Friday, June 26, 2020
The Rev. Anne Williamson
Turn
A Prayer for Quiet Confidence:
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength. By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BCP p. 832
I love this prayer, which begins our prayers for healing on Thursday mornings. The prayer echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah* - ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved….’ . As I have reflected this week on turning and re-turning, I have been asking myself ‘what are we turning from and what are we turning or re-turning to?
There is a longing to return to a known way of being ‘ BC’ (Before Covid) and there have been attempts to do that in various places with varied outcomes. The appeal of nostalgia is powerful, but the promise of today is more exciting, if daunting, and is the only true possibility. As the saying goes, the past is a memory, the future is a dream, all we have is the gift of now, which is the present. The invitation of the present, the invitation of this moment, is to turn or re-turn to God, to quiet our hearts and minds, and listen for God’s still small voice in the clamour of many voices that are not of God. In many ways, it is about new beginnings, ways of seeing the world in a new way, a clarity of vision for 2020 which may not be perfect, but clearer than in times past. The challenge of turning toward a new beginning is the need to let go of what was so that what is new can begin…scary! Endings are hard, turning from the known to the unknown is daunting, but we are not alone as we turn and begin again.
I was introduced to this poem on a recent retreat and I offer it to you as you wonder about turning to new beginnings:
God of history and of my heart,
so much has happened to me during these whirlwind days:
I’ve known death and birth;
I’ve been brave and scared;
I’ve hurt, I’ve helped;
I’ve been honest, I’ve lied;
I’ve destroyed, I’ve created;
I’ve been with people, I’ve been lonely;
I’ve been loyal, I’ve betrayed;
I’ve decided, I’ve waffled;
I’ve laughed and I’ve cried.
You know my frail heart and my frayed history –
and now another day begins.O God, help me to believe in beginnings
and in my beginning again,
no matter how often I’ve failed before.Help me to make beginnings:
to begin going out of my weary mind
into fresh dreams,
daring to make my own bold tracks
in the land of now;
to begin forgiving
that I may experience mercy;
to begin questioning the unquestionable
that I may know truth
to begin disciplining
that I may create beauty;
to begin sacrificing
that I may make peace;
to begin loving
that I may realize joy.Help me to be a beginning to others,
to be a singer to the songless,
a storyteller to the aimless,
a befriender of the friendless;
to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,
of assurance for the doubting,
of reconciliation for the divided;
to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing,
of friendship for the forgotten;
to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured,
of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken,
of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.Help me to believe in beginnings,
to make a beginning,
to be a beginning,
so that I may not just grow old,
but grow new
each day of this wild, amazing life
you call me to live
with the passion of Jesus Christ.Taken from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder
Blessings on your day,
Anne