Under The Fig Tree Too

One tree, many meanings. Mostly, Nathaniel, sitting under a fig tree, waiting...

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The Summer Day

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" — Mary Oliver

The Power To Get ThingsDone

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Intercessions

R/Let your favour be upon us, O Lord.

O God, we are the work of your hands:

– shape us in the image of Christ our Lord. R/

O God, we are but a moment in the world’s history:

– teach us to store up treasure in heaven by the good we do on earth. R/

O God, we fear the mortality we cannot cure:

– grant insight and faith to all those who conduct medical research. R/

O God, we are saddened by the death of those we love:

– bring them into the everlasting joy of your presence. R/

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So many churches are raising young people to see the Holy Spirit as a force that primarily exists to make you “feel things” in worship. That you know you’ve been Touched™ because you have goosebumps and feel like crying or whatever.

I’m not downplaying the emotional impact an encounter with the spirit can illicit. That’s real. But when we place such an emphasis on our human response, we can make people who don’t experience these heightened emotions feel like they aren’t being filled with the spirit.

I’ve seen it happen before. “I felt nothing in worship”, “I’m in a spiritual rut”, “Why aren’t I being filled?”. The spirit is so much more than what you feel on a Sunday. Look at your fruits, look at God’s work in your life. That’s where you’ll find evidence of the spirit.

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Hosea 14:5

I have seen the way he went. But I will heal him, and console him, I will comfort him to the full, both him and his afflicted fellows, bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to far and near, I will indeed heal him—says the Lord.

I will heal their disloyalty,

I will love them with all my heart.

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Is 26:10

Distressed, we search for you, O Lord.

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Release us from the desire for power and prestige, we pray.

Free us from all disdain for works of service, we pray.

Deliver us from the lure of self-sufficiency, we pray.

R/Make us wise, O Lord.

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Mary Virginia Merrick.

"To work is to pray.”

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When faced with difficult situations, a reminder that We Can Work It Out, no matter what.

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Rain, by Uriah Heep

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Psalm 33

Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.

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Courage

It is all too common to suffer without relief.

Maybe you’ve waited years to find a suitable spouse or conceive a child or land a good job.

Maybe you’re bereaved after losing a loved one, or because you were neglected, abandoned or abused.

Maybe you’re enduring a loveless marriage.

Maybe you have a chronic illness.

You who live in a world of confusion, violence, betrayal—you who are fallen, misshapen, unclean, where do you go with your waning hope?

Jesus passes by at a time we least expect.

Do you dare to utter a prayer?

Are you worth enough to yourself to extend your heart and hands in the direction of repair?

Have courage!

Touch the tassel of his cloak.

Ignite his wish to make you whole.

Rita A. Simmond