Call to Prayer

I just watched a Rick Steves episode on Istanbul, taking me back a year ago to my own visit to Istanbul. I was taken by the segment on the mosques. He showed how five times a day people are called to their mosque for prayer. The call is always the same (with a slight variation for the dawn call), saying that God is great and worthy of worship.

What caught my attention was when Rick said "after a short praise service, they go back to work." A simple phrase to him, perhaps, but it gave me pause to consider my own prayer practice. Each time I've been in a country where they do this, my first thought has always been of cacophony because to my Western musical ear, it sounds like a melancholy wailing. If several mosques are within hearing distance, the discord is stressful. Still, there is something to be said for stopping what you're doing and intentionally seeking out God several times a day.

In my own life, I always start and end my day with prayer, whatever time that may be. I attend church regularly, once a week, where we pray several times during our time together. During the school year, because I teach at a Christian school, we start our day together as a staff with worship and prayer, and we do the same each day with our students. As well, I have prayer before each class I teach and we pray before our meetings and other activities. But on my own, during the summer and vacations and such, there is not that same regularity. So, I'm wondering, am I missing something during those times, when I don't have a specific call to prayer built into my day?

Truth is, I think if you begin your day in an attitude of prayer, there is no need to stop what you're doing to intentionally pray as you've been in communication all along. That's the if, though, isn't it? And I suppose that's the theory behind that call to prayer, to remind those who have forgotten...

Instrument of God's Peace

Last weekend I watched a movie about a man I knew almost nothing about except that he wrote a prayer that has been beautifully set to music that I have played and sung many times.  I love the words, but never knew the story behind them until I saw the movie.  I've even been to the place where the author lived and worked.  It is as picturesque and beautiful a place as you might imagine, nestled in the int rugged mountains of Italy.  But it took watching the story of Giovanni Francesco Bernardonek and simultaneously finding myself in a dark enough place to crave desperately what he wrote about, that I came to understand what Francis of Assisi meant when he wrote this prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek 

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

It was more than 800 years ago that Saint Francis penned those words  No doubt they were very appropriate words for his time.  But I think they are just as important, and necessary, for us today.  Now, more than ever, we need to be understanding, we need to be looking out for each other.  With all the sadness andd stress of the world around us, there has never been a greater need for peace, the peafce of Jesus Christ.  And there has never been a better place or time than right here, right now.

Minds to Think and Hearts to Love

Earlier this afternoon, while I was putting the finishing touches on work for the day, I glanced out the window of my office. The rain-drenched woods were beautiful. Birds were flitting about the branches. The sumac was brilliant amidst the yellow and brown of the surrounding leaves. I paused to admire the panorama as nature gathered its strength for the last hurrah of fall. It's November in New England. I love every glorious bit of it! Even rainy days like today. Maybe especially days like today.

I've been watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman for the past several weeks. Let's face it. I'm addicted. I watched it periodically when it originally aired, but didn't follow it regularly. We had boarding at our school at the time, so I was mostly busy elsewhere on Saturday nights. But this fall, I rediscovered it on DVD, and what a treasure! Episode after episode unfolds revealing layers and layers of truth about human nature, some of them warm and comforting, others not so lovely. But all of them, in one way or another, thought-provoking and inspiring.

The episode I watched last night, set at Thanks- giving time, ended with this wonderful prayer, so relevant for today:

Dear Lord,
Let us give thanks to God our Father for all of His gifts so freely bestowed upon us. For the beauty and wonder of your creation, and earth and sky and sea; for our daily food and drink, our homes and family and friends; for minds to think and hearts to love, and hands to serve; for health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play; for the brave and courageous who are patient in suffering and are faithful in adversity; and for all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice, We thank you dear Lord. Amen.

From Gangs to God and Making a Difference

This past week, I spent too much time in meetings. Two days in a row I had to drive an hour out to South Lancaster to sit for more than 9 hours, then drive home, eat supper, go to a board meeting and sit for another 2+ hours. The third day, I didn’t have the board meeting, and I got out an hour earlier, but I still spent a lot of time sitting in meetings. It didn’t help, either, that I was missing the first three days of what I found out on Thursday afternoon (when I could see and hear for myself) was an amazing Week of Prayer here at school.

I had been disappointed to be missing it from the beginning because the young man who was doing the music portion of each day is a former student of mine. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered that another former student, now a pastor, was giving the devotionals each morning for my meetings! I knew then that I was still in for a treat.

This young man is a gifted writer (could it be he had a great English teacher in Academy?!!! Or maybe it’s because his aunt was my own high school English teacher. Either way, he’s made his own way since he left us nearly 10 years ago, writing a book, Waiting at the Altar, and editing and publishing a beautiful magazine, New England Pastor. He’s also published a book of his photographs of New England.). He is also a gifted communicator, so you can well imagine that I was blessed each morning, that, in fact, his inspiration made the trip worth it each day. He talked about how God is waiting for us to respond to His love in the way that He has responded towards us. “Will you just look to Me, my Cross? Will you just consider me?” He asks. “If you do, that Love will compel you to once and for all say Yes to me and live a life of happiness forever and ever.”

Tuesday morning, we had the privilege of attending Atlantic Union College’s Education Day Chapel. The speaker was another inspiration, this time because she challenged us to make a difference in others’ lives. Of course since this was an Education Day, she particularly emphasized the difference teachers can make. She had us think about a favorite teacher and then share with the person next to us why that teacher had made a difference in our lives. In a somewhat surprising coincidence, my sharing partner’s favorite teacher was also one of mine: an English professor from our graduate school days. Even though we were not at the university together, we both had the same experience with “Mother Merlene” in that she was firm but loving, challenging but down-to-earth. She made a difference to so many of her students and, in a way, she is reaching out to my students now because of the influence she had on me.

Back at school on Thursday afternoon, I had the chance to talk with my young musician friend. We reminisced about the people we had in common who influenced our lives. We talked about the summer we were on tour to South Africa, Egypt, Israel and Jordan with the college choir and New England Youth Ensemble (he in the choir, me in the orchestra). We talked about the two directors and the impact they made on us. He talked about the plans God has for his life, witnessing to others through his music. We both acknowledged that we’ve seen God working in our lives, sometimes giving us things to do that weren’t initially part of our life plans, but clearly part of His. Part of God’s plan has been to give us the opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s lives. The huge side benefit of this is the blessing they’ve been to us.

Our speaker for the week was a former gang member, well on his way to becoming its leader. He lived a life of extreme violence before his conversion. Friday night, he shared that story. It was a horrific yet amazing account of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. I’ve heard and read a lot of incredible conversion stories, but this one, for some reason, was different. It brought most listeners, young and older alike, to tears as we all realized the significance of God’s incredible grace. Even now, a day later, I remain overwhelmed (in a good way) about it all…

Sunrise this morning

Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might.
— C.H. Spurgeon