Wishing you all a blessed rising!
Tuesday Morning: 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
In the Celtic tradition, it is said that during the Lord’s Supper (the text above), the Apostle John placed his head on Jesus’ chest and heard the heartbeat of God. This heartbeat provides the rhythm on which the foundation of the faith is laid. It lends itself to listening for God at the heart of life. Rhythm, especially the rhythm of prayer, is very important to the Celtic way of understanding, as it encourages this deep listening and provides a pattern that allows for prayer to be woven into our everyday lives, rather than being sectioned out and kept separate from our work. The heartbeat of God is found in all things, and is what steadies us and assures us of God’s abiding presence. When we pause to pray at the beginning of the day, at noon time, before the evening meal, at bed time and at various other times we might feel necessary, we are acknowledging this rhythm and listening for it. One of the ways it manifests itself is through poetry and song, as the Celtic people often wrote words of faith to those tunes that were known best to them. If you look at the words to Amazing Grace, for example, that can be sung to the tune of “The Four Mary’s” or What a Friend We Have in Jesus to the tune “Scarlet Ribbons.” What are the rhythms of your life? Do you hear the heartbeat of God pulsing through both your work and prayer?
I invite you to light a candle, saying the following words as you do:
Once there was someone who said and did such wonderful and amazing things that people began to follow him. They needed to know who he was so one day they asked him. And he said: “I am the light.” (Adapted from Godly Play)
Let us join our spirits with God’s Spirit in prayer:
O Holy Beat of Life, call to us with the steady pulse of your rhythm. Stir within us the longing to learn the steps of life that will join our spirits with yours. When life seems too noisy to hear your beat, quiet our souls and still our minds so that the deep sounds come clearly. Remind us that this beat is not only ours, but flows through all creation. Inspire us to sing the songs of our souls with words that speak to us of your glory. In the name of the Great Poet, Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.
