9All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness *

to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

These words from Psalm 25, appointed for today, echo in my mind. Often when I am counseling people who are faced with difficult decisions, I tell them that I believe God honors our decisions when we enter into them carefully AND prayerfully. By that I mean there may always be several options but paralysis of analysis keeps us from choosing, or we give into the anxiety, terrified of making a “wrong” choice. God of course can work with and through and bless whatever choice we make, if it is a decision made in prayer and one in line with God’s “covenant and testimonies”.

I can certainly relate. During the months of discerning and searching for “what’s next” as my interim time at St. Paul’s was wrapping up, I felt myself giving in to the anxiety. But I can honestly say in the last couple of months I felt much of that anxiety leave me. Part of it was the tender love and care the people and leaders of St. Paul’s offered me, part of it was my wife’s unwavering belief that “all will be well”. And a big part of it was practicing what I preach, offering it all up to God and believing what the Psalmist wrote – all the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness to those who keep God’s covenant and testimonies.

It sounds simple. It’s not. We are all human and the unknown worries us. No doubt about that. So God often helps us along the way. In my case, it was the love and generosity of my parish that helped calm my soul and gave me space to “let go and let God”. I am forever grateful to them.

Now we know what we didn’t know. I am excited and delighted to join with Christ Church in Pensacola as their Interim Rector. When we left Delray Beach, we moved into temporary quarters that are only 25 minutes away from Christ Church. As we were driving a uHaul with all our possesions out of Delray Beach and wondering what was next, I received a call from their interim search chair to see if I could come to Pensacola for an interview. He had no idea I was going to be living so close.

All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness.

Amen.

(Click an icon above to share this post on your social media)

In my daily prayers, I have returned to using “Venite”, an amazing prayer book put together by Robert Benson, a writer friend from Nashville. Benson has managed to produce a remarkable book which includes daily offices (morning, noon, evening, compline) arranged in ways that make them very assessable to anyone desiring a more disciplined approach to daily prayer, all in one book (which he states was his goal. In fact he wrote the book for his own prayer discipline and much later decided to publish it).

The offices include Psalms, Canticles, and Collects for the day of the month and/or the church season. For readings he includes sayings of Jesus for each day of the month. It is simple to follow and quite lovely as well as practical.
The book may be out of print but I found my copy on Amazon. It’s simply named “Venite” as it is itself a call to prayer. I highly recommend it.

Using a book such as this allows us, just like saying Morning or Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer (from which Benson draws much of his prayer rhythm), to join our own prayers with those of people all over the world. And I think now is a good time for us to do so. Praying changes us. Jesus knew this about us. It’s why Jesus told us two things about other people – first we should pray for our enemies. Praying for our friends was easy, he said, let’s expand that to include even those who do us harm. And he asked us to pray for, as we all called to love, our neighbors as ourselves. Then, doggone it, he went and expanded that too in the story of the Good Samaritan. So today, in light of the evil news we seem to be bombarded with each day, I have tried to expand my prayers as Jesus expects, as Jesus calls us to do.

It’s not easy. It does make a difference. I commend it all to you.

I will close with the final verse of Benson’s version of the Song of Zechariah:

In your tender compassion, the morning sun has risen upon us – to shine on us in our darkness, to guide our feet into the paths of peace.

We live in anxious times. There is nothing new about this. From terrorist attacks and threats to economic concerns to the almost weekly mass shooting to ebola to the so-so-so-long election season, we are bombarded by crisis, by worry, by doubt. Our elected leaders seem to have lost all will to lead from strength, from compassion, from love of others and instead knee-jerk react in the ways they feel the most voters will appreciate. This is not leadership. I wish every elected leader at every level would read Ed Friedman’s “A Failure of Nerve”. Ordained leaders need to do the same. I know I do. I return to it often.

So what should the people of God do? We remember. In the service of Morning Prayer available online at missionstclare.com, the First Song of Isaiah is one of the chosen canticles for today. You know it. I know it. And today, I need it – to help me remember:

Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely, it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.

For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense,*

and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing, from the springs of salvation.

And on that day you shall say, Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that his Name is exalted.

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,

for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

My sure defense, the prophet Isaiah says. The defense, however, is not from bullets or disease, as much as we would love that. The defense is from being conquered by despair, from allowing our very natural fear to overwhelm our faith. Our defense is remembering our salvation and then acting in ways that God expects even when we are worried and afraid. Especially then. By taking care of the stranger, the poor, the orphaned. By being living examples of people of God making God’s deeds known among all the people. We are called, my friends, to be in the world but not of it, remembering the great one in our midst is the Holy One. Surely it is God who saves me, I will trust in God and not be afraid.

That’s my morning prayer today.