# Ordinary Day 6 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *I thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes* *(I who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)* *how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any--lifted from the no of all nothing--human merely being doubt unimaginable You?* *(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 98 *Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.* *4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! 5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!* *7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together 9 before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.* #### Scripture for the Day: Genesis 28:10-22 #### Jacob's Dream *10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder[a] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it[b] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”* *18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel,[c] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”* #### *Reading for Reflection:* *You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary. Something you have seen a thousand times you* *suddenly see as if for the first time. (Telling the Truth by Frederick Buechner)* *Our mundane experiences contain all the stuff of holiness and if human growth in grace. Our world is rife with messages and signatures of the Spirit. Our encounters with one another are potential sites of awakening and energizing that characterize the Spirit. But so much goes unnoticed. We fail to recognize the light that shines through all the chinks and the dusty panes of our daily lives. We are too busy to name the event that is blessed in its ordinariness, holy in its uniqueness, and grace-filled in its underlying challenge. (Every Bush Is Burning by Joan Puls)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Take My Life and Let It Be *Take my life, and let it be* *Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;* *Take my moments and my days,* *Let them flow in ceaseless praise,* *Let them flow in ceaseless praise.* *Take my hands, and let them move* *At the impulse of Thy love;* *Take my feet and let them be* *Swift and beautiful for Thee,* *Swift and beautiful for Thee.* *Take my voice, and let me sing* *Always, only, for my King;* *Take my lips, and let them be* *Filled with messages from Thee,* *Filled with messages from Thee.* *Take my silver and my gold;* *Not a mite would I withhold;* *Take my intellect, and use* *Every power as Thou shalt choose,* *Every power as Thou shalt choose.* *Take my will, and make it Thine;* *It shall be no longer mine.* *Take my heart; it is Thine own;* *It shall be Thy royal throne,* *It shall be Thy royal throne.* *Take my love; my Lord, I pour* *At Thy feet its treasure-store.* *Take myself, and I will be* *Ever, only, all for Thee,* *Ever, only, all for Thee.* ### Closing Prayer: Our Father, help us to see you today in all that we come into contact with, knowing that you use ordinary things to give us an extraordinary sense of your presence in our lives. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)