May 31st, 2009
PENTECOST
Sunday’s Reflection
EVERY HUMAN BEING craves to know something, someone Greater.
We ache to know home in the deepest sense.
It is as if we walk through life
with surroundings dimly lit or pitch black.
We often stumble or lose our way
not knowing where to find illumination
or wondering if such a source exists.
We long for a bit of fire, as on the day called Pentecost, that will refine our spirits and energize our lives. Even as we search for answers, what we desire most is meaning that enlivens and energizes each interaction and choice.
- Cynthia Langston Kirk
Rhythm & Fire: Experiencing the Holy in Community and Solitude
From p. 13 of Rhythm & Fire edited by Jerry P. Haas and Cynthia Langston Kirk. Copyright © 2008 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
On this day of Pentecost, where are you seeing the Spirit working? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.
- Acts 2:1-2, NIV
- Romans 8:26, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 5 Comments »
May 30th, 2009
Saturday’s Reflection
TODAY, SIMPLY NOTICE your life in its fullness. Effortlessly pause and open to holy moments. With wisdom and gentleness, embrace these unexpected insights, hunches, and inspirations, and expand your imagination and your love for the world in new ways.
- Bruce G. Epperly
Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living
From p. 46 of Holy Adventurer: 41 Days of Audacious Living by Bruce G. Epperly. Copyright © 2008 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Tell us what you notice about “your life in its fullness.” Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. [God's Spirit] does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
- Romans 8:26, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 6 Comments »
May 29th, 2009
Friday’s Reflection
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES are not ways to prove our righteousness. They are a way of fostering trust in and receptivity to God. They make room for grace to operate in our lives.
- Marjorie J. Thompson and Stephen D. Bryant
Exploring the Way
From p. 48 of Exploring the Way, Leader’s Guide by Marjorie J. Thompson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
What spiritual discipline(s) foster your “trust in and receptivity to God”? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said, “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
- John 16:7, NIV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 7 Comments »
May 28th, 2009
Thursday’s Reflection
RITUALS, NO MATTER WHAT the context, are usually communal; we need to share them with a group of people who use the same symbolic language. Sharing a liturgy among friends and family gives authority and substance to these profound longings. A wedding in which the couple makes vows in the presence of God, respected witnesses, and loved ones has much greater power and meaning than one might over dinner simply exchanging a promise to stick together.
- Tilda Norberg
Gathered Together: Creating Personal Liturgies for Healing and Transformation
From p. 28 of Gathered Together: Creating Personal Liturgies for Healing and Transformation by Tilda Norberg. Copyright © 2007 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Share your thoughts about todays quote? Visit the comments area.
Today’s Scripture Reading
This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message.
- Acts 2:17, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 6 Comments »
May 27th, 2009
Wednesday’s Reflection
THE FIRST DIMENSION OF PRAYER is God’s love for us. Before we utter a word, the Spirit puts in our hears desire to communicate with the Source of our being. God has given us life and love. In prayer we gratefully receive these gifts. …
In the second dimension of prayer we respond. In distress we call out for help and in gratitude offer our thanksgiving. Receiving divine love, we return our praise. We confess our sin and make petition. …
The third dimension of prayer is intimate communion. The love and grace of the Holy One draws us into the embrace of pure love. … God desires to give the gift of contemplation.
- J. David Muyskens
Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer
From p. 20 of Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer by J. David Muyskens. Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Tell us: What dimension of prayer are you in today? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
The Helper will come–the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father.
- John 15:26, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 10 Comments »
May 26th, 2009
Tuesday’s Reflection
YOURS THE SEED, yours the growth;
yours the water, yours the thirst;
yours the wild, yours the tame.
You are within me, O God,
and within all creation –
and you are beyond.
Shape and fill me this day
and all creation
with your grace.
- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation
From p. 67 of Earth Gospel by Sam Hamilton-Poore. Copyright © 2008 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Share your prayer for God’s grace this day. Visit the discussion area.
Today’s Scripture Reading
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
- Psalm 104:24, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 7 Comments »
May 25th, 2009
MEMORIAL DAY (U.S.)
Monday’s Reflection
MY MOTHER LOVES a pawpaw tree that grew on land between her childhood home and the one-room school she attended. One time she and Grandma and I walked to that property — it seemed to me we walked for miles. Mourning doves gave their haunting call. Finally Mom found a gnarled root she believed was part of the long-ago pawpaw tree. I’m sorry that I probably couldn’t find the place again. Yet it remains a sacred location in a personal sense; I often return to that tree in a memory of the happiness of the woods on a pretty childhood afternoon.
- Paul E. Stroble
You Gave Me a Wide Place: Holy Places in Our Lives
From pp. 80-81 of You Gave Me a Wide Place: Holy Places in Our Lives by Paul E. Stroble. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
What are the places, things, people, that call you to remember the sacred? Share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
- John 16:13, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loved and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Canterbury (May 27).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 13 Comments »
May 24th, 2009
ASCENSION DAY/SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Sunday’s Reflection
A LIFE WITH GOD is a life in which the rhythms of silence and listening alternate with the rhythms of sharing and service. By praying with every part of who we are, we allow the grace that pours from the well of living water to trickle through all the aspects of our being, nourishing and hydrating that which was parched and dis-eased.
So begin the adventure, start the journey, follow Jesus. Allow God to transform your mind such that everything you are and everything you encounter speak with the breath of the Spirit. Let us pray.
- Daniel Wolpert
Creating a Life with God: The Call of Ancient Prayer Practices
From p. 171 of Creating a Life with God by Daniel Wolpert. Copyright © 2003 by the author. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Tell us — What are ways you pray “with every part of who you are”? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus prayed, “Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one.”
- John 17:11, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for the peace in the world. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Bernadino of Siena (May 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 3 Comments »
May 23rd, 2009
Saturday’s Reflection
SOME PEOPLE SEEM TO THINK that answering God’s call means turning their back on what they truly enjoy, but I believe God puts our passions within us to energize us and lead us toward what we are meant to do with our lives. … I have come to believe that the deep desires of our heart, the ones deep within us that stay year after year and do not go away, are put there by God. Our passions and desires are part of who God made us to be, and paying attention to them can help us discover and define our mission.
- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes
From p. 79 of The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
How are you answering God’s call? Visit the comments area and share your reflections.
Today’s Scripture Reading
My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life.
- 1 John 5:13, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for the peace in the world. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Bernadino of Siena (May 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 5 Comments »
May 22nd, 2009
Friday’s Reflection
GOD, IT FRIGHTENS ME TO THINK of any situation being administered by my example. You know as well as I that I say better than I do. Yet if you would grant me one thing, let it be a sensitivity to look out on the world from behind the eyes of each person I meet. Then maybe a few of my doings might add a little to your own pilgrimage in becoming “All in all.” Amen.
- W. Paul Jones
An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful
From p. 112 of An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful by W. Paul Jones. Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Tell us your thoughts about today’s reflection? Visit the comments.
Today’s Scripture Reading
This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly — and mysteriously — as he left.
- Acts 1:11, THE MESSAGE
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for the peace in the world. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Bernadino of Siena (May 20).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2009 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 7 Comments »
