Father, give to us, and to all your people, in times of anxiety, serenity; in times of hardship, courage; in times of uncertainty, patience; and at all times, a quiet trust in your wisdom and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the faint-hearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Retreat from that which diminishes your capacity to love others. Find a peaceful place and linger there.
I appreciated these words from Pastor Brian Zahnd, as we enter election week. Be drawn to love.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
“My teacher, let me see again.”
—Mark 10.51
Open the eyes of my heart
to see your grace in every moment,
to see with hope and gratitude,
with trust and humility.
Teach me to look with my mind as open
as my eyes; teach me in every gaze
to look and see as things really are,
not as I already think they are,
not as fear (mine or anyone’s) tells me to see,
but to see with grace as you see.
Let me see with the eyes of love.
Teacher, let me see anew.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
You hear our prayers whether they are full of thanksgiving or full of complaints. Your mercy is unending. Even in your discipline you restrain yourself in ways we cannot know. May our mumbled words of gratitude and our fleeting praises find crevices where they can grow within your presence, Lord of light and morning. Amen.
Common Prayer
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
You shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and the trees of the field will clap their hands
Isaiah 55:12
This promise is to those who seek the Lord with all their heart. (v. 6) Of course, life can close in on us, or fall to pieces, or we lose our direction, we long for a life worth living and a purpose that re-energizes and motivates us. As the prophet said, “Give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live.” (v. 3) There are times when joy seems to ebb away and we need inner renewal. For those who feel like that, this promise is for you: “Seek the Lord while he may be found.” Joy in God is infinitely more than pleasure, happiness, status or enjoyment of stuff. When we live towards God, and seek God’s company and grace, “we shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace!”
Sing to the Lord for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy people of Zion!
Isaiah 12:5
If ever there was a mission text for the church, this is it! Isaiah is the mission prophet who writes of beautiful feet on the mountains bringing good news! Christian worship is to sing of the glories of the Gospel of Christ. Christian witness is to “let this be known to all the world.” To shine as light, to penetrate and cleanse like salt, to live as communities of the Spirit, and to sing for joy as people who believe and know and trust that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” Yes, sing for joy!
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice…Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and joy in his holy place.
1 Chronicles 16:10, 27
In this thanksgiving Psalm of David, joy and gratitude feed each other when we come to God. There are few more energizing emotions than thankfulness. Gratitude produces resilience and strength to go on serving God, even when it’s hard. God’s sufficient grace in Christ enables and empowers us. Grace creates gratitude and so thankfulness turns to joy. Our glad obedience to God is the outcome of that cycle of seeking and asking and knocking and finding the “grace to help us in time of need.”
Let the sea resound and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant and everything in them. Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
1 Chronicles 16:32
Use your imagination! Look at the world and hear and see a symphony performed in color, motion and sound. The background beat is the sea, the music and movement are fields ripe for harvest waving and dancing in sun and wind. This choral symphony is accompanied by forests of trees, all keeping time with the music of Creation, conducted by the Creator, their song a hymn of grateful praise. Those who sing and play in this orchestra believe God’s justice is coming. Wrong will be made right, God will bring shalom in God’s good time. This is not wishful thinking. This Psalm is music composed in the heart of God, performed in movements, from Creation to Calvary, to the Empty Tomb, and to the Ascension of Christ seated as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This is the music of redemption, orchestrated by the Triune God of holy love and grace, its finale the coming of Christ “to judge the earth.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Whoever wants to be first
must be last of all and servant of all.
—Mark 9.35
Not subservient, not inferior to others,
but helpful, in support, in service.
You're not indentured or obligated;
you serve in love that is yours to give.
Your task today is to serve others—
not necessarily to please them,
not to save them or “fix” them,
but to offer grace, to bless them,
to set before them wholeness of life,
to open doors that set them free,
to speak a word that heals
and does not dishonor them.
Your task today is not to use or conquer others,
but to offer what love or joy you can
in service to their new life.
Today, for everyone you meet,
God is the chef of grace
and you are their server.
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
I’ve read this poem many times and it always has something to say to me. Pay attention, pay attention, whisper the words in between the lines. It came to me again this morning and I’m paying attention. Maybe it has something to say to you as well?
I will not die an unlived life,
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise…
Dawn Markova
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
This week, let’s not lose sight of the fruitfulness of a life careful of the good, alert to moments when kindness is called for, sensitive to injustice and the wounds of others, so that we will neither be complicit by silence, nor ever think such occasions are 'not our concern.' The harvest may be beyond our sight, but we sow our seeds with confidence that God is up to something good.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
The last couple months I've been reading through the Gospels using The Message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson. Reading through the eleventh chapter of Luke, here's what caught my attention: "Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills with light."
Maybe as a child, like me, you learned and sang the song, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine," based on other translations of this verse. The light in me for others. Yes to this; a wonderful thing to be taught early in life. But I appreciate this additional twist that Peterson gives, this emphasis on opening outward, "living wide-eyed in wonder and belief," not in the sense of responsibility but in the joyful sense of becoming filled with light.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation