A Time of Reflection
On the heels of the assassination attempt, how can we gather ourselves in a time of prayer and reflection, with an intention to stay grounded? Rather than a traditional sermon, the service this morning is a space of deep prayer and listening.
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Transcript
Why. Restless. Why. Cast down my soul. Hope still and thou shalt sing the praise of him who is thy God, thy health. Eternal spring. In the name of the father, and of the son. And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated.
Sermons are peculiar things. There are so many different levels going on at one time. There’s always a level of the preacher giving the sermon to the people who are gathered at that point in time, which is a totally different group of people the following Sunday, if you think about that. That’s a weird piece. We’re not really all the same folks in the same room every Sunday.
It constantly changes and morphs. So there’s that piece about who’s actually in the room at any one time. There’s another piece of it as well that the person who’s giving the sermon listens for the spirit as best as she or he can. Listening for those places in themselves to wonder what the spirit is calling them to talk about, to struggle with in a public way based on the text that’s assigned for the day.
And then there’s another one as well. There’s the clergy person themselves who is giving the sermon, wrestling with her or himself, which is also always a piece that goes on. We actually write our sermons, truth be known for ourselves, and we struggle with them in our own way. And when times like this happen, when moments like what happened yesterday happen, the most appropriate thing to do in a pastoral way is to say the sermon that was written is actually not the sermon that needs to be given at that point.
Well, then, what do you do when you only have eight hours? You do this. We do what we do. We gather, we say prayers, we hold space together. We’re honest about how we feel, the confusion that we feel, the anger that we feel, the frustration that we feel. Is this the best that we can do? Is this really who we are?
All those things that are swirling in all of our hearts. So that’s what I’m going to invite us into. The three of us are is a space to just be, to just be, to feel ourselves in the room, bringing into the room, acknowledging in the room what is already in our hearts. Finding a way to honor that. To give some language to it, some structure to it, and some silence.
The way I’m wired with my family system. I know I’m the only person in the room who’s wired this way, is to fix everyone’s problems and make everyone feel great all the time. I do this with socks and with my sense of style and my athletic ability, but I’m wired. We’re all wired in certain ways, and what we find in moments like this is that we can’t do that.
We can’t do that. So what we’re pushed into is this space to actually trust and let the spirit do the work that the spirit is doing, and to give the spirit room to do the work that the spirit wants to do in our hearts, both as individual people and as a parish and as a wider world. So we’re going to have a time of silence, and we’ll have a prayer.
We’re going to have a time of silence, and we’ll have a prayer, and we’ll have a time of silence. And then we will close by saying, together. The 23rd Psalm, the King James Version, which, if we’re honest, has held and carried each of us through so many trials in all of our lives. So I invite you to sit with your back on the pew, your feet on the floor.
You can close your eyes during this time of silence, or you can keep your eyes open and look out the windows. You can listen for the birds. They always usually come to visit on Sunday mornings, and they hang out around these little windows right over here if you’ve never seen them. Pay attention to that. Pay attention to the light as it comes through the stained glass.
Pay attention to your own heartbeat. Pay attention to your own breathing. Pay attention to yourself. Feel those around you as we sit for a moment of silence and enter into this time.
A period of silence is kept
Almighty God, we humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor. And glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, with sound learning, and with pure manners. Save us, O Lord, from violence, from discord, and from confusion. Save us from pride and arrogance and from every evil way. Defend our liberties and fashion into one people all the multitudes brought here out of so many different places with different languages.
And do with the spirit of wisdom. Those to whom in your name we entrust the authority of our government. So that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to your law we may show forth your praise among all the nations of the earth.
In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness and deep gratitude. And in the day of our trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
A period of silence is kept
Grant, oh God, that your holy and life giving spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land.
That barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease. You have bound us together in a common life. Help us in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect. That our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you will turn with me in your prayer book to page 476.
We learn once more in days like this how important it is to come and actually be in the same space. To breathe in the same space, to see each other’s faces, to kneel next to each other for the bread and wine and the prayers and the blessings that we all give each other. So let us not forget this.
And in the weeks and months to come, as times get tough and feel heavy we can return here, not just to this physical space, but to the spiritual space that’s within our heart. So let us close this time by saying Psalm 23 together. That truly has carried us all so far.
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
Name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.