Christmas Prayers

There are many things that need prayer these days, and there are many things to be thankful for, as well.  So.... what's at the top of our Christmas thankgivings and prayer requests?

Prayer: The philosopher still doesn't have a full time job.  Of the two positions he applied for this fall, he finally got a rejection email from the school in New York.  (Would it be wrong to say that's a thanksgiving too??!?)  We have yet to hear from The Happy Southern School, but he does know (through the grapevine, as it were) that he's still on the short list.  They're calling references for other candidates, and I expect they'll do phone interviews with them soon.  I hypothesize that if no one measures up to the philosopher, then they won't bring anyone to campus and their will be much rejoicing in our house.  But if they do bring someone to campus, it could likely be late January before we know anything.  So prayers for dealing with the stress and anxiety, and prayers that we can finally settle down to be Wherever We're Supposed To Be.

"Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in thy Son's Name:  We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ear to us who have now made our prayers and supplications unto thee; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will, may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth of thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen"

Thanksgiving: Even without a full time job, we're getting by.  God has been good, and we're not in need of anything.  I read so many stories every day of families right on the edge of losing everything and families that *have* lost everything, and I praise the Lord that we are comfortable, and safe, and warm. (Well, safe except for the cat, who likes to lie across doorways at night like a large fluffy trip-monster!)

"Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may he unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen."

Following God's Will

A priest that I respect deeply (even though we've never met) had some wise words posted on his church's blog recently. I reproduce them here - they were a comfort to me and I hope they will resonate with you as well.

Hearing God's Voice--how do you know what God wants you to do?

Knowing God's will when making a decision is not always easy, but here are some general questions to ask yourself and things to do that I find helpful in discerning what God would have me do.

1. In prayer, share your desire with God, and commit do what he desires first and foremost even if it means not doing what you planned to do.

2. Be sure that what you hope to do is consistent with God's revealed will in scripture. Would changing careers, for example, mean that you forego any higher calling or responsibility God has given you? Would it require you to do or act in a way that is inconsistent with the principles and purposes God sets out for his people in the bible?

3. Ask God to make the matter plain to you by either 1. opening doors in the direction you would like to go or 2. giving you a clear discernable answer in the form of closed doors, impossible progress, or just a very clear sense in your heart that you should not proceed.

4. Listen and attend carefully to the four primary means through which God communicates to his people: Scripture, Prayer, Church (sermons, class, fellowship), Circumstances...to see whether God gives you any guidance through them.

5. If you have asked God to guide you with a willingness to do what he wants you do do, see nothing in scripture contrary to your plans, have listened to and attended the four primary ways God speaks to his people, and circumstances have left the way open to proceed...the do it with joy and peace.

I generally find that even when I make the wrong decision...if I have faithfully sought his will and followed the steps above that God graciously blesses what I have done.

The G.S.E... redux

We were sitting in church Sunday-a-week-ago, listening to the sermon. For the second week in a row, the philosopher leaned over and said, "He's talking about the "U" in TULIP." (Now, for those of you who are suddenly worried, no hard drugs or alcohol was involved!) He was talking about the "shorthand" for five-points Calvinism... T.U.L.I.P. Which, if I recall correctly, stands for:

Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints

Now I don't know if I mentioned it in one of my other Great Sociological Experiment posts, but we are not Five Point Calvinists. And up until recently, the philosopher has remained (mostly) silent during the sermons at the PCA church we've been attending. Sure, there have been the occasional wince and frown, but generally he hasn't been too cranky.

So why the change in the professorial demeanor? The church has a new pastor, and if I'm not imagining things, he's a bit... errr.... more stridently Calvinist. And the philosopher also doesn't agree with our lessons on Romans in Sunday School. Thus he's getting very little out of our Sunday visitations these days. And because I'm fretting about how uncomfortable he looks, I'm not getting much either. A friend laughed and told me we were like the couple in the O'Henry story, The Gift of the Magi. He wants us to go to a big local church so I can make friends, and I want us to go to an Anglican church, even if it's small and an hour away, to preserve his sanity! (We are, if you haven't picked up on it, Anglicans, after all!)

This past Sunday, though, we did head off to a small Anglican church about an hour south of us. (What letter am I on? Church F?) There were about 20 folks there on a stormy morning. They meet in a small historic chapel, and have a wonderful guitarist and a LEM with a fabulous voice. And we got to have communion. ::sigh:: It's been three months since we partook in an Anglican communion (longer than that if you go for a 1928 BCP communion). I so missed saying the Prayer of Humble Access!

So, to all of my far-away friends, please continue to keep us in your prayers. We're still so unsettled, and with possible out-of-state jobs in the offing it's hard to find that internal peace. For now, my Bible verse will remain Isaiah 42:16... "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.."

On Friendship

I have a dear friend (let's call her "J") who lives far away... we only see each other rarely, and that is a Sad Thing. But fortunately, the wonders of modern technology allow us to keep in touch through email and chat software (and yes, Facebook too). We were chatting one afternoon about friendship. How on earth did we become friends in the first place? I love college football... she, not so much. She's a scientist. I'm an English major-librarian. And the list goes on. We became friends because of the Farm - the philosopher and I bought a share in a community-supported-agriculture farm and we split the share with J. So every weekend we'd go to the farm to pick the produce of the week, and we talked. She and I would talk about things light and deep, and she and the philosopher would talk about... well... philosophy and education and the nature of Man. (And I gotta say I admire her because who else do I know that is a brilliant scientist and likes to read Augustine??) So not only are she and I good friends, she is also friends with my husband - and that makes it doubly wonderful!

She recently moved to a new city, and we are both (still) struggling with the notion of making "local friends." We're both introverted, which only makes the process that much more daunting. How do you develop friendships? How do you connect with those with whom you have a common interest? Being a librarian, I decided to do some research. (Heh.) Here are some thoughts I've gleaned...

C. S. Lewis, in The Four Loves, says: "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one!" He goes on: "The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends... There would be nothing for the Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice."

Aristotle (my philosopher's favorite philosopher - he will be so proud!) says this in the Nichomachean Ethics of "Perfect Friendship": "That such friendships are rare is natural, because men of this kind are few. And in addition they need time and intimacy; for as the saying goes, you cannot get to know each other until you have eaten the proverbial quantity of salt together. Nor can one man accept another, or the two become friends, until each has proved to the other that he is worthy of love, and so won his trust. Those who are quick to make friendly advances to each other have the desire to be friends, but they are not unless they are worthy of love and know it. The wish for friendship develops rapidly, but friendship does not."

Ah, that last is the key, I think, for me. "The wish for friendship develops rapidly, but the friendship does not." Just because you seek friendship, doesn't mean it will happen overnight. You can't "force" a friendship. As I said to J during our conversation: "Friendship is an art, not a science." There's not a magic formula you can follow, like the book title says, to "win friends and influence people". There's a lot of commentary out there about what friendship is, but not a lot about how to develop friendships. And that's because it is by its nature different for every person.

This is why the G.S.E. has been so important. We, the philosopher and I, need to find a church where we can meet people and get to know them. (That's why small groups are near the top of the list of things we hope to find.) You can't walk into a room and think "I'll be friends with that person over there" and then go over and introduce yourself. You meet people, you talk, you get to know each other, and finally you find that person and say, like C.S. Lewis, "I thought I was the only one!"

So for you, my far-away friends, I give thanks to God every day. Your friendship continues to sustain me as the philosopher and I seek the path God has planned for us. So I offer up two prayers from the Book of Common Prayer:

One for guidance

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And one for our far-away friends

O God, whose fatherly care reacheth to the uttermost parts of the earth: We humbly beseech thee graciously to behold and bless those whom we love, now absent from us. Defend them from all dangers of soul and body; and grant that both they and we, drawing nearer to thee, may be bound together by thy love in the communion of thy Holy Spirit, and in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Praise and Prayers

A blessed Easter to you all - Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Prayers of Thanksgiving

1. My grandmother is back at my mom's house, and resting comfortably. She's under hospice care now and that has been a real blessing, albiet a difficult transition, for mother. Since we sold the small commercial property grandmother owned, we now have enough cash on hand to meet any immediate needs she may have. I hope if I live to be 97, that my years can be as productive and fruitful as hers have been.

2. Along the same lines, we are preparing the family home for sale. It's listed with a real estate agency (you can see it here, if you're interested) and getting a number of showings a week. It's in a poor town, so that's not helping... but we're hopeful! The more pressing concern is the 120 years of stuff our family's six generations have accumulated - currently tucked into every nook and cranny of the house and the four outbuildings. We were planning a yard sale. A big yard sale. A REALLY REALLY BIG yard sale. Unfortunately, the burden of that fell mostly on me, a physical and emotional burden that I was dreading with every fiber of my being. So I convinced the rest of the family that we should hire an estate sale company. Praise God!

Prayers for Peace and Comfort

1. My cousin, who had been helping with the house prep, has been diagnosed with a heart problem. She's going to have a heart catheterization next week, which will hopefully ward off a possible future stroke. She lost her mom (my mother's sister) when she was about the same age as her son, so you can imagine the fear and concern she's having right now. So please pray for peace and a successful procedure.

2. A longtime family acquaintance lost her home to fire yesterday. The family is all fine - they weren't home when it happened - but it appears they lost nearly everything, including their precious dogs. (We are hoping that their oldest daughter's wedding dress - she's getting married in three weeks - was not in the house!) I pray for peace and comfort; may they rest in God's gentle embrace during this traumatic time.

Keep watch, dear Lord,
with those who work, or watch, or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary,
bless the dying, soothe the suffering,
pity the afflicted, shield the joyous;
and all for your love's sake. Amen.

I am on a roll...

Three posts in two days. What is the world coming to? Well, I've done one on answered prayer, and a random one on cryptographic history. Now I'm doing something else completely different. I'm posting a political article link. It's by Victor Davis Hanson (writer for NRO and Pajamas Media)

It's probably not a surprise to anyone that I'm pretty conservative politically, and I admit I didn't vote for Obama. But he's our president now, and I pray for him because he won the election fair and square. I want him to do right by our country and keep us the "land of the free and the home of the brave". But I do worry. I worry that the mainstream media gave him a pass during the election and didn't ask the hard questions that deserved to be asked. And I worry - like many, including some of his supporters these days - that there are some uneasy trends evolving based on decisions he is making.

So go read Hanson's post on Pajamas Media. Yes, it is critical. Yes, it points out some serious concerns. But the concern isn't based on ad hominem attacks, it's based on the fact that a potentially weak - even weak in appearances - Commander in Chief could be disasterous for our country. (And I'm not recommending the reader comments about the article, merely the article itself. Anyone who reads comments knows they can get awfully vituperative!)

Hanson writes, "I write here not to score points, but to warn readers that this is all very serious. Obama is our President, and we must hope he does something fast to save his administration from general ridicule that will incur real dangers for all of us abroad." So keep our president in your prayers, even if you don't agree with his policies. Pray that he makes wise decisions. Pray that he surrounds himself with other wise and knowledgable people of integrity. Because for the next four years, this team will be charting America's course through history.

God is Good

Prayers were answered!

1. We don't have to re-drill our well, at least not immediately.
2. Our HVAC outage only lasted two days (it didn't get that cold, mostly, while we were waiting on the repairmen) and it ultimately cost less than $200 to fix.
3. We had some new faces at church on Sunday (though there's still a lot of prayer needed for us there).
4. Even though we still haven't heard about any permanent job updates for the philosopher, he is teaching this semester and already had some students approaching him for help with the campus Philosophy Club.
5. And there' s still a chance he'll hear from one of the other colleges that have not yet sent final "thanks but no thanks" letters. There's one in particular that said they were delayed in reviewing CVs. It's the one I think was the best fit for him, with the best recommendations and connections. And even better, it's in the southeast! So not all the doors are closed, and hope is a Good Thing to have!

Any Prayer Warriors out there?

Our little Anglican church is having a rough time. We've lost almost half our regular members to jobs-out-of-state. Which means, essentially, we're starting over. We have about 10 ASA on a given Sunday, and we desperately need to increase that to stay viable.

So our rector issued all of us a challenge at Sunday's yearly congregational meeting, and prayer is at the top of the list. Besides our own fervent daily prayers, he asked us to find as many folks as possible who would be willing to "sign up" as Prayer Warriors through this April. We would send you regular emails sharing our journey and any specific prayer needs. We're not asking you to convert, or join our congregation, or anything like that - we just know that having a "cloud of witnesses" keeping our little church in prayer is the best thing we can do! Then as we share the Gospel with others and reach out to new members, we know we're being lifted up in prayer. (Which, for me anyway, brings a huge amount of peace and comfort as I am an introvert and sharing my faith is always a challenge!)

So if you feel called to such an endeavor, or if you want more information about our church, you can email me at susannas [dot] email [at] gmail [dot] com. And if you have any words of wisdom, those would be more than welcome!

Peace and blessings!

Union University - Tornado Damage

The philosopher and I have a dear friend who teaches at Union (his office was in Jennings Hall). He and his family are all safe but the university, which was also hit by tornadoes back in 2002, sustained significant damage. Please keep that community in your prayers!

More info

A Request for Prayer

My mother (briefly mentioned in an aformentioned post) underwent surgery just after Thanksgiving to remove a cancer tumor. She started chemotherapy yesterday to eradicate the last, recently discovered bits. It's a challenging situation for all concerned, so please, if you feel called to do so, pray for healing and a speedy recovery for her and patience and understanding for those who give her care.