It was a spectacular light show last night – the lightening behind the cloud, so bright one could actually see them even though it was dark. It rained, but hardly enough. Such storms must have caused terror in the hearts of people before they were seen as natural phenomena rather than as portents of the gods.
Even in the Psalms, God is named as the power to create rain and snow, thunder and lightning, -- nothing being done without God’s hand into it. The language of our faith still carries remnants of that thinking, the feeling that God controls everything, including the weather. But, if we are really honest with ourselves, we know that’s a way of deflecting our own responsibility for our own actions.
It’s always easier to blame some outside force that we believe we cannot control for what we do wrong. Of course, when we do something right, then we are more than willing to accept full responsibility. Unfortunately, natural, just as natural as was the light show we all saw last night.
Prayer for the Day
The Psalmist is right, O God, because you really do know us,
Not just our getting up and lying down, but our secret thoughts;
We try to hide them from you but we know we cannot,
And so our frustration sometimes turns to anger.
Release us, O God, from old thoughts that bind us,
And free us to open ourselves to you and others.
In the name of the One from whom there is no secret,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
- Oscar Wilde, British novelist, poet, and playwright (1854-1900)
Faith is strengthened when you stop collecting fragmented signs and questionable hunches, in order to build an acceptable reason for your wrong decisions and less than desirable circumstances.
- Shannon Adler, therapist and writer
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you;
My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and your glo