Category: First Steps

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First Steps – October 25, 2021

A good friend of mine recently shared with me a Centering Prayer based on the acronym RAIN. Centering Prayer is similar to meditation where one’s focus is inward asking God to join in a person’s reflections and inner journey. The focus is not on the outside but the inside that is most important. Frankly, I really like this prayer and have been using it over the last month.

Give this a try – Sit quietly for a few moments. Focus on your breathing, slow it down if possible. Then ask God to help you:

R: Recognize—Consciously acknowledge your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

A: Allow—Allow what you recognized to simply be there, without trying to fix or avoid it.

I: Investigate—Ask yourself, “What wants the most attention and how am I experiencing this?”

N: Nurture—Release judgment, criticism, and shame.

In a world of information overload, strife, and conflict, this method of prayer can be very helpful. If this method of prayer is new to you, try it a number of times—the key is to not get in a hurry and stay as long as needed.


 

This Week’s Readings:
-Monday – 2 Corinthians 7 | 2 Corinthians 8 | 2 Corinthians 9 | 2 Corinthians 10
-Tuesday – 2 Corinthians 11 | 2 Corinthians 12 |2 Corinthians 13
-Wednesday- Matthew 1 | Matthew 2 | Matthew 3 | Matthew 4
-Thursday – Mathew 5 | Matthew 6 | Matthew 7
-Friday- Matthew 8 | Matthew 9 | Matthew 10

Please pray for:
-An end to the Covid Crisis. 
-Our children as they cope with world issues.
-All ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
-Families in crisis.
-Loved ones battling illness.
-Those seeking to find their way.
-The St. Paul Church family. 
-The United Methodist Church family.
-Our leaders, our country, and our world. 
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6


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First Steps – October 18, 2021

While at a recent seminar, I heard a poem titled Fire, by Judy Brown.

What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space.  Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would.  So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood.

When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that makes fires possible.

We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time.  A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can easily find its way.

As the person read this poem, I immediately thought of relationships—martial relationships.  Due to my profession, I am exposed to many marital relationships.  Most of the time, when marriages struggle, they have forgotten that each person needs space to grow as individuals and as a couple.  Maturation is expected, even required for the continual health of the relationship.  This means change will always occur—which is not a bad thing.  I wish young couples understood this early in their relationship. 

Normally, the material or skills to move the relationship back to wholeness and fulfillment is already there, laden.  What is needed is an awareness that people are constantly in process.  Oaths and commitments aren’t, “I will be everything in every situation.”  It is, “as I grow and become, I pledge that to you.”  

 Blessings,


 

This Week’s Readings:
Monday – 1 Corinthians 12
Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 13 | 1 Corinthians 14
Wednesday- 1 Corinthians 15 | 1 Corinthians 16
Thursday – 2 Corinthians 1 | 2 Corinthians 2
Friday- 2 Corinthians 3 | 2 Corinthians 4 | 2 Corinthians 5 | 2 Corinthians 6


Please pray for:
An end to the Covid Crisis. 
Our children as they cope with world issues.
All ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
Families in crisis.
Loved ones battling illness.
Those seeking to find their way.
The St. Paul Church family. 
The United Methodist Church family.
Our leaders, our country, and our world. 



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First Steps – October 11, 2021

While A friend of mine shared with me this prayer. He didn’t know the origin or author, but I’m glad he shared it with me. I have called it “A Prayer for a Quiet Heart in a World of Chaos.” Over the last few mornings, this has been my centering prayer for the day.

A Prayer for a Quiet Heart in a World of Chaos
by Author Unknown

Slow me down Lord
Ease the pounding of my heart
By the quieting of my mind
With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me amidst the confusion of my day
The calmness of the everlasting hills
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
With the soothing music of the singing streams
That live in my memory.

Help me to know 
The magical restoring power of sleep
Teach me the art
Of taking minute vacations
Of slowing down to look at a flower
To chat with a friend
To pat a dog
To read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable
Of the hare and the tortoise
That I may know that the race
Is not always to be swift
That there is more to life 
Than measuring speed.

Let me look upward
Into the branches of the towering oak
And know that it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down Lord
And inspire me to send my roots
Deep into the soil
Of life’s enduring values
That I may grow towards the starts
Of my enduring destiny. 

 
Blessings,
 

 

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Galatians 5 | Galatians 6
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 1 | 1 Corinthians 2 | 1 Corinthians 3
  • Wednesday- 1 Corinthians 4 | 1 Corinthians 5 | 1 Corinthians 6
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 7 | 1 Corinthians 8
  • Friday- 1 Corinthians 9 | 1 Corinthians 10 | 1 Corinthians 11
 
Please Pray for:
  • An end to the Covid Crisis.
  • Our children as they cope with world issues.
  • All upcoming ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The St. Paul Church family. 
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – October 4, 2021

While driving my car the other day, I did something that I seldom ever do. I nearly ran out of gas. Normally, I’m the type of person who fills the tank when it reaches a certain level, where there are about 40 miles left before empty. I have a friend that doesn’t even think about filling the tank until it is less than 5 miles remaining. Frankly, that would drive me crazy.

However, while filling my tank, I wondered if people do the same with their faith. Do we wait until there is nothing left before we seek to fill it up again? Followers of Christ live with a “receiving and giving,” “inflow and outflow” type of rhythm. This means that there will be times where we give – which can empty the tank, but we are to fill it again with the sabbath, prayer, and personal study. When we don’t fill the tank up again, we are more prone to moral mistakes and faulty judgments.

In Mark 6, Jesus sent out the 12 Apostles (verses 7-12). They returned and reported to Jesus, and he immediately led them to a place of solitude (verses 30-31). How interesting that after giving themselves in ministry, Jesus wanted them to retreat to be restored.

So, as for our “gas tanks,” we don’t have to wait until we are bone dry to be filled.

 

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Mark 11 | Mark 12
  • Tuesday -Mark 13 | Mark 14
  • Wednesday- Mark 15 | Mark 16
  • Thursday – Galatians 1 | Galatians 2
  • Friday- Galatians 3 | Galatians 4
Please Pray for:
  • An end to the Covid Crisis.
  • Our children as they cope with world issues.
  • All upcoming ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The St. Paul Church family. 
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – September 27, 2021

Give me 5 minutes.  I think it will be worth it.

I know that so many are facing struggles, losses, oppositions, fear, anger, grief and so much more.  Often, we don’t know what to pray or what to do, and our cry is “please just show me the way because I’m hurting.”  We cry out, “What do I do, where do I go, how can I envision anything” …and our hope is just a glimpse, a fraction of where to go and what to do?  

The burden of life can be so daunting for any single person, how much more when we watch people hurt and suffer? How helpless do we feel when we love someone and watch them struggle to find their way?  How many times have you longed for firm footing for those you love, only to watch them fall again?

If I’m describing you, I want to offer you a first step.  It is a song.  St. Augustine said that when we sing, we pray twice.  If that is the case, then let this be your prayer.  I have sung—prayed—this about a hundred times over this past week.  It has been my prayer, my desire.  I hope it will be yours.

 

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday – Mark 1 | Mark 2
  • Tuesday -Mark 3 | Mark 4
  • Wednesday- Mark 5 | Mark 6
  • Thursday – Mark 7 | Mark 8
  • Friday- Mark 9 | Mark 10
Please Pray for:
  • An end to the Covid Crisis.
  • Our children as they cope with world issues.
  • All upcoming ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The St. Paul Church family. 
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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First Steps – September 20, 2021

A few days ago, I was at a lunch with some friends and there was an isolated discussion between two of the individuals.  Though it never reached a level of concern, the discussion was a little “hotter” than a typical normal lunch conversation.  Strange as it may be, the parties were not too far from being in agreement; however, the struggle was that they were operating with different perceptions about one another.   This experience got me thinking about perceptions. 

Perceptions lead to assumptions and assumptions to actions.  In a high trust relationship, the underlying perception is one of value, appreciation, and belief in each other; therefore, it doesn’t require a great deal of conversation.  However, when a relationship is not characterized as high trust, conversations become the lifeblood of the relationship.  To some degree, one has to over-communicate to make sure all parties have the right perceptions and assumptions.  With low trust, the temptation is to not communicate enough to make sure all parties understand each other.

I wonder how often we miss this when we study the scriptures.  In both the Old and New Testament, God over-communicates His love and desire for people.  Certain scriptures like John 3:16 and Romans 8 are perfect examples.  The writers over-communicate so that we readers know beyond doubt what God thinks of us.

What perceptions do you bring to the scriptures?  Can you see God going to great lengths to say to you, “You are my beloved”?  I hope you can.  As you begin this week, open your heart to God’s Spirit and allow God to convey His heart to you.

 

This Week’s Readings:
  • Monday -Acts 17 | Acts 18
  • Tuesday -Acts 19 | Acts 20
  • Wednesday- Acts 21 | Acts 22 | Acts 23
  • Thursday – Acts 24 | Acts 25 | Acts 26
  • Friday- Acts 27 | Acts 28
Please Pray for:
  • An end to the Covid Crisis.
  • Parents, teachers, and students in the local area and abroad.
  • All upcoming ministry events inside and outside the walls of St. Paul.
  • Families in crisis.
  • Loved ones battling illness.
  • Those seeking to find their way.
  • The St. Paul Church family. 
  • The United Methodist Church family.
  • Our leaders, our country, and our world. 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

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