Morning Prayer, Monday Dec 8th Picking up on last nights final evening prayer from Caroline. Yesterday was a day of tears and remembering. A family in our congregation for the 12th year I believe donated a huge 12-15ft Christmas tree in memory of their daughter who died at a young age. We invited members of our church family young and old to remember people they loved who had died. We had many people writing names on stars and it is always amazing at how at this time a year memory strikes a tender response. One of the young people who is about 9 wrote the name of his pet hamster Jingles who had died a few months back. His dad recently wrote me to share with me how the thought of getting a new one sent him to tears and shaking and telling them he was not ready for a new hamster. His reaction surprised the family as this was the first sign. In the afternoon I was asked to be a part of an annual memorial service for families remembering loved ones who had died during the year. I was particularly touched by a family who were deeply grieving the death of a young child not more than 7 or 8… To stand in the midst of death during the Advent season can seem so difficult.Often words can come out awkward. I simply tried to remind them of a God who does not wish pain or tears on anyone. I tried to remind them of the words of the prophet Isaiah…”Comfort O comfort my people” that were words of God as a reminder that God was saying “I am here”. I tried to offer words that the Christmas story we would soon hear was another reminder of a God who wanted to offer us a new type of closeness in the story of Jesus and how now we as Christians became the continuing of that story for one another…the “I am Here”. This song I wrote called “I am Here” is a simple reminder of being overwhelmed and reaching out and hearing God whisper back “I am Here”. May we reach out to those who are in need this Advent day with the simple words “I am Here”. And I offer this prayer as we begin this day… O Holy One, May we find you in those darkest moments as a light this Advent day and walk your story into the lives of others. May we be gentle with our words and gestures and let people know they are not alone. Amen! https://youtube/watch?v=JuDna32suOg
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 12:14:57 +0000
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