This is my first post of the 2013 Lenten season. I have given up on Face Book except for a few scriptural postings and updates to a small group study I am involved with for Lent. The reason I am giving up on Face Book is to take time to focus more my relationship with God. There is so much junk on Face Book and I find myself getting distracted. I get on just to wish a few folks "Happy Birthday" then next thing I know I've got 1 million likes and a free puppy......and it's time to go to bed.
This first post will be a Reading for Reflection that was taken from a book that compiled many of such readings.
* Ministry is service in the name of the Lord. It is bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives and new sight to the blind, setting the downtrodden free and announcing the Lord's year of favor (Luke 4:18). Spirituality is attention to the life of the spirit in us; it is going out to the desert or up to the mountain to pray; it is standing before the Lord with open heart and open mind; it is crying out, "Abba, Father"; it is contemplating the unspeakable beauty of our loving God.
We have fallen into the temptation of separating ministry from spirituality, service from prayer. Our demon says: "We are too busy to pray; we have too many needs to attend to, too many people to respond to, too many wounds to heal. Prayer is a luxury, something to do during a free hour, a day away from work or on a retreat. The few who are exclusively concerned with prayer--such as Trappists, Poor Clares, and some isolated hermits--are really not involved in ministry. They are set free for single-minded contemplation and leave Christian service to others." But to think this way is harmful for ministers as well as for contemplatives. Service and prayer can never be separated; they are related to each other as the Yin and Yang of the Japanese Circle.
~from The Living Reminder by Henri J.M. Nouwen
I hope you find this reading a blessing that will bring you closer into a relationship with God.
Luke 4:18,19
Lee
This first post will be a Reading for Reflection that was taken from a book that compiled many of such readings.
* Ministry is service in the name of the Lord. It is bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives and new sight to the blind, setting the downtrodden free and announcing the Lord's year of favor (Luke 4:18). Spirituality is attention to the life of the spirit in us; it is going out to the desert or up to the mountain to pray; it is standing before the Lord with open heart and open mind; it is crying out, "Abba, Father"; it is contemplating the unspeakable beauty of our loving God.
We have fallen into the temptation of separating ministry from spirituality, service from prayer. Our demon says: "We are too busy to pray; we have too many needs to attend to, too many people to respond to, too many wounds to heal. Prayer is a luxury, something to do during a free hour, a day away from work or on a retreat. The few who are exclusively concerned with prayer--such as Trappists, Poor Clares, and some isolated hermits--are really not involved in ministry. They are set free for single-minded contemplation and leave Christian service to others." But to think this way is harmful for ministers as well as for contemplatives. Service and prayer can never be separated; they are related to each other as the Yin and Yang of the Japanese Circle.
~from The Living Reminder by Henri J.M. Nouwen
I hope you find this reading a blessing that will bring you closer into a relationship with God.
Luke 4:18,19
18"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
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