And now a brief word from my Sponsor….<3
Interrupting this travelog with a word from my Sponsor
Today we would be making the transition portion of our trip to France as we left Paris in a whirlwind of God’s favor on the Metro from our hotel to meet up with our tour group at the Charles De Gaulle airport.
But as I was thinking about that this morning, it surfaced that I need to stop and share with you something that happened yesterday. I may have mentioned in previous posts that our church has been holding a mid-week prayer service at 12:15 on Wednesdays.
Sometimes there are many and sometimes few who can make it, but it has become an anchor in the week for Russ and me. There are always three basic elements: music, prayer and Scripture. These take a different format depending on the leader and the theme.
Yesterday we were led by our Worship Arts pastor, Lacey. She focused on Psalm 103 by having us read it silently to ourselves. Next we went around the rows and each person was to share any verse that stood out to them. She urged us to not change our verse if someone used it before us.
Many of us selected sections between the actual focus she had planned. Perhaps you have encountered how the Spirit whispers ahead of time to prepare our hearts. The section we concentrated on after singing the old hymn “All Creatures of our God and King” was verses 8-18 where David expresses his deep gratitude for the grace and mercy of God’s kindness in forgiving us for our human propensity to sin and stray.
As Lacey had us reflect on a couple of other passages, she shared about how her family has a practice of spiritual renewal during the Feast of Trumpets, which happens this week. As a family, they do some soul searching and then visit a body of water. Each person takes a rock or a piece of bread and, holding it, they visualize it representing some areas within them that they want to be rid of. She gave some examples like unchecked anger and jealousy.
They hold the bread or stone, letting the weight of it remind them of the weight of the sin they carry and then cast it out on the water. She explained that as the stone sinks or the bread floats away and eventually dissolves, this is what we want to do with our sin. We want to get rid of it in a way that it will not return. She urged us to spend a few moments and think about what a stone or slice of bread in our own hand would represent if we were to be standing together lakeside.
It was not difficult for me to come up with a few things as I held that imaginary stone in my hand. I chose the stone, because I imagined also there were ducks and I didn’t want them to eat my symbolic bread. I may have had to add that to my stone as I closed my eyes and thought through the exercise.
In all seriousness, it occurred to me as I visualized this that I do not cherish my sin. I don’t love it. I don’t love my selfish and stubborn ways. I don’t love how quickly my anger can flare when I feel wronged. I don’t love how sharp my tongue can be and how thoughtless I am at times.
But it did occur to me that I do harbor these things. I give them a place to hang out. So in the brief moments I had during our quiet reflection and the next song, I asked God to help me understand why I do that.
And this came to me in my spirit:
Those responses that would be my stone – there are what I know best. I don’t cherish them, I hate them. But I harbor them because it’s all I have ever known. As I cast them away, I am left with none of my accustomed defenses. When my fall back reactions and responses are cast away from me, I am left bare and vulnerable wondering how You are going to help me respond in new ways. A leap of faith again on the journey as I simply stand bare handed and ask You to reform and transform me, as I journey onward.
As I thought about this, all I could do was just pray a simple prayer and ask God to meet me in the places where my natural responses might attempt to resurrect themselves from the bottom of the deep and teach me new ways. His ways. And then I moved forward in faith that He will <3