Welcome to Still Waters

Before we move into the reflections and resources for today, we would ask your and your congregations' prayers for Rev. Sharon Clegern (Pleasant Ridge and Lakeside). Sharon had a heart attack on Wednesday night and had surgery shortly thereafter. She is currently hospitalized. Please be praying for her full healing and strength for recovery. If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Allgood. The first reflection below is an adapted prayer for healing for Sharon. The original prayer was written by Rev. Arianne Braithwaite Lehn entitled When I long for healing from her book Ash and Starlight.

Dearest Jesus,

you devoted yourself to healing.

We praise and thank you for

the sight you restored,

the souls you freed,

the broken legs you made to run,

the flaking skin you smoothed with love.

We praise you for the

homeless hearts you gave a resting place,

the insecure identities you brought purpose,

the torn relationships you offered restoration,

the lives plagued by evil you freed once and for all.

You opened your arms to

broken people, Lord, and said,

Come to me...

And so Jesus, we come to you.

We need help from beyond ourselves

for our sister Sharon.

We reach toward you for her healing and wholeness.

We know you are willing to enter into her pain,

her fear,

her anxiety,

her doubt, confusion,

exhaustion, and desperation.

Please renew our trust, Lord Christ.

We know being honest and crying out to you

opens the path toward deeper healing.

We pray for restoration and wholeness for Sharon.

We hand our prayers on you, asking, trusting,

that your consolation will come.

You are so gracious.

Today we claim your healing for Sharon

and ask that a fresh perseverance

will take hold in her life.

Amen.

(Adapted from Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life by Rev. Arianne Braithwaite Lehn

From The Presbyterian Outlook Online - Artist and mother Merideth Hite Estevez discovers that creativity — and grace — are often born in life’s glitter-covered chaos, where God meets us in the messy work of mending....

She writes:

Using LEGOs to mend a crumbling wall is a divine wind across the surface of the deep. It’s an invitation to stop judging ourselves and let God call the mess “good.” What if we met our challenges not by tearing down the structure, but by mending what we can, with what we have?

Christy Berghoef is a wonderful Michigan-based writer and photographer. Her most recent book, Rooted: A Spiritual Memoir of Homecoming is a stunning and poetic read. She also writes at Wheat and Willow on Substack. Her post from June 11 entitled Grief Delayed is one of the finest essays on grief I have read. I commend it to you or to others who may be in the midst of a grieving time.

Louisa shared a podcast and two books that she would recommend to others. Each is linked below and the descriptions are from Louisa.

Podcast - When We All Get to Heaven

As described on their website: “When We All Get to Heaven is a Peabody award-winning documentary project that tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, and how it faced the personal, social, and political trials of the AIDS epidemic, including the deaths of 500 of its members.”

Book - Everything Could Be a Prayer: 100 Portraits of Saints and Mystics

A gorgeous book combining art and stories of individuals from throughout the Christian tradition.

Book - For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional

This book has been by my side since September. I’ve used it in meetings, for sermon illustrations, and – most important – for my own devotional time. It has grounded me in practice and hope though a difficult season

So the photo below was from a walk Amy and I took with our dog Scout last Saturday night. It was on the Kingfisher Trail at Winton Woods. It was the second such painted rock we saw during that walk. As we walked by, Amy said, for me to be sure to photograph it. I am grateful I did because it feels like there's so much happening in this simple photo. The colors on the rock, the vibrance of the green foliage, and even thinking to whoever not only painted that rock but who then decided to share it with whoever wanted to see it or even take it home. So I am grateful for Amy asking me to photograph it. I am grateful for whoever painted and shared it. And I am grateful for the creator who is behind all of it.