It's all good so far

Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.

From the Nunc dimittis, found in Canticle 5, also known as Song of Simeon, and in(Luke 2:29-32):

The reading today was from Luke on the Presentation. For my discovery we have the story of Simeon which in the Nunc dimmitts is one of my favorite parts of the Compline Service. I just needed to be reminded of the depth of faith and vision behind his story.

Although I am not a Prayer Book scholar, I realize that everything in the Book of Common Prayer has a biblical origin. I enjoy it when a Priest does a teaching Eucharist and we hear the origins and reasoning behind our liturgy. We don’t have any current instruction planned, so it is time for some personal exploration and study.

After spending 5 minutes between Google and Amazon.com, I have two reference texts, Commentary on the American Prayer Book and Opening the Prayer Book, headed to the house.

The first study project will be Compline. I am getting ready to resume leading either Compline or Evening Prayer at the Church. While I enjoyed reading at our Community Garden, I prefer to read in our small chapel.

When I was reading Compline, I would add a reading and psalm from the daily liturgy that appealed to me. I could also see adding a snippet of history of the service. Hopefully it would help reach, bridge, engage others in the service. We shall see.

“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing distress you, for after all fades away, only God is constant. Be patient and let God in your heart, He will sustain you.”

Another great hymn that started the podcast this morning, based on the Prayer of St Theresa.

I googles her. She believed that it all starts with prayer. That even in tomes of siritual drought, one must continue to pray. I was amazed at the amount written about her. There was even an order of Teresian Carmalite nuns.

The reading today was from Samuel. King David and his soldiers come to a house and the owner curses David and throws rocks at him. David refused to have his soldiers behead the man. His reasoning was perhaps the man had been following the will of God and it had led him to throw stones.

I am not sure that I can always look at a situation this way. Yes everyone is a Child of God, and God does move in mysterious ways.

Does God use every moment in my life as a teaching moment? Can I look for the message he is sending among the stones and curses I encounter?

At least I can try to be patient, to let him into my heart, to rejoice that when all fades away, that he will sustain me.

Today’s reading from Mark is another parable. This one was about the mustard seed. The thing that struck me more than the parable is that Christ continued to spread the word through parables but He provided explanation to the Disciples.

I guess that there are always things that are going to be known by some while the rest of us wade throught the mystery. But isn’t acceptance of mystery faith? Don’t we proclaim the Holy Mysteries ” Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”. Aren’t we called to the table in communion with our fellow Christians to share in Holy Mysteries made flesh?

There is a folk singer Iris DeMent who wrote a song “Let the Mystery Be. “

Perhaps Christ wants us to work towards understanding the mystery through prayer, through study, through experinces. It is something to work on. And we should realize that the journey is important, that we should have faith, and we should let the mystery be.

In our darkness be the fire that never goes out.

Well there is a learning curve. I worked on this one at lunch and lost it.

My thoughts were on how comforting a fire is and that we alway make room for someone else to join us. The same practice should hold true for the eternal fire in our darkness.