Take a moment to center yourself.
If you have your candle, light it at this time. As you do pray, “I welcome you into my presence, Triune God. Encircle me into your Love.”
Watch the flame and rest in the presence of God our Creator; Christ our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit our Sustainer.
Breathe in God’s lovingkindness. Breathe out your worries.
Breathe in Christ’s compassion. Breathe out your hurts.
Breathe in the Spirit’s gentleness. Breathe out your negativity.
Rest in the silence of this moment. Watch the candle flicker. Give praise to God for this morning.
Meditation 1 Thirst by Mary Oliver
Another morning and I wake with thirst
for the goodness I do not have. I walk
out to the pond and all the way God has
given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord,
I was never a quick scholar but sulked
and hunched over my books past the hour
and the bell; grant me, in your mercy,
a little more time. Love for the earth
and love for you are having such a long
conversation in my heart. Who knows what
will finally happen or where I will be sent,
yet already I have given a great many things
away, expecting to be told to pack nothing,
except the prayers which, with this thirst,
I am slowy learning.
Silently reflect on these words.
What goodness do you thirst for this morning?
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Meditation 2 Psalm 63
63 God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
My arms wave like banners of praise to you.
5-8 I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy;
I smack my lips. It’s time to shout praises!
If I’m sleepless at midnight,
I spend the hours in grateful reflection.
Because you’ve always stood up for me,
I’m free to run and play.
I hold on to you for dear life,
and you hold me steady as a post.
Silently reflect on this psalm.
When is the last time you longed for something or someone? Maybe it was a partner far away by necessity or a child across the country in school or a long-deceased parent. This type of longing is born out of a relationship of love and support. A relationship full of memories and moments shared. This psalm invites us into that same longing for our God. Its first words are personal, “O God, you are my God.”
Meditation 3 Exodus 17
Before you read the scripture this morning, invite the Spirit to illumine your heart with this prayer:
Give us your Spirit of wisdom, O God, so that we might hear your Word speaking through the scriptures with ears that understand, and hearts filled with love. Amen.
Exodus 17.1-7
17 1-2 Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin. They set camp at Rephidim. And there wasn’t a drop of water for the people to drink. The people took Moses to task: “Give us water to drink.” But Moses said, “Why pester me? Why are you testing God?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, “Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?”
4 Moses cried out in prayer to God, “What can I do with these people? Any minute now they’ll kill me!”
5-6 God said to Moses, “Go on out ahead of the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel. Take the staff you used to strike the Nile. And go. I’m going to be present before you there on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will gush out of it and the people will drink.”
6-7 Moses did what he said, with the elders of Israel right there watching. He named the place Massah (Testing-Place) and Meribah (Quarreling) because of the quarreling of the Israelites and because of their testing of God when they said, “Is God here with us, or not?”
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Silently reflect on the passage.
Each of us comes to worship thirsting for something that only God can satisfy. We thirst for connection. We thirst for peace. We thirst for acceptance. We thirst for meaning. We thirst for justice. We thirst for__________.
Take a moment and search what it is you’re thirsting for this day.
“It strikes me (pun intended!) that God chooses to bring water -- and the life it symbolizes and will impart -- out of something that appears to be lifeless. This may be symbolic of God's intentions to bring the people life, not death, as they suspect. Out of Egypt and out of the wilderness, God will find ways to make life flow in unexpected ways. But it will require a certain amount of trust from the people, a willingness to put faith in a god who seems not to do things in the typical way.” Amy Ericson, Working Preacher
How might God be calling you to bring life to the community in a new or unexpected way?
Are you willing to let Christ give you living water? Are you strong enough to let Christ tend to the wounds pride inflicts? Will you allow Christ to bring you healing in and through something new?
Meditation 4 One Day by David Whyte
“One day I will
say
the gift I once had
has been taken,
the place I have
made for myself
belongs to another,
and the words I have sung
are being sung by the ones
I would want.
Then I will be ready
for that voice
and the still silence
in which it arrives.
And if my faith is good
then we’ll meet again
on the road
and we’ll be thirsty,
and stop
and laugh
and drink together again
from the deep well
of things as they are.
...”
Are the wells you have always drunk from low? Perhaps one is empty. Where might you find a new well of living water to quench your thirst? Are you ready to trust God to bring you something different?
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