Walking a Sacred Path

WALKING A SACRED PATH

TOGETHER

AT THE

LOUISIANA

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

June 8-11, 2014

Centenary College Shreveport, Louisiana

A collection of silent moments, scripture verses, prayers, readings, and poetic meditations to prepare us before Conference, to support us during Conference, and to accompany us as we go forth.

P S A L M 1 3 9

THE THEME PSALM OF THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Prayerfully read the psalm at least once each day.

What words keep getting your attention?

What phrases do you want to memorize?

1O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

7Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” 12even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my thoughts.

24See if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:1-14, 23-24

The Week Before Annual Conference

Sunday, June 1, 2014

If possible, find a quiet place for these meditations and allow adequate time to internalize the process. Try to get comfortable and relaxed. Read the words slowly and more than once. Feel free to change some of the words to fit your life situation. Ponder awhile.

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this everyone shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

Dear God,

No matter how many different ways

we say or hear the Great Commandment,

it is a call to “let everything we do

be done in love.”*

And so,

We open our hearts

that ALL may feel accepted.

And so,

We open our minds

that ALL may feel valued.

And so,

We open our doors

that ALL may enter.

In the name of the one who said,

“Come unto me ALL….”

Amen.

*I Corinthians 16:14

The Week Before Annual Conference

Monday, June 2, 2014

First, take a few moments to close your eyes and visualize a lighted candle. Watch it glow. “A light shines in the darkness for those who love faith and those seeking a faith to love.” Recall loved ones who are now a part of that “great cloud of witnesses,” who seem with us still and whom we hold in our hearts.

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:1-3

O God,
Like a cloud of witnesses,
saints of every shape and hue have warmed us with your grace and all it means. We call many of them by name.
Miriam dances by,
spreading the joy of small
victories; Isaiah inspires our hope for a new and different future; Jeremiah revives our soul by writing on our hearts once more; Ruth and Naomi show us how to love more deeply; Paul gently whispers again, “We walk by faith and not by sight;” / There is Luther standing firm; John Wesley warming our hearts; Bonhoeffer
reminding us of the cost of discipleship. They never leave us and by your grace, O God, you give us eyes of faith to see others in that great cloud of witnesses.
Some are alive and among us even now, weaving themselves in and out of our lives when grace needs replenishing and reminding us that these bones can live again, in the name of all the Saints.
Amen.

The Week Before Annual Conference

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Find a quiet place. Sit still and be silent for a few minutes. Breathe deeply and listen to your breath. Think of a time when God seemed near to you. Then ponder and take into yourself the scriptural verses. Now the prayer: read it slowly, repeat a line when it speaks to you; sense what words stand out.

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments [to love God and one another]. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

John 14:15-17

Dear God,

Even before the time of Jesus

you were preparing for just such

a body of followers as the Church.

Long after I am gone

others will come willingly

to carry the banner of truth.

Help me to see myself as part

of the People of Faith of all ages.

May I live as though I know myself

to be a vital link from one generation to the next

in preserving the bonds of love

that make life worth living.

And may I always know that I am never alone,

that your Holy Spirit is with me always.

Amen.

The Week Before Annual Conference

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Perhaps this is a day you can find a comfortable place out-of-doors. If possible, please do so. Think of this as a time of quiet meditation. Name in your heart several people who, in your lifetime, have made you feel valued. Now read the scripture and prayer slowly, repeat a line when it speaks to you; sense what words stand out. Embrace them.

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14:26-28

A Prayer For a Child by Dr. Seuss

From here on earth,

from my small place

I ask of You

way out in space:

Please tell all in every land

What you and I

Both understand
Please tell all that Peace is Good.

That's all that need be understood.

In every world

In Your great sky,

(We understand. Both You and I )

Amen.

The Week Before Annual Conference

Thursday, June 5, 2014

If possible find a quiet comfortable place. Visualize a lighted candle again. See fire in the glow. Pentecost is approaching. Capture the spirit of these readings. See the uniting love in them. Be a contemplative...

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9-11

O God,

No joy exceeds the joy I know when

someone opens my life

to a new and deeper meaning,

or when someone makes possible for me

a life-changing event full of love.

I see it now. I feel it now.

An event bearing the possibility

of setting me, indeed, all of us

free from whatever limits and threatens us.

I want to tell that joyful good news

from the highest mountain.

It is grace, irreversible grace.

There are thoughts of love and acts of love,

but none can surpass your gift of love.

When I feel inadequate for day

and fearful of night,

I cherish your gift of

grace that holds.

Amen.

The Week Before Annual Conference

Friday, June 6, 2014

Find a place you can call your own for a few minutes today. Think of yourself as one who is about to receive a gift—for words of scripture and prayers from the heart are, indeed, a gift. Take with you what you will cherish today from this gift; repeat words or phrases to yourself from time to time today.

The words of Jesus as remembered in the Gospel of John:

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…. John 15:16a

The Isaiah Prayer

Isaiah 43:1

O God,

There have been times when I have felt

that you have called me by name.

It is a mystical moment.

No matter how difficult it is to explain,

I have learned to listen first, question later.

I listen, I tremble.

Is it really you?

Or is it merely a projection of me?

Still, I listen.

More than that:

I discern.

The sound does not come from outside myself.

It seems to emanate from some hidden place within.

I think of the sound ascoming from you,

because I receive from it a clue as to what I must do next.

It comes cloaked more in mystery than in certitude.

It enters my hearing through my heart,

and all I can say is,

“Amen.”

The Week Before Annual Conference

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Relax. Breathe deeply. Enjoy the Silence.

Read slowly. Ponder. Contemplate.

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament

This, Jesus said, is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Acts 1:4b-5

O Lord,

When I remember my baptism,

I can no longer look at water in my usual way.

There is a certain sacredness about it now.

I think of your Spirit at Creation

hovering over the face of the deep.

I remember Moses parting the Red Sea

to lead the People of Faith to freedom.

I remember Jesus calming raging waters

saying, “Peace be still.”

I remember him walking on the water

bringing us to a deeper understanding of faith.

I remember the woman at the well

to whom Jesus gave living water.

The memory is no longer only about water;

It is also about Spirit, the Holy Spirit!

I remember my baptism and I am glad.

In the name of the One,

who by water and the Spirit,

has cleansed us again and again

And has given us a New Beginning.

Amen.

The First Day of Annual Conference

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Try to get comfortable and relaxed. Read the words slowly and more than once. Repeat words or phrases that capture your attention. Feel free to change some of the words to fit your life situation. Ponder awhile.

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit… Acts 2:1-4a

O Giver of Life, we are the people who have heard a word we cannot unhear; who have felt a warmth that cannot be chilled; even a fire that will not be quenched. It moves among us, connecting us to one another despite our different languages, our different races, our different loyalties, our different religions, our different cultures.

It is a language that cleanses like a spring shower and at the same time warms our hearts in a way that bonds us as One. And no one can stop it from happening, for at the heart of all Creation is a Unity we are still discovering, which instinctively we know will save our civilization.

Let us meet at that Center, combining all the experiences that have made us who we are, and sharing the many ways we have heard that word, felt that warmth, and been illuminated by the light from that fire.

Amen.

The Second Day of Annual Conference

Monday, June 9, 2014

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. Acts 2:46-47a

Dear God,

The witnesses tell of your boundless generosity,

and their telling is compelling to us.

You give your word to call worlds into being;

you give your sovereign rule to emancipate

the slaves and the oppressed;

you give your commanding fidelity

to form your own people;

you give your life for the life of the world,

broken bread that feeds,

poured out wine that creates bonds and heals.

You give.

We receive.

And are thankful.

Do this yet. Create innocent space for us this day

for the gratitude we intend.

In thankfulness,

we will give,

we will tell,

we will live,

your gift to us to gift the world.

Amen.

Walter Brueggemann (alt.)

The Third Day of Annual Conference

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament

So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? Acts 9:17-21a

A Reading

Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us; when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying:

“You are accepted. You are accepted,

accepted by that which is greater than you,

and the name of which you do not know.

Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later.

Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much.

Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything, do not intend anything.

Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!”

From THE SHAKING OF THE FOUNDATIONS,

“You are Accepted” by Paul Tillich

The Last Day of Annual Conference

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. Acts 10:34-36

O Lord,

When I behold the problems of our world,

I pray not to be tempted to quick answers.

When every tongue declares a different truth,