MEDITATION:
Written by Michelle Lee-Barnewall, a contemporary professor of biblican and theological studies and Christian author. This is excerpted from her book “Surprised by the Parables.”
In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15:1-10), it does not really matter how the sheep and the coin were lost or how lost they were. What matters is that someone comes to find what is lost, and there is great joy at the finding. While we tend to focus on our sin, Jesus challenges us to focus on God and remember the grace he has given us. We can see God as someone who eternally calculates our flaws and how short we have fallen from what is demanded, or we can see God as the one who pursues us valiantly and is filled with joy when he finds us. When we see sin in ourselves and others, we can hide, deny, and condemn, or we can open our hearts so we can be found. God constantly offers grace, but what also matters is how we respond and receive it and the one who offers it to us.
PRAYER:
This prayer is from the “Carmina Gadelica,” six volumes of prayers, hymns, blessings, songs, proverbs and literary folkloric poems from the Gaelic speaking regions of Scotland. Compilation of the works began by Alexander Carmichel between 1860 and 1909.
God, bless to me this day,
God, bless to me this night;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace,
Each day and hour of my life;
Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace.
Each day and hour of my life.
God, bless the pathway on which I go,
God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
And bless, O God of gods, my repose. Amen.
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