![[Broken Day Six.jpg]] > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.![[Broken_Day_Six.mp3]] > ### Opening Prayer: *O persistent God, deliver me from assuming your mercy is gentle.* *Pressure me that I may grow more human, not through the lessening of my struggles, but through the expansion of them… Deepen my hurt until I learn to share it and myself openly, and my needs honestly. Sharpen my fears until I name them and release the power I have locked in them and they in me. Accentuate my confusion until I shed those grandiose expectations that divert me from the small, glad gifts of the now and the here and the me. Expose my shame where it shivers, crouched behind the curtains of propriety, until I can laugh at last through my common frailties and failures, laugh my way toward becoming whole. (Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 31 #### Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit #### To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. *31 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,for you are my refuge.5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.* *6 I hate[a] those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,because you have seen my affliction;you have known the distress of my soul,8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.* *9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief;my soul and my body also.10 For my life is spent with sorrow,and my years with sighing;my strength fails because of my iniquity,* *and my bones waste away.* *11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,especially to my neighbors,and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.13 For I hear the whispering of many— terror on every side!—as they scheme together against me,as they plot to take my life.* *14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!* *17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame,for I call upon you;let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.18 Let the lying lips be mute,* *which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.* *19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness,which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you,in the sight of the children of mankind!20 In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.* *21 Blessed be the Lord,for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city.22 I had said in my alarm,[b]“I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.* *23 Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!* #### Scripture for the Day: Psalm 147 #### He Heals the Brokenhearted *147 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant,[a] and a song of praise is fitting.2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;he gathers the outcasts of Israel.3 He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;his understanding is beyond measure. 6 The Lord lifts up the humble;[b] he casts the wicked to the ground.* *7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!* *8 He covers the heavens with clouds;he prepares rain for the earth;he makes grass grow on the hills.9 He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.* *12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!Praise your God, O Zion!13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;he blesses your children within you.14 He makes peace in your borders;he fills you with the finest of the wheat.15 He sends out his command to the earth;his word runs swiftly.16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.* *17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?18 He sends out his word, and melts them;he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules[c] to Israel.20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;they do not know his rules.[d]Praise the Lord!* #### Reading for Reflection: *When loneliness is among the chief wounds of the minister, hospitality can convert that wound into a source of healing. Concentration [meditation and prayer] prevents the minister from burdening others with his pain and allows him to accept his wounds as helpful teachers of his own and his neighbor’s condition. Community arises where the sharing of pain takes place, not as a stifling form of self-complaint, but as a recognition of God’s saving promises. (The Wounded Healer by Henri J. M. Nouwen)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Come Ye Sinners *Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,* *Weak and wounded, sick and sore;* *Jesus ready stands to save you,* *Full of pity, love and power.* *I will rise and go to Jesus,* *He will embrace me in His arms;* *In the arms of my dear Savior,* *O there are ten thousand charms.* *Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,* *God’s free bounty glorify;* *True belief and true repentance,* *Every grace that brings you nigh.* *Come, ye weary, heavy laden,* *Lost and ruined by the fall;* *If you tarry till you’re better,* *You will never come at all.* ### Closing Prayer *Now,O Lord,calm me into a quietness that heals and listens, and molds my longings and passions, my wounds and wonderings into a more holy and human shape.(Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)* [[Broken Day 1]] [[Broken Day 2]] [[Broken Day 3]] [[Broken Day 5]] [[Broken Day 7]] #Broken