![[Broken Day Seven.jpg]] > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.![[Broken_Day_Seven.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: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 #### Treasure in Jars of Clay *7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.* #### Reading for Reflection: *The great spiritual call of the Beloved Children of God is to pull their brokenness away from the shadow of curse and put it under the light of the blessing. This is not as easy as it sounds. The powers of darkness around us are strong, and our world finds it easier to manipulate self-rejecting people than self-accepting people. But when we keep listening attentively to the voice calling us the Beloved, it becomes possible to live our brokenness, not as confirmation of our fear that we are worthless, but as an opportunity to purify and deepen the blessing that rests upon us. Physical, mental or emotional pain lived under the blessing is experienced in ways radically different from physical, mental or emotional pain lived under the curse. Even a small burden, perceived as a sign of our worthlessness, can lead us to deep depression—even suicide. However, great and heavy burdens become light and easy when they are lived in the light of the blessing. What seemed intolerable becomes a challenge. What seemed a reason for depression becomes a source of purification. What seemed punishment becomes a gentle pruning. What seemed rejection becomes a way to a deeper communion. (Life of the Beloved 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 6]] #Broken