Prayer and Meditation

This morning's church service paid off for me. I've been practicing meditation for several months now and have been frustrated because I have not had any "bright light" or "enlightenment" experiences. Sure, I have managed to let God run the universe for 20 minutes or so without the benefit of my help but I wonder if that's more assistance to God than to me.

I don't mean to blaspheme. My God has a sense of humor.

As the prelude was being played (Alex is just getting better and better) I realized that I was feeling the music, rather than letting it cause my thoughts to wander from one disassociated thread to another. This opens the door to me being able to let my feelings lead to inspiration from the Holy Spirit in the right environment. And perhaps it will even take my mind off my petty troubles for a while, too.

Another thought: in our opening hymn, we sang
"Angels, help us to adore him;
ye behold him face to face;
sun and moon, bow down before him,
dwellers all in time and space.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace."

I related that to an earlier post where I pondered the possibility that we step outside of time before we enter and when we leave this mortal coil. Just who are the "dwellers all" who are "in time and space?" If God is included, what is the point of this verse? Sun, moon, and we who behold Him certainly dwell in time and space.

Hadn't thought about stepping outside space, though...

Sharon's sermon about the Good Samaritan (I should probably say, "the Samaritan," because, as she pointed out to us, nowhere does the Bible say he was "good") asked us to identify with a character in the story. As Sharon suggested, I found some of myself in every character. I'm going to strive to be more like the Samaritan and the innkeeper and less like the victim, the perpetrators, and those who passed by on the other side of the road.

Especially the innkeeper.