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Prayer concerns:
We grieve with the Hawley family on the death yesterday of
Sam Hawley. Please remember his wife Ingrid in your prayers, and his children Sam and Britt and their families. Services to be announced.
We sorrow with the Fox family on the death of
Donna Fox. A service of thanksgiving for Donna's life will be held on Monday, March 20 at 10 a.m.
We have learned of the death of David Lindsey, for many years our church tenor soloist, Appalachia trip leader, and friend to many.
In your prayers for healing, please remember Karen Curtin, in recovery from her back surgery, and Jack Pfann, home recovering after his hospitalization. |
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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
A.
INTRODUCTION...
During Lent we are using Mother Teresa's book, "A Simple Path". To live a fully Christ-like life she says we need to follow a 6-step path: from silence, to prayer, to faith, to love, to service, to peace, each step building on the one before. Mother Teresa grew up in Albania, wanted to become a missionary, became a Nun, was sent to Ireland to study, then to CALCUTTA, India to teach at a Catholic girls' school. In 1946 she received "a call within a call", God's deepening of her ministry to share the suffering of the poorest of the poor. With the permission of the Catholic Church she began her own order, "Missionaries of Charity". As her fame grew people became interested in how she kept her faith strong. The book, "A Simple Path", offers her 6 step path. Mother Teresa was recently declared a SAINT
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B.
TODAY,
Psalm 46:10 ("Be STILL, and know that I am God"). Habakkuk 2:20 ("The Lord is in the Holy Temple, let all the earth keep SILENT"). Ecclesiastes 3:7 ("There is a time to SPEAK UP and a time to BE SILENT")
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C. SUMMARY...
Two weeks ago our Bible Study was on "prayer", looking specifically at Jesus' model "Lord's Prayer". Jesus taught the value of intimate, specific, regular communication (prayer) between us and God. Mother Teresa's book affirms the same. But she adds a key component: SILENCE. If prayer is conversation, communication with a loved one (God), then SILENCE is half the equation. Silence allows the other person to speak, allows entry into your mind, heart, and spirit. There's no relationship if you do all the talking.
D.
KEY POINTS:
1.
Life is Crazy. No one knows this better than Mother Teresa. She lived in a city of 20 million people, where honking is requested (!), with the sounds of industry and people all around, doing work that put her on the front lines of urgent need. So, yes, our lives are hectic: commuting, our kids' schedules, work, volunteering, bills, etc. We are all stressed; most of us are driven, type A personalities. Life is crazy. Just don't think it is crazier than hers. If she thinks she needs prayer and silence and focus, and could find time and space for it - so can we. If we are too busy to exercise/eat right/have family time/pray, etc, you are too busy, period. You are at the point of diminishing return in your busyness. It's time to make time.
2. You need help. We can't do it alone. Not life, not family, not church, not work. Mother Teresa's point is that God is accessible as a POWER SOURCE and a PARTNER, so that we share the burden of all we do and are energized to do it. Jesus would pray all night and return refreshed. Spiritually, a power prayer is like a power nap. Mother Teresa's nuns point out that their work is overwhelming. The heat, the smog, too much need and too few resources, all a recipe for failure. But prayer empowers them so that no day is a failure, the resources are enough, and the heat is irrelevant. Prayer is the ever present reminder that they are not alone.
3. SILENCE is GOLDEN. Mother Teresa is adamant that prayer needs silence in two ways. First, find it. If you can't find a literal silent/quiet space, then create a "cell" within yourself. Practice the art of silence, tuning out the noise of life. Yes, it is a discipline, it takes practice, it is tough, and it can be done. Great athletes tune out the noise, distractions, even opposition. If an athlete in a loud stadium can go into a "zone", so can we. Second, invite silence. Don't fill your whole prayer time with words, thoughts, requests. Put time in to listen, to receive, and to hear. Our SCRIPTURES today amplify silence as the key to being with God. "Be still... keep silent", the Bible says. Yes, there's a place for noise, words, and actions, all well and good. But there is also a "time to be silent".
4. NOW? When is the right time to "speak up... or be silent" (Ecclesiastes 3:7) That's not just a question for today: divided world, it's a question for anyone who cares about anything. Our in-person Bible class folks offered four times it is good to be silent: when you don't have all the facts, or you're angry, or you don't know what you're talking about, or when you need to reflect and pray about it. The time to speak up is when you want to create change. For change to happen you want to be understood, not just loud. Time is important to being silent. Timing is important to speaking up.
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