn’t a single part of Jesus’ life that was unrelated to God” proclamation.

Christ is born: God giving him to the world; Christ is baptized: Jesus gives his work life over to God for us.

Christ is crucified: this world of fear rejects him; Christ is buried: his friends and family give Jesus back to the earth and to God.

Christ is resurrected: Jesus reveals the face of God, his face, to his followers; Christ ascends: the humanity of Jesus is forever part of the inner life of God.

His descent for the judgment of doom: death cannot separate anyone from the love of God. Our small, partial, fragile egos are doomed because our true, whole, God given selves are too big and too holy for them to contain.

These things we read in poems and creeds were never meant to drag us down or punish us. They are our strength because they reveal the soul saving truth: no one is excluded from the love of God. We arise in this time and in this place through the strength they give us.

Ash Wednesday: Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

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I arise today  

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, 

Through belief in the Threeness, 

Through confession of the Oneness

 of the Creator of creation.

The wonder-full arising – a daily blessing, miracle even, when I arise with God’s mighty strength. When I praise God for this day with my first breath upon awakening, the Creator of creation is known to me;

the one who became like you and me, who walked through History with dusty feet and showed us the Way, cementing salvation in our souls, is known to me; the one who is in me, nearer than hands and feet, closer than that first awakening breath, whose presence is real when I am truly awake, is known to me.

I have called these realities the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but they are the One. Whatever I say about God the Father – omnipresent, eternal, loving – can be said of Jesus and the Spirit. What a great God we serve who has pulled out all the stops to be known in this moment of awakening.

May I be truly engaged this first day of Lent, this Ash Wednesday, in this Presence – and throughout these 40 days be tuned in to the Frequency that is my life.

Offered by Bill Albritton, teacher, leader, follower of Christ.

Brilliant Light, Gathering Darkness

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Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Matthew 17:1-2, NRSV

The season of Epiphany ends here on this mountaintop. The disciples see Jesus shining like the sun, and they are nearly blinded by the light. But this isn’t a story about Jesus having a supernatural transformation: he didn’t change on that mountain, the disciples did. Their blindness fell away and they saw Jesus as he always was: divine and human.

This is one of my favorite passages in the New Testament. It says something about who Jesus is (God’s son, real person), and something about who I am – capable of seeing the glory of God in this life and equally capable of closing my eyes to it in willful blindness. Even when I see the glory of God, I am as likely to misunderstand its meaning in my life as Peter did just a few short verses later. The glory of God is more than a brilliant light burning on a mountaintop. This light is the living, breathing, love of God who will leave the heights to bring light and hope to the darkest of places.

The shadows are darkening, and the road to Jerusalem beckons. The brilliance of this mountaintop transfiguration will shine into resurrection. But the days in between are dark, and I am afraid. I would not dare to walk this road alone. But I walk with all the faithful who have ever lived. Like Saint Patrick did when in danger, I will arise to walk the road, and I will bind unto myself the strength of God. I will dare to follow Jesus on this Lenten road…

[Note: A different part of Saint Patrick’s Breastplate will be the focus for each week of Lent. To read the full prayer, click Lent 2016:Saint Patrick’s Breastplate at the top of the page. Background information on the prayer and resources for further study can be found by clicking About Saint Patrick’s Breastplate.]

Resolution: Exercise

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Unless I’m sick or the weather prevents it, I walk several times a week. My blood pressure and heart rate benefit from it, and it keeps me from gaining too much weight. Tidal bay waters are a quarter mile from my door, and the river is almost as close. Whichever direction I go, I can find these calm and rough waters, along with trees, birds, and squirrels in minutes. I can also find Tobey hospital, the library, and train tracks. It’s a pleasure to exercise by walking, so this is an easy resolution to keep. But is it possible to go home by another road? There isn’t really a way home that I haven’t already walked multiple times.

It’s an objective truth that I can never walk home the same way twice. The planet is in an different place, the weather changes, nearby houses are repaired or fall into ruin, and the neighbors I see today I may not see tomorrow. I no longer push a stroller or have a toddler holding my hand as I walk. Neighbors have come and gone, and the ones who remain grow older just as I do. Three of my relatives have died, two have been born, nine have graduated from high school, and two are now married. So much of my life’s reality has changed during these years that I’ve been walking from this door, from this home on this street in this town. I never return home the same way twice is my subjective truth because my home isn’t just the white house I live in – it’s the gracious, God-given life I live.

This year as I head out the door for my usual exercise, I’ll continue to enjoy what I see and hear. But I’ll keep in mind how the road that brings me home is different from the one I set out on. It’s not just my life story that’s lived out on these streets, it’s the holy life story of creation. I’m part of the great history of the universe, albeit a very small one. But even my small part, my dusty road, brings me to God-with-Us. So does yours.

Resolution: Get My Finances In Order

Resolution: Watch What I Eat

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On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Luke 2:11-12

I’m not one for diets, and many of the ones promising quick weight loss are full ingredients I can’t eat, anyway. I enjoy cooking and have the time to make meals and snacks from scratch, so few prepackaged foods are in my cupboards. I read labels, support local farms, and do my best to buy meats and eggs raised humanely and organically. I do my best to avoid overeating. In the usual sense, I already watch what I eat.

But Epiphany is the season of going home by a different road – or watching what I eat as somehow related to my faith life. Food that sustains is more than proper sourcing and appropriate portioning. It’s a gift to have enough food, and a daily miracle when that food supports small farms that leave the earth enriched rather than depleted. It’s worth the higher price to know that the animals I consume didn’t live and die in dirty, cramped quarters. As my husband once said, isn’t the life of the turkey that provides my Christmas dinner worth much more than forty cents a pound?

This year, I’ll continue to do my usual shopping, cooking, and gardening. My family will say grace and waste as little food as possible. We will support Heifer International so others can do the same. But I’ll watch what I eat in a whole new way, too. I’ll eat slowly enough to savor my food and the company around the table. I’ll notice the colors and shapes on my plate. I’ll do my best to see the hand of God in each meal. I’ll watch what I eat because there’s grace in every bite.

Epiphany Resolutions: Going Home By Another Road

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In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel’.”

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Matthew 2:1-12

It’s still Christmas, a week before the visit of the Magi is pencilled in on the church calendar. My tree is still up and lit, and I flip on the outside Christmas lights when daylight fades. My sons are still on vacation (a short one this year), and my husband has a light work load for another day or so.

The same cannot be said for most of the world beyond my door. Christmas candy is 75% off, Super Bowl hype has already started, and Valentines are filling the specialty card sections of the local drug stores. Champagne and sparkling cider are prominently displayed – liquid provisions to usher in 2016. In TV land, resolutions have taken over morning show discussions.

Epiphany and New Year’s resolutions come simultaneously, but I haven’t spend much time pondering this. For whatever reason, the Magi going home by another road and resolving to leave the usual patterns behind have linked up in my mind this week. And so, with the start of 2016, I’ll see what going home by another road looks like a la New Year’s resolutions…who knows where a new road will take me before I make it home…

Christ is Born!

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Readings: Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:8-20

When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:17-19

Today the Word is made flesh. This Word that was in the beginning, that created all things, is now here in our midst as one of us. I love Eugene Peterson’s translation of John’s prologue in The Message: “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood…” and now the neighborhood, the world, the cosmos is changed forever. Merry Christmas indeed! I love equally the joy experienced by the shepherds who are the first team of missionaries making known to all their conversion experience. And I love Mary—she who treasured and pondered all that had happened and is happening. This Grand Miracle, as C.S. Lewis calls it, may be best expressed in a “Hymn on the Nativity” by Ephrem of Syria (c.306-373).

Your mother is a cause for wonder: the Lord entered her
and became a servant; he who is the Word entered
and became silent within her; thunder entered her
and made no sound; there entered the Shepherd of all,
and in her he became the Lamb, bleating as he came forth.

Your mother’s womb has reversed the roles:
The Establisher of all entered in his richness,
but came forth poor; the Exalted One entered her,
but came forth meek; the Splendrous One entered her,
but came forth having put on a lowly hue.

The Mighty One entered, and put on insecurity
from her womb; the Provisioner of all entered
and experienced hunger; he who gives drink to all entered
and experienced thirst: naked and stripped
there came forth from her he who clothes all.

Holy Family artwork offered by Margaret Hill and words offered by Bill Albritton, companions seeking the Christ Child.

Come and Worship

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Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

There is a certain stillness to this moment
the journey is over, a place of rest has been found
the pain of birth is yet to begin
there is a certain stillness to this moment

We know it will not continue so
we know the journey will begin again—all too soon
forced by fearful rulers whose only desire is to protect their position
and their power
we know the struggle to live and grow and learn and love will once again
commence
we know, too, that for the child born this night it will lead to conflict, to
controversy
to suffering and to death
we know that life will take its toll on him
as it does on everyone
as it has on us
we know all that, but now there is stillness
now we can rest and know a peace more profound than any other
the peace that comes from knowing God is in this moment

In the quiet, in this God-given moment, the child stirs—the time has come
there is pain, contracting pain, as all of life contracts
into this one moment through
which it must pass
there is pain—all creation groaning in the pangs of childbirth
there is pain
and God is here now, too—in the pain as well as in the peace
God is here now, too

Because God is here the pain has a new dimension to it
there is hope in the pain
there is love in the pain
there is joy, even joy, in the pain.
Yet the pain increases, its intensity grows—it becomes greater, and greater still
until it is fulfilled
fulfilled in the birth of newness and wonder
fulfilled in the birth of a child who is a king
fulfilled in the birth of our salvation
and she brought forth her firstborn child and wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid him in a manger
it is through this pain that our salvation is born!

There was stillness on the hillside that night as well
shepherds watching over the flock by night
there was a stillness
perhaps a fire glowing for light and warmth
perhaps a tiredness that comes from work—hard work over a long day
now there is stillness—sheep are safely grazing, shepherds resting
now there is stillness

Until the words of wonder are spoken
by presence felt—in voice unknown, unknowable
good tidings of great joy—great joy for all the people
unto you is born this day a savior who is Christ the Lord
unto you is born this day salvation and all its splendor
unto you is born this day a child, wrapped in swaddling cloths and
lying in a manger
unto you is born this day a babe of unwed mother, without power or
prestige or position
unto you is born this day another poor and lowly baby, a child of the
no-accounts, the nobodies of this world
unto you is born this day the king of kings and lord of lords
unto you is born this day the one who shall reign forever and ever
hallelujah, hallelujah amen

Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us
in words of wonder, words of faith they proclaimed the deepest desire of
the human heart
to be in the presence of the holy
to connect with that which is eternal
to worship God
and they came and found the child

they knelt down and they worshipped him.

And now the wonder of the ages comes to us
it is no longer long ago and very far away
it is no longer about birthing in a manger and shepherds on a hillside
it is now—it is here—it is us
in the stillness of this moment God is present
in the stillness of this moment the child comes—to us.

Christ is born this night—come and worship

Forgiveness is born this night—come and worship
and at the stable find release from guilt and fear
find love beyond measure to make up for all you have done and left undone
all the ways you have failed
all the things you could be but haven’t yet become

Peace is born this night—come and worship
and among the lowly animals find a warmth that even warms the soul
find comfort for your grief, calm in the midst of the trials of your living

Healing is born this night—come and worship
and in the love that is present here find wholeness for all your brokenness
find a balm for wounds of the body and torments of the spirit, a salve for
every sinsick soul

Joy is born this night—come and worship
and in the cries that echo forth find not just happiness but something far
more precious
find joy, deep, abiding joy that depends not on good times or pleasant
circumstances
find joy that only comes in living as God’s own children

Salvation is born this night—come and worship
and in this manger rude and bare find everything that matters
find life and love and life made new
find God, find even God

Christ is born this night—come and worship.

Offered by Jeff Jones, seeker of the Christ Child, child of God.

Artwork offered by Margaret Hill, drawer of the Holy, pray-er, child of God.

A Pen and a Prayer

Moving into God’s presence through words

Category Archives: Biblical Reflection

Lent 2016, Week Five: Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

God given strength

Ash Wednesday: Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

Brilliant Light, Gathering Darkness

Resolution: Exercise

Resolution: Get My Finances In Order

Resolution: Watch What I Eat

Epiphany Resolutions: Going Home By Another Road

Christ is Born!

Come and Worship