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The Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offence, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.


O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in forgiving that one is forgiven, it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen.

Moving Forward Meditations

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Moving Forward - 15 February 2025


    Mark 10:49a Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”


    This is one of those stories that gives me hope, not only for societal transformation but also my own. I find it fascinating that in response to the prayer of the son of Timaeus, Jesus doesn’t walk over to him so they can talk. Nor does Jesus chastise the crowd. He simply invites the same crowd who earlier tried to quiet the blind man to now call him over. And they do. They take Jesus up on his invitation to mission, his invitation to help bring the good news of healing and deeper relationship with the Godhead to this man who is asking for help.


    In partnership with the crowd, Jesus gives this man who is physically blind and socially silenced his eyesight and his voice. So maybe there’s hope for me to unlearn the idea that being a moral and upstanding member of society means holding to divisions, judgments, and gatekeeping in holy spaces. There’s hope for societal change when we let the love of Jesus guide us. Individually and collectively, we can help and heal. We can bring about God’s commonwealth in this fractured and hurting world. What an exciting notion! We don’t have to give up on the possibility of holy change.


    MOVING FORWARD: What gospel story gives you hope for the future?



    (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

     
     
     

    Moving Forward - 14 February 2025


      Mark 10:37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”


      For James and John, maybe the embarrassing, self-centered question that they cannot stop themselves from asking is a desperate bid to find some measure of security in a terrifying and unstable situation.


      It’s a very normal survival mechanism to seek out consistency and security when our emotional and physical well-being is at risk. We want reassurance that whatever happens, nothing will really change for the worst; our dreams can still be realized, and in the end, everything will still be okay. What I love in this story is that Jesus, even through his own pain, weariness, and fear, takes the time and effort to see his friends. He looks beyond their rude insensitivity and into their fear and confusion and reassures them that in the coming times of trauma and tragedy, they will rise to the challenge, and their actions will be heroic. They will be who God created them to be. And that last bit is a remarkable promise in the face of their deep failure in this moment—and my every failure at many moments in this life.


      MOVING FORWARD: What is Jesus saying to you in moments of failure?



      (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

       
       
       

      Moving Forward - 13 February 2025

        THURSDAY, February 13, Absalom Jones


        Isaiah 60:15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.


        A friend once asked me if I could imagine a life without the threat and weight of racism. I was both saddened and shocked to find that I could not, yet happy and perplexed that my sister-friend, a full generation my junior, could and did so on a regular basis. It had to do with differing life experiences, to be sure, but I also believe she practices a more joyful and faithful process of using her holy imagination to see what God dreams for the world.


        I think many Christians who partner with God to change the world for the better, like Absalom Jones whom we honor today, do the same. Maybe they can imagine living in the reality described in the liberating poetry of Isaiah 60:1-17. For me, reading and meditating on this passage makes the possibility of living in a constant state of equality and human dignity seem more real. Immersing myself in these words, I can imagine what lived freedom in the Beloved Community might feel like, and I become empowered by the Holy Spirit to act on it.


        MOVING FORWARD: Can you imagine what a world of equality and love for all would look like? What small action toward this reality can you take today?



        (Source: Forward Day by Day Movement)

         
         
         
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