We live tremendously busy lives with hectic schedules that often result in our not taking much time to be renewed and restored. However, those very lives and schedules drain us and sometimes leave us with little reserves. And yet the demands of home, work and life in general keep making requests upon us.
It is a good thing to deliberately stop; to intentionally take time to think, reflect and yes, pray too. Our spirituality can easily be taxed when we don't pay it the attention that it needs and deserves. That very center of our faith which comes as a gift from God can be and is so inspiring when things are stressful and feeling out of control. However, if we don't nurture it through the gift of sabbath time apart, whatever that time may look like, and however long it may last, then we will find ourselves stretched spiritually as well as emotionally and physically by the demands and expectations placed upon us, and that we place upon ourselves.
I want to dedicate this hymn to the brothers of the Order of the Holy Cross in West Park, New York. I have spent this week here and have received hospitality and generosity that has been overwhelming and very inspiring for me. This was the place I needed to be right now! And I am grateful for what God has given me through your ministry in this place. These words written here come out of my experience and will always remind me of the holiness I experienced during this time with you.
The tune is a familiar tune, "This is My Father's World". It's very movement from one note to another speaks to me of a spirit that is alive and engaging, especially when we take the time to be present through a sacred encounter with God through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Create a Time Away
Tune: St. Catherine
Metre: 8.8.8.8.8.8.
Create a time to pray,
Prepare a new way;
God’s hope for us, God’s greatest joy
Our senses each employ.
Simplicity is grace
To give ourselves the space;
To grow in God’s abundant hope
Expand our breadth of scope.
God wants us to be one
A mystery begun;
With opened eyes and ears and hearts,
Find joy in time apart.
The birds, they sing and praise
The sun’s bright, beaming rays.
God’s sacrament of light and peace
Are sure to bring release.
God’s wholeness and embrace
Come with a healthy pace.
The Spirit’s breath always guides us
to risks adventurous.
Cool breezes blow our way
And call us out to play
With childlike laughter we embrace
The beauty of this place.
Enlightened, souls aflame,
Sun rays call us to claim;
Accept the joy of ev’ry day,
escape our busy fray.
God grants us energy
Our life a liturgy.
Be blessed by God who is always near
the holy will appear.
Text: copyright, The Rev. Canon Mark Kinghan, 2016. Not to be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express written permission of the author.
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