With His arms lifted wide.

Though His state was that of God,

Yet He did not deem equality with God

Something he should cling to.

Rather, He emptied Himself,

And assuming the state of a slave,

He was born in human likeness.

He being known as one of us,

Humbled himself, obedient to death,

Even death on a cross. Philippians 2: 6-8

In Greek the verb kenosein means to “let go,” or to “empty oneself,” and this is the word that Paul chooses to describe “the mind of Christ.”

In this beautiful hymn, Paul recognizes that Jesus had only one “operational mode.” Everything He did, He did by self-emptying. He emptied Himself and descended into human form. And He emptied Himself still further, “even unto death on the cross.” In every life circumstance, Jesus always responded with the same motion of self-emptying–or to put it another way, descent: taking the lower place, not the higher. –Cynthia Bourgeault

So mom and I were up at the cabin last night, and of course I woke up nice and early and sat by a little fire and watched the sun climb up over the mountain ridge. And the stories we shared, sifting through the baskets of photographs tucked into the mind and heart, is a reminder that going low, taking the lower place, the death produces life. It is never the clinging or closed fisted one who drops the pebble that ripples outward into eternity.

I need Thee every hour.

Patiently wait for God alone, my soul!
For He is the one who gives me confidence.
He alone is my protector and deliverer.
He is my refuge; I will not be upended.
God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter.
Trust in him at all times, you people!
Pour out your hearts before Him!
God is our shelter!

Selah                          Psalm 62:5-8

 

What we do is very little. But it is like the little boy with a few loaves and fishes. Christ took that little and increased it. He will do the rest. What we do is so little that we may seem to be constantly failing. But so did He fail. He met with apparent failure on the Cross. But unless the seeds fall into the earth and die, there is no harvest. –Dorothy Day

 

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

 

Refrain:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.

 

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

 

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

 

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

 

This meeting is to get us back to the presence of God,

to get back to depending on Him.

I don’t know what you stand in need of,

but I need God to speak in my life,

And if you need God to do stuff in your life, one last time,

I need Thee, oh, every hour, I need Thee.

Oh, bless, me now, my Savior, Hallelujah!

One more time, say it with me,

Don’t be sophisticated, come on tell Him,

I need Thee every hour. –Pastor Dewey

Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10

Lord, I thank You for my journey. You’ve brought me a long, long, way.

Lord, You’ve brought me over the hills and mountains.

Lord, You’ve brought me a long, long way.

I had to cry sometimes, but You’ve brought me,

Lord, You’ve brought me a long, long way.

Lord, I thank You for my journey.

Lord our God, O great and almighty One, whose Spirit fills heaven and earth! We thank You that You are our Father and that in You we have a refuge wherever we must go as we serve You on earth. We thank You that Your life can be revealed in us and can flow through us so that the world may be blest by You, our loving and caring Father. Protect us and strengthen us in times of trouble and sorrow. When we travel on new paths, give us Your Spirit to show us the way, that everything may lead to the good and to Your honor. Father, through Your Spirit unite us in the unshakable hope that Your will shall at last be done on earth as in heaven. Grant that we may rejoice in the certainty that whatever happens, our paths are made level and firm by Your love and Your faithfulness. Amen.

It is often dark at the foot of the lighthouse.

El, God, the Lord speaks,
and summons the earth to come from the east and west.

From Zion, the most beautiful of all places,
God comes in splendor.
Our God approaches and is not silent;
consuming fire goes ahead of him
and all around Him a storm rages.
He summons the heavens above,
as well as the earth, so that He might judge His people. Psalm 50:1-4

Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels Heav’n can boast.

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine. –German Jesuits,1677

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. I John 5:19-20

Lord, help us become so familiar with Your word and with Your presence that thoughts of You consume our waking moments and holy fear of You brings us to worship. Then even our smallest actions will speak of You. Amen.

 

Yesterday afternoon the Monday night ladies gathered together to watch Scorsese’s

 Silence. Roger Ebert writes, “You want to act, or you want the movie to act, to stop the suffering, but the suffering continues until finally it doesn't. We're watching men of God being tested. Try as they might, they cannot entirely wrap their minds around the purpose of the test, and when they do grapple with it, they worry that they've arrived at the wrong conclusion. They worry that they’ve missed the point; that they're not faithful enough or smart enough to understand why this horror exists, or must exist.”

 And certainly there are no easy answers. But what struck me again and again was the gentle humility and sweet love of the Christ-followers who were consumed by thoughts of Him, and although there were many things that they did not understand, each day they were willing to pick up their daily crosses and follow Him.

One of the characters, Kichirjiro, fails the test in fear again and again, and each time he asks for and receives forgiveness.

And my heart filled with longing to be walk in this gentle humility and brokenness, willing to rest only in the belief that I am Your child and that I may know You who is true and that I am in Him who is true, the Lord Jesus Christ, and may that be enough.

And sometimes it sounds as if He is silent as we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death. But He promises that He is not silent, that He has spoken and declared what is true. And the still soft voice whispered to Rodriguez that He had been with him each step of the way.

And surely we cannot understand the horror that lies around us, whether in South Sudan and Somalia or Egypt or Syria, or in the very trailer parks from which my kiddos walk each day. And the Evil One is doing his best to wreck brokenness onto this fairest creation. But Matteo shared a video of how the Swedes responded in humility and brokenness, in the beauty of love and hope, when evil smashes through.

May even my smallest actions speak of You.

May it be so, Fairest Lord Jesus.