Stories of Hope and Courage
Today's Reflection
STORIES HOLD MYSTERY and meaning together, and, therefore, they hold the power to put us in touch with the Divine, perhaps even removing the negative stories we have heard about ourselves and replacing them with stories of hope and courage. They help us move beyond our fears and fantasies and remind us of the presence of the Divine within and around us.
—Michael E. Williams, Spoken into Being: Divine Encounters Through Story (Upper Room Books, 2017)
Today's Question
How might your story change if you remembered the Divine presence within and around you?
Today's Scripture
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
—John 16:33 (NIV)
Prayer for the Week
I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest.
From "I Love to Tell the Story" by
Katherine Hankey, The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 156
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Something More
During Advent we think about a wondrous mystery: that God chose to become human and lived among us. Rediscover The Wondrous Mystery this Advent.
Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
5 Comments | Join the Conversation.In the Presence of God
Today's Reflection
TO DEVELOP A MORE present-minded way of living, you might experiment regularly with an exercise that I first came across in the writings of Metropolitan Antony. The basic steps go as follows:
Set aside some time, perhaps five minutes, to do nothing. Simply sit down in your room and say, “I am seated; I am doing nothing. I will do nothing for the next five minutes.”
Having declared your intention for this little space of time, decide firmly that nothing will pull you away during these five minutes. If you find yourself emigrating mentally into the past or the future, bring yourself back to the here and now with the thought, I am here in the presence of God, in my own presence, and in the presence of all the furniture that is around me, just still, moving nowhere.
I have discovered that doing this exercise regularly builds up the capacity to live more deeply in the present within our everyday lives.
—Trevor Hudson, A Mile in My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion (Upper Room Books, 2005)
Today's Question
Try the spiritual discipline referenced above.
Today's Scripture
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?”
—Habakkuk 1:2 (NRSV)
Prayer for the Week
Give me the eyes to see when others hurt, the ears to hear when others cry, and the courage to bring light into their darkness.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room or share it in the comment section.
Something More
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Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
3 Comments | Join the Conversation.