Prayer: Morning Prayer Sunday 6/23/13

Gentle and Gracious Lord be among us this very moment and draw us closer to you; for it is from you lord that every good and perfect gift comes.  We ask that you lift us up to be a joy filled people who seek the treasure of heaven and we give thanks lord, that you are always in our midst walking with us in our daily life.  We have seen your face in the despair, illness and suffering of so many, you are seen in the hungry and homeless, and you are seen in the humble faces of Gods children in every corner of our world.  But lord you are the great physician who can heal all wounds and bring joy to all hearts.  We pray today lord for those in need of your gentle healing hand because of illness.  We likewise pray that you will empower us to help lift those who suffer from hunger out of despair; allowing both them  and us the opportunity to experience the joy of your spirit as it fills our hearts with hope.  Lord there may be some among us today or those we know that have special needs we pray that you reach out to them and reassure them with your special touch and open our hearts that we may stretch forth our hands to comfort and support our brothers and sisters in their moment of need.

 

We pray today for the world wide church and our brothers and sisters in Christ in every nation.  We pray that the work of our Annual Conference, now meeting , will advance the Kingdom of God here on Earth.  We pray for our Pastors' Will and Meagan as they attend the Annual Conference and ask that they be returned to us in safety as they travel home this afternoon.  We give our thanks to you Lord for leading Meagan and allowing her to fulfill her call to ministry and we pray that she will always be filled with Joy as she does your work among us and where ever you may lead.  We also ask your blessing on the members of the Appalachian Service Team, which was commissioned at the early service.  Grant them safe travel and use them to spread your word.

 

Finally Lord we pray that you will give wisdom to the leaders of all nations and send the Holy Spirit to inscribe your grace on the hearts of all men and through your Holy Spirit make love for our fellow man and woman our unwavering  goal.

 

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior Amen

 

 

Written for Morning Prayer at Heritage United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Va 6/23/13

Poem: "What is a Memory"

Memories live in  faded photographs and clips of childhood hair.

Wisp of thought that lay in wait for a ocean breeze or scent of cotton candy

Then rush forth and bring that slight smile to the lips

 

Memories are the ghostly manifestations of our lives in retrospective

entangled echo's of  pain, laughter, and heartbreak cast upon the conscience   

Making the soul reflect on the many moments that transpire in a lifetime

 

Memories are a human beings most precious possession

provocative and evocative symbols which teach us the truth about ourselves

Setting us free to remember the things we loved and the things we lost

 

Memories are essential aspects of the human condition

immutable, intrinsic, and extraordinary evidence that we have lived

Fulfilling and completing our stories

 

Written by Mark R. Day 18 June 2013, Copyright by Mark R. Day 18 June 2013, all rights reserved

 

Letter to the Editor: A Predilection to Seeking the Protection of the State Equals a loss of Liberty

    

The recent revelations about domestic spying by the National Security Agency, which is feeding the fear of individuals reminded me of the following statement, "Government is never so dangerous as it is when giving you what you ask for." I have seen and heard so many people say they can live with this sort of tyranny because it makes them safe, but in fact we are neither safe or free from fear as long as the people continue to accept this sort of governmental intrusion of our privacy. Simply saying that this spying is being done for a good purpose does not make it the right thing to do and misleads the average citizen to believe the government is working in his best interest. I however, cannot agree that the government is working in our best interest and am convinced, that we are in trouble as a democratic people because we have abrogated our freedoms to the whim of the government and its unelected bureaucracy. Perhaps Thomas Hobbes was correct when he wrote, that the Natural State of Humans was to be driven by passion rather than reason. This attitude Hobbes argues, would lead to a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes) and in such a state, people fear death, lack the things necessary to commodious living, and accede to a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society cede some rights for the sake of protection.

 

I believe that while, we and our politicians talk about preserving our Republican form of government and individual freedoms bequeathed to use by our founding fathers, that are based on an alternative to the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes written by John Locke and state that citizens "[people] are sovereign and government can never have the power to take for themselves any part of the people's property without the consent of the people," we have moved away from the founders beliefs and now find ourselves a nation and political system that men such as Jefferson, Mason, and James Monroe would no longer recognize. In many ways through our predilection for governmental regulations and protection, or by acquiescence to the will of government and the disuse of the right to popular sovereignty by the citizens; democracies and republics die. You need only look to history to find examples where under similar stresses Republics in every case failed and were replaced by various forms of tyrannical rule.

We have evaded our responsibility and the government has assumed powers that we have passively let slip away from our control. Private telephone communications, photographs, and other personal intellectual properties that the government has collected via our phone records or Internet activity are legitimately the property of the citizen. What Thomas Jefferson once said over the issue of Slavery, I now say over the issue of governmental intrusion in the lives of the citizen " I tremble for my country." The Constitution opens with the words "We the People" for a reason and now is the time for the citizens of our great democracy to step forward and say no in one voice.  Only by taking a unified stand and communicating our desire, for an end to this over-reach of governmental power, to our elected representatives can we regain control of our government and ensure the continuation of democracy and freedom.

 

 

Mark R. Day

10 June 2013

Lynchburg, VA

Prayer: Memorial Day Offerings

First read on May 26th 2013.

Dear lord we thank you for the bounty you have provided for us. We ask that you accept these our humble offerings and multiply them for use in your earthly kingdom.

We pray that these offerings will be used to forward the work of both our church and the church universal.  May they help spread the Gospel, aid in the ending of ignorance, war,  and  poverty, and in time secure your loving embrace for all mankind.

Finally, we would ask  your grace and peace for the souls of those who gave the gift of their lives to ensure our safety; for  Jesus  teaches us  there  is no greater gift than to lay down our lives for a fellow man or woman.

We ask this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Savior who gave his life so that all mankind could receive the Grace and Love of God now and forever.

Amen

Read on 26 may 2013 Written by Mark R. Day and copyrighted by Mark R. Day 26 may 2013 , all rights reserved