"God is Present! God is with Us!"

In the next week I will be coming to the end of my sabbath leave from St. Mary's. I am thankful for the opportunity to simply be and to experience the presence and Spirit of God that is all around me, but which I'm often too preoccupied to see and recognize.

God is very present all around us! God is definately with us! Do we take time out of our hectic lives and schedules to appreciate that reality?

One day I saw God in the countryside during a drive through King township which included a walk through the grounds of the McMichael Art Gallery and the Kortright Conservation Center. On another excursion I experienced God in a walk through downtown Toronto: visiting places of worship, walking through a park, witnessing the poverty and in other ways too.

I attended two conferences on Spirituality and Photography: one in North Carolina, the other in New Mexico. These afforded me the opportunity to capture some of my experience of God through the lens of my camera. These were grace filled moments, and although I couldn't capture every image and every experience, as I look through the images I have I can return to that place and space where God was so visible and recognizable.

As a family we went to New York City. What an adventure into the urban culture. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle God was revealed to me there too. Like in downtown Toronto, God is present in the midst of the urban environment.

If you're interested, some of the images I captured, and the reflections that go along with them can be found on my blog "Spirituality in Focus" at www.spiritualityinfocus.blogspot.com

Out of these experiences, and the opportunity to simply "be" rather than "do", I have written the hymn "God is Present! God is with Us!" It expresses for me what I have learned and had the priviledge of enjoying over these past months. It is also a reminder to me that I need to take what I have learned and experienced and continue in this disipline even as I return to the stresses, schedules and responsiblities of my ministry at St. Mary's.

The tune is also one of my many favorites. It's a joy filled metre that proclaims a spirit of celebration and thanksgiving.

“God is Present! God is with Us!”

Tune: Lasst Uns Erfreuen
Metre: LM with Alleluias

Blessings surround us day to day
awesome and beautiful display;
God is present, God is with us!
But in the hectic lives we live
we often miss what God can give;
God is present! God is with us!
Sing our praises! Shout rejoicing!
God is with us!

Nature brings forth a broad array;
trees, birds and flowers to survey;
God is present, God is with us!
And in the urban centers too
God’s Spirit sets out to renew.
God is present! God is with us!
Sing our praises! Shout rejoicing!
God is with us!

Open our eyes that we might see
God’s grace so full of mystery;
God is present! God is with us!
Grace moments in our daily stress,
the sacred truth so endless.
God is present! God is with us!
Sing our praises! Shout rejoicing!
God is with us!

Text: copyright, The Rev. Mark Kinghan, 2010. Not to be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express written permission of the author.

Maundy Thursday Hymn ... "Holy banquet, Sacred Feast"

The celebration of the Eucharist is a primary focus for my personal theology and spirituality. Sharing in this holy feast is a source of nourishment as I am fed and nurtured.

Sharing in communion reminds me of God's real presence with me no matter what I may be experiencing in my journey of life or faith. Receiving the gift of the bread of life and drinking of the cup of salvation is a priviledge which also carries with it a responsiblity. I am changed and transformed in my experience of God which requires that I faithfully do what I can to make a difference in transforming the world I live in and the people I meet. This vocation and ministry is one we share as followers of Jesus Christ. It is a humbling vocation. At the holy table, sharing in the holy banquet, we don't simply receive passively, we're called to actively participate.

Too often in the world we live we feel we have to understand and explain all things. The Eucharist is a mystery and therefore can't easily be explained our understood with our finite human minds. What exactly happens and how it happens is something that we trust in through the working of the Holy Spirit. The bread and wine are presented, blessed, broken and shared; in that act of celebration and thanksgiving something profound happens.

On Maundy Thursday we celebrate the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples in the upper room. As they celebrated Passover, this simple meal of bread and wine took on such significance for we who have become the church. Jesus broke bread and said, "This is my body broken for you"; He took the cup of wine and said, "This is my blood shed for you." What a gift to not only remember that sacred moment of Holy Week, but to bring it into the present. We're called like the disciples to take our place at the banquet table; what a privilege; what an honor; what a responsiblity too!

I have written the words to this hymn to reflect the profound gift I receive at the eucharistic table, and that I hope you receive too. It is set to the lenten hymn tune "Song 13".

"Holy Banquet, Sacred Feast"

Meter: 7777
Tune: Song 13

Holy banquet, sacred feast
meant for greatest and for least.
Christ presides at breaking bread
for the hungry to be fed.

Sacred mystery so divine
as he passes cup of wine.
Body broken, blood outpoured
our slavation is assured.

This my body given for you
bread of heaven to renew
and for you my blood is shed
our redemption as he bled.

May we take our honored place
invitation by God's grace
and receive beyond compare
God's great blessing to declare.

Now may we his body share
live his risen life in prayer;
bring to life a hope made new
as we drink with thanks to you.


Text: copyright, The Rev. Mark Kinghan, 2010. Not to be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express written permission of the author.