Iona Community
I subscribe to a daily devotion through Cathedral of Hope and this was part of the one I received yesterday. I thought it was compelling so I decided to share.
There is a religious community in Scotland called the Iona Community. They believe and practice that worship or liturgy is all the work we do, inside or/and outside the church. They live this conviction out daily. The community gathers each morning for worship. They read scripture, sing songs, and pray. There is, however, no benediction, no conclusion. The members leave the chapel and proceed to whatever their tasks of the day may be. That is, they continue their liturgy, their worship until it is time to return to the chapel. There is no call to worship, no beginning since they've been at worship all day and what's happening now is a continuation of that worship in another form. Only at the very end of the day when all the tasks are completed there is a benediction: a blessing for the day and a prayer for the rest of the night.
What a great reminder to remain open to God every moment of evey day. I've noticed the more I grow in my relationship with God, the more I pray and the more informal my prayers become. I pray sometimes while I'm checking email, cooking turkey burgers, shopping for frozen blueberries in the grocery store, picking up schnauzer doo-doo in the backyard, and all sorts of strange places. Sometimes it's just to say thanks. Not necessarily for the dog doo-doo, but defintely for the blueberries and the feta-infused turkey. I love knowing that God is listening anytime I open my mouth.
Wednesday night at 20Something we talked about stress, so the subject of prayer was a natural sidebar. I mentioned a small group lesson of Angela's this week that suggested God does nothing without prayer. If we won't pray there is no action. I don't know if I believe that completely. There have been times when I haven't known where things would lead and couldn't possibly have prayed for results, and it's in those times that I think God initiates the action in and give me hints about the direction I should take. I didn't pray for the nudges. But then maybe someone else prayed for me. In that case it's true that God doesn't act without prayer. Who knows! Only God does.
Wednesday night in our 20Something discussion I said sometimes I think God might whisper someone's name to us just so we'll offer up that name in prayer. We might not know what that person needs, but God does and just needs the invitation to move in his or her life. There's so much to ponder.
As we were closing in prayer Wednesday night a semi-random name popped into my head, and after the spiel I had just given I had no choice but to throw this name into the prayer mix. After we finished and were cleaning up, Scot (20something co-leader) said something to me about this girl and that opened up a long conversation about some things that Scot and I needed to address and all of it could lead to some much-needed healing not only in her life but in her relationship with the church. The results remain to be seen, but I'm continuing to learn that an attitude of openness and all-day worship goes a long way in living a more spiritually profound life.
In other words, thank God for blueberries.
There is a religious community in Scotland called the Iona Community. They believe and practice that worship or liturgy is all the work we do, inside or/and outside the church. They live this conviction out daily. The community gathers each morning for worship. They read scripture, sing songs, and pray. There is, however, no benediction, no conclusion. The members leave the chapel and proceed to whatever their tasks of the day may be. That is, they continue their liturgy, their worship until it is time to return to the chapel. There is no call to worship, no beginning since they've been at worship all day and what's happening now is a continuation of that worship in another form. Only at the very end of the day when all the tasks are completed there is a benediction: a blessing for the day and a prayer for the rest of the night.
What a great reminder to remain open to God every moment of evey day. I've noticed the more I grow in my relationship with God, the more I pray and the more informal my prayers become. I pray sometimes while I'm checking email, cooking turkey burgers, shopping for frozen blueberries in the grocery store, picking up schnauzer doo-doo in the backyard, and all sorts of strange places. Sometimes it's just to say thanks. Not necessarily for the dog doo-doo, but defintely for the blueberries and the feta-infused turkey. I love knowing that God is listening anytime I open my mouth.
Wednesday night at 20Something we talked about stress, so the subject of prayer was a natural sidebar. I mentioned a small group lesson of Angela's this week that suggested God does nothing without prayer. If we won't pray there is no action. I don't know if I believe that completely. There have been times when I haven't known where things would lead and couldn't possibly have prayed for results, and it's in those times that I think God initiates the action in and give me hints about the direction I should take. I didn't pray for the nudges. But then maybe someone else prayed for me. In that case it's true that God doesn't act without prayer. Who knows! Only God does.
Wednesday night in our 20Something discussion I said sometimes I think God might whisper someone's name to us just so we'll offer up that name in prayer. We might not know what that person needs, but God does and just needs the invitation to move in his or her life. There's so much to ponder.
As we were closing in prayer Wednesday night a semi-random name popped into my head, and after the spiel I had just given I had no choice but to throw this name into the prayer mix. After we finished and were cleaning up, Scot (20something co-leader) said something to me about this girl and that opened up a long conversation about some things that Scot and I needed to address and all of it could lead to some much-needed healing not only in her life but in her relationship with the church. The results remain to be seen, but I'm continuing to learn that an attitude of openness and all-day worship goes a long way in living a more spiritually profound life.
In other words, thank God for blueberries.
posted by Jen Austin at 8:08 AM
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