Claimed, gathered and sent

One of my favorite prayers is: O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting up; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (ELW p. 317). The first time I prayed this was at an evening prayer service at Emanuel Lutheran Church in RI. It struck a chord with me then and continues to do so. As the time approached for the move to seminary and since our arrival, these words have echoed in my heart, "...not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us..." I don't know where we'll go after graduation in 2012. I don't know where my internship will be my third year. I don't know where my CPE will be this coming summer. Until today, I didn't know where my teaching parish would be that starts this Sunday. Today I f...

Thanks to RevGal Leah Sophia f or this YouTube of beautiful scenery and one of Rich Mullins' songs, "Calling Out Your Name." It seems a fitting way to begin the week. Peace.

I was first introduced to Frederick Buechner by a pastor who quoted his well-known wisdom on discerning vocation as "That place where your great joy meets the world's great need." Buechner has a new book out and Jim Martin offers a thoughtful reflection on it . Please check it out. By the way I just joined Twitter, so if any of you are members, let me know. Blessings. Flickr picture

Sally at revgalsblogpals posted the following for the Friday Five: I have recently been reading a book entitled Jesus wept , it is all about vulnerability in leadership. The authors speak of how Jesus shared his earthly frustrations and vulnerabilities with a select group of people. To some he was the charismatic leader and teacher, to others words of wisdom were opened and explained and some frustrations shared, to his "inner circle of friends: Peter, James and John, he was most fully himself, and in all of these things he was open to God. So I bring you this weeks Friday 5: 1. Is vulnerability something that comes easily to you, or are you a private person? It comes to me very easily, at times too much so. I feel that I have nothing to hide. Of course, I'm in seminary with a wonderful community of faith. In the parish I suspect I will need to be more guarded in what I share and with whom. 2.How important is it to keep up a professional persona in work/ ministry? I despise p...

Corporate prayer is one of the great joys of seminary life. Along with worship, it is at the heart of why we're here, what we do, and how we are empowered for service. One of our favorite prayer times is compline or evening prayer. Each night at 10:00 we gather in the courtyard for this student led prayer service. For the Lutherans, it begins on p. 320 in the ELW. Whether spoken or sung, it never fails to move me. It's like God is tucking me in for the night. Tonight was my turn to lead compline. At 9:45, Abby stood up in our apartment and looked at me. Her expression was, "Mom, it's time to go now." Normally her sense of time revolves around meals and snacks. But tonight it was for prayer time. She enjoys it because she gets to see people that love and pay attention to her. But it was still amazing to me that she has the timing down now for compline. Thanks be to God to have such a sweet reminder. Flickr picture.

Please take a look at this post on Dream Awakener. A prayer of Walter Brueggeman's was posted which is incredible. It's not about us, was the message as we gathered today for orientation. The center of our life together in this place is worship, as it should be. Flickr picture.

Yesterday Ray left to spend 3 weeks in training for a new Seeing Eye dog. He had a great train ride from Harrisburg to Newark, NJ. and is all settled in at Seeing Eye. He will get his new guide dog tomorrow. Meanwhile, back at home, Abby is officially retired, which sounds wonderful, doesn't it? The down side is that Abby is used to going everywhere: work, church, chapel, the refectory, restaurants...there were no limitations on where she could go with Ray. As a dog of leisure, whose primary responsibility is to hold down the rug, Abby will now be spending time being left behind at home. My classmates have been wonderful. Everyone is concerned about her and have offered to help walk her and give her lots of TLC. She did really well yesterday and I have been trying to pay more attention than usual to her. This morning however, was difficult. She can no longer go to church with me. The look I got before leaving the house was heartbreaking. It was like she was saying, "You're...