Suggestion for Daily Use

Follow the ‘Daily Prayer’ at the side+++Suivez le ‘Prière Quotidienne’. Read the bible passages and then the meditation. Pray, tell God how you felt about the reading and share the concerns of your life with him. Maybe you will continue the habit after Lent. Lisez les passages bible et après la méditation. Priez, dites à Dieu que vous avez ressenti à propos de la lecture et de partager les préoccupations de votre vie avec lui. Peut-être que vous allez continuer l'habitude après le Carême. Daily Prayer Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4.1-2 Now is the healing time decreed For sins of heart, of word or deed, When we in humble fear record The wrong that we have done the Lord. (Latin, before 12th century) Read: Read the Bible passage. Read the meditation Pray: Talk to God about what you have just read. Tell him your concerns - for yourself, your family, our church family, our world. Praise him. Pray the collect for the week – see next pages. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Prière Quotidienne Jésus, rempli de l'Esprit Saint, revint du Jourdain et le Saint-Esprit le conduisit dans le désert où il fut tenté par le diable durant quarante jours. Luc 4.1-2 Maintenant le temps de la guérison est décrété Pour les péchés du cœur, de la parole et des actes, Lorsque nous nous souvenons avec humilité Le mal que nous avons fait au Seigneur. Lire : Lisez le passage de la Bible. Lisez la méditation. Prier : Parlez avec le Seigneur de ce que vous avez lu. Parlez-lui de vos préoccupations pour vous-même, votre famille, notre famille de l’église, notre monde. Louez-le. Priez la collecte pour la semaine. Voyez les pages suivantes Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur ! Que tout qui est en moi bénisse son saint nom. Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur, et n’oublie aucun de ses bienfaits !

18 December 2019

Day 18 of Advent +++ God is Enough


Matthew 17.14-21   Matthieu 17.14-21   Mattheüs  17.14-21
Psalm 75     Isaiah 39   2 Thessalonians 1
Psaumes 75   Esaïe 39  2 Thessaloniciens 1
Psalmen 75   Jesaja 39   2 Thessalonicenzen 1

God is enough


Enough.

Enough is a word that I find myself thinking about often these days. Keeping up with everyone and everything that demands a piece of me - work, my daughters, my partner, friends, other obligations, things that restore me, keeping up with basic hygiene and nutrition - leaves me feeling like there isn’t enough to go around. I can begin to live out of the fear that I will eventually dry up - that I am too little jam spread across too much toast. 

At this point in the year, this feeling usually elicits groans of empathy from those around me. Regardless of our life situations, December is a whirlwind of meeting deadlines and arranging services and figuring out how to balance the demands of always-on culture during the holidays. I’m left asking: am I enough? 

I empathise, then, with the disciples in today’s Gospel reading. When they fail to heal a boy experiencing seizures, they have a similar question - Lord, why weren’t we able to heal him? Why weren’t we enough? 

Jesus answer was almost devastating in its simplicity - they didn’t have the faith. Faith that God would do what God promised. Faith that God would come close, would do great things through the disciples, would use their hands to do divine work. 

Advent is a time of preparing to receive Jesus into our lack as a divine gift. A time to learn to get out of our own way, to admit that we aren’t enough, but that God is enough for us. That God is faithful. That God is working in us.

This season, we might frequently lose track of the faith that God is enough to cover our lack. So, may God come close to us and remind us that though we are not enough on our own, that Jesus is. May we claim God’s faithfulness, God’s nearness, and God’s desire to do incredible work through us exactly as we are.

Natalie Jones

Enough
By Lauren Wright Pittman. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56555 [retrieved December 17, 2019]. Original source: http://www.lewpstudio.com - copyright by Lauren Wright Pittman.

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