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Luke 24:30–31 (NRSVUE, abridged)
When he was at the table with them,
he took bread, blessed and broke it,
and gave it to them.
Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…
and he vanished from their sight.
My eyes are opening.
Emily Dickinson
“The Soul should always stand ajar,
That if the Heaven inquire,
He will not be obliged to wait,
Or shy of troubling her.
Depart, before the Host has slid
The bolt unto the Door—
Then will the Soul return her trust
Without distrust or more.”
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Exodus 3:1–6 (NRSVUE)
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian;
he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush;
he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight,
and see why the bush is not burned up.”
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
I am learning to see.
William Blake, from *Auguries of Innocence* (c. 1803)
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.”
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Isaiah 60:1–2 (NRSVUE)
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
God’s light meets me where I am.
Charles Wesley
“Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Day-spring from on high, be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.”
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Micah 6:8 (NRSVUE)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
What I offer is enough.
Dorothy Day
“We cannot love God
unless we love each other,
and to love we must know each other.
We know Him in the breaking of bread,
and we are not alone anymore.
He has given us each other.”
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Lamentations 3:22–23 (NRSVUE)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I begin again in grace.
Henri Nouwen, from *The Return of the Prodigal Son*
“Returning is not a one-time event.
It is a long and painful process.
It is the continuous choice
to trust that there will be a homecoming,
even when you feel lost.
The movement of returning
is not a straight line.
It is a series of small choices,
often made in weakness,
to step toward love again and again.
The great gift of God
is that we are always welcomed home.
No matter how far we have wandered,
no matter how often we have failed,
the arms of mercy remain open.”
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Proverbs 16:9 (NRSVUE)
The human mind plans the way,
but the Lord directs the steps.
I set my heart toward love.
Howard Thurman
“Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive,
and go do it.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive.”
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Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.”
This moment is where God meets me.
Brother Lawrence
“We can do little things for God;
I turn the cake that is frying on the pan
for love of Him,
and that done,
if there is nothing else to call me,
I prostrate myself in worship
before Him who has given me grace to work.”
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Isaiah 43:18–19 (NRSVUE)
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
I release what no longer gives life.
Thomas Merton
“To let go does not mean to get rid of.
To let go means to let be.
When we let be with compassion,
things come and go on their own.”
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Colossians 1:27 (NRSVUE)
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ lives in me.
Richard Rohr
“The Christ Mystery
is not something to admire from a distance.
It is something to participate in.
God has chosen to dwell
not merely among us,
but within us—
so that divine love
might continue to take flesh
in the world.”
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Matthew 1:23 (NRSVUE)
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.”
God is with us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from *God Is in the Manger*
“God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings.
God marches right in.
God chooses people as his instruments
and performs wonders where one would least expect them.
God is near us—
in the midst of our lives.”
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Luke 2:6–7
While they were there, the time came for Mary to deliver her child.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son
and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger,
because there was no place in the guest room.
God is found in the ordinary.
Madeleine L’Engle, from Walking on Water
“There is nothing so secular
that it cannot be sacred.
And nothing so ordinary
that it cannot be filled with God.
If we believe that God took on flesh,
then every place
where life unfolds
is holy ground.”
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John 1:14 (NRSVUE)
And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
and we have seen his glory,
the glory as of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.
God is closer than I imagined.
Meister Eckhart
“God is nearer to me than I am to myself.
My being depends on God’s nearness
and God’s presence within me.
God does not come and go.
God is always here.”
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Luke 1:38 (NRSVUE)
Then Mary said,
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
I make room for God.
Jan Richardson
“This is a season
for making room—
for letting the heart
be opened
not by force
but by consent.
The Holy does not arrive
with demands,
but with an invitation
that waits patiently
to be welcomed.”
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Deuteronomy 33:27 (NRSVUE)
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
I am held in God.
Julian of Norwich
“For I saw no wrath in God,
only mercy.
And I saw that we are all held,
and shall be held,
in love—
and this holding never fails.”
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1 John 4:16 (NRSVUE)
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God,
and God abides in them.
God’s love moves through me.
Howard Thurman
“When love is present,
it does not force its way.
It creates space.
It releases fear,
loosens the grip of control,
and invites life to unfold as it must.
Love does not originate with us.
It passes through us,
shaping the world
as it goes.”
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Philippians 2:3 (NRSVUE)
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.
I am free to be small and loved.
Meister Eckhart
“The more completely you are able
to empty yourself,
the more room God has to act within you.
True humility is not weakness.
It is the spaciousness
that allows divine love to move freely.”
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Habakkuk 2:3 (NRSVUE)
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
I trust the slow work of God.
Parker J. Palmer, from *Let Your Life Speak*
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it,
listen for what it intends to do with you.
Before you tell your life what truths you have decided to live up to,
let your life tell you what truths you embody.
Vocation does not come from willfulness.
It comes from listening.
Listening to the quiet, persistent voice
that invites you to become
the person you already are.”
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John 15:4 (NRSVUE)
Abide in me as I abide in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself
unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me.
I choose to abide in love.
Evelyn Underhill
“The spiritual life is not a career of effort
but a condition of being.
It is not attained by strain
but by consent.
We do not need to rush ahead of God.
We are invited to remain—
to stay rooted in love,
and let that love do its quiet work.”
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Romans 15:13 (NRSVUE)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you may abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hope rises within me by the Spirit of God.
John O’Donohue
“Hope is not a prediction of the future.
It is a companion for the present.
It whispers that meaning is still unfolding,
that grace is still moving,
that God is not finished
with any part of your story.”
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Psalm 103:8 (NRSVUE)
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
God’s love is patient with my becoming.
Julian of Norwich
“God is never surprised by our weakness,
never offended by our slowness.
For He sees us not merely as we are,
but as we are becoming—
and He loves us
with a patient love
that cannot be hurried or diminished.”
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