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dreamprayact

~ Reflections of a preacher, poet, and contemplative activist

dreamprayact

Tag Archives: refuge

Blessing While Searching for Home

26 Monday Jul 2021

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in grief, Reflections

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

blessing, death, dying, grief, home, refuge, sanctuary, shelter, trust

Dallis on Hanalei Beach, Kauai (2017)

Blessing While Searching for Home

When we fell in love
it was a long and lovely fall
tumbling heart first
into a trust so deep and wide
neither of us recognized it at first.

Here where the soul is bare
and unashamed
and caught off guard 
by the beauty of another
we discovered home
for the first time in our lives.

It is not to be taken for granted –
this serendipity of finding
what we knew our souls needed
but had never been able to find –
a shelter from the storm,
a refuge amid life’s troubles,
a sanctuary of healing grace.

Your dying
shook the foundations
of this home we fashioned
out of love and sweat
and laughter and tears.

Now many questions travel with me
in this liminal territory I’ve entered –
where am I to turn for shelter,
how will I recover a sense of home,
how do I cultivate a circle of trust,
how does one pray with a heart bereft,
how do I travel this long, lonely road?

Travel with me, sweetheart.
Please, I pray, travel with me,
as I wait for answers 
and go in search of them.

Travel with me, sweetheart,
and in the traveling
hold these questions with me
until a new dawn arrives.

Travel with me
and be home for me,
and in the sweet mystery of love
be home with me.

Mark Lloyd Richardson
July 27, 2021

A Rock of Refuge

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Reflections, Sermon portions

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

abundant life, assurance of faith, grace, hope, kingdom of God, lament, mercy, peace, praise, Psalms, refuge, suffering, worship

IMG_4417

I wrote this contemporary psalm based on Psalm 71:1-6 for my sermon today. It is a movement from lament to praise!

In you, O God, I take refuge
from the noisy clamor of this hectic life,
with its ubiquitous social media
and easy access to every imaginable entertainment.

My phone is always by my side
sounding off when texts or emails arrive
teasing me to open them asap!

My annual physical raises the alarm
of slightly elevated blood pressure
and high cholesterol.
The doc says, “Let’s watch ’em for a while,
and see if lifestyle changes make a difference.”
Okay, but I wonder – am I headed for a heart attack?
Is the pressure of meeting work demands
and the expectations of those I love
doing damage to my health?

Loving Creator,
Source of life and Ground of our being,
you are the one I run to in my need.
You are the one who offers peace in the storm.

Do not abandon me, I pray.
Enfold me beneath the wings of your grace,
that I might know the liberating strength
only your Spirit is able to breath into my life.

In your righteousness
you make known your will for my life:
that I walk in your ways
and observe your commandments,
that I choose life –
loving you, obeying you,
and holding fast to you (Deut. 30:16, 19-20).

You want nothing more for me
than that I embrace the person I am meant to be,
the creation of your loving and generous heart,
so that I can offer this world you created in love
the very best of myself,
the very giftedness I discover in you.

You call me to orient my life in your direction,
to strive first for the kingdom of God
and your righteousness (Matt. 6:33).

Deliver me, Lord, from the flashy allure of things.
Remind me often to use things and love people,
not the other way around.

Save me from my stingy self-centeredness –
the times when I think the world revolves around me
and I forget my sister or brother in need.

You have always been like a Rock for me,
a place of refuge where I know I am protected –
from life’s incessant demands, to be sure,
but also from my own inner strivings.

You save me from myself –
from thinking that I must achieve importance
when all the importance I really need
comes from joining you
in the unveiling of your gracious purposes for the world.

You are for me a strong fortress, O God,
and always have been,
shielding me from the harm others seek to do me.

In this world where evil so often flourishes –
where malicious viruses are set loose on computers,
where whole identities are stolen from people,
where those in whom we place our trust betray us
with lies that cheat us out of our life savings
or deceit that destroys our innocence
or violence that robs us of peace of mind –
you remain the one trustworthy place of refuge.

Rescue me, O my God, from all of the voices
that tell me to depend solely on my own strength,
that tell me to create my own life on my own terms,
that tell me I am not meant to be deeply connected to others.

Rescue me from the crass commercializing of life,
always throwing in my face the manufactured images
that falsely promise happiness and fulfillment.

Rescue me from thinking that I am immune to suffering
simply because I come to church
and read the Bible sometimes
and pray almost every day
and try to be a decent human being!

Rescue me from pious platitudes and cheap grace.

Rescue me from the polarizing influences
that pit neighbor against neighbor
in ideological battles
in which no one truly wins
and the fabric of society is torn and trampled.

Rescue me from those who spread misery
by their greed and lack of compassion.

Rescue me from the loss of hope
the loneliness of isolation
the trap of fear.

For you, Lord of life, have walked with me
from the day of my birth
when you took me from my mother’s womb.

You call my name
and seek my companionship each day.

You speak to me in whispers –
through the quiet breathing of a newborn,
the silence of contemplative prayer,
the breeze touching lightly on the trees.

You say that I am one of your own,
that I have always belonged to you.

You give me confidence enough
to trust in your tender mercy and amazing grace.

You, Lord of eternity, are my hope.
You are my refuge.
You are my strength.
I will not be shaken.

Praise wells up in my heart and soul.

Praise that your glory shines upon this world
in spite of our constant fighting
and our shameful willfulness.

Praise that the power of your love
dawns upon us as surely as the morning sun.

Praise that you fully know me,
and the content of my heart,
and still you love me.

Let praise be the language of my being.
Let hope be the attitude I carry into the future.
For just as my past has been lived in you, Lord,
so my future depends on your ever-flowing mercy.

You will comfort me again in my times of need.
You will guide me in right paths.
You will continually offer me abundant life.
You will give me faith’s assurance
even when I come face to face with my own doubt.
You will restore my soul.

You will manifest yourself in the world
through the witness of courageous people,
through the hospitality of strangers,
through the presence of the poor and the needy.

You will not allow me to forget
that ultimately nothing is able to separate us
from your love in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:39).

You will follow me throughout my life
with your goodness and mercy
so that I am able to dwell with you
my whole life long (Ps. 23:6).

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2008 Mark Lloyd Richardson

An Untroubled Heart

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Reflections

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

absence of fear, believe, blessed, child of God, divinity, eternity, God's grace, heart, Holy Week, humanity, peace, refuge, safety, steadfast love

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” ~ Jesus

From a Christian point of view, your heart is who you are as a child of God. It not only reflects your affections and your intentions; your heart is the core of the person you are, and are becoming, in the light of God’s grace!

Jesus speaks of having an untroubled heart even as he himself prepares to face the very troubling consequences of a world wracked by hatred, intolerance and violence.

After a lifetime of doing my feeble best to follow Jesus, I still find it difficult to get my mind around his absence of fear and worry as he stared the prospect of death in the face.

Some of my fellow Christ-followers would ease my mind by easy talk of Jesus’ divinity. Our spiritual tradition, though, always keeps Jesus’ divinity in tension with his humanity.

Jesus’ humanity is evident throughout the gospels as he wept with those who were suffering. Jesus felt compassion for all who were hungry, whether for food or justice. Jesus became angry with people who were so focused on appearing pious they had lost track of their inward spiritual compass. Jesus condemned the taken-for-granted bigotry in the world – the sexism, racism, and classism masquerading as holiness.

Jesus was a human being whose divinity was expressed through a deep and abiding communion with God, whom he addressed as “Abba,” a term of familial intimacy.

Jesus was at peace with the path of his earthly life because he knew that all of life is ultimately blessed and encircled by God’s steadfast love, now and for all eternity.

Jesus invites his followers, then and now, “Believe in God, believe also in me” (see John 14:1-7) ~ an invitation to be in relationship with the Divine. Jesus assures his followers that this act of trusting God is the way to discover a “dwelling place” with God – a place of refuge, safety, and peace!

As we approach Holy Week, and consider the meaning of Jesus’ life and death, spend a few moments recalling Jesus’ untroubled heart, and let his words of peace roll over you like streams of living water ~ “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

You are a beloved child of God. You have a place in the circle of God’s care. Your life, and all the life you see around you, is held within the abiding and steadfast love of God!

 

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2012 Dallis Day Richardson, Yosemite

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