As you come to listen and be with God this week…
…might you notice the new song which wants to emerge from within you?
…the song which is not forced by religious expectation but rather the one that rises organically in your whole being?
…the song that comes from someplace other than ‘shoulds’, ‘oughts’ or ‘not good enough’?
It’s a new song, and so the words and melody and harmonies may not be fully formed.
…might you stay there just a little longer to sense freshly what wants to come from someplace true within you?
It might come in silence.
It may come through words, artistic expression or movement.
It might be a communal response.
Maybe leave some time at the end of your prayer to notice how God has received your honest offering of your self.
Psalm 98 NIV
Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
For Reflection and Prayer:
As you listened to the text, was there a word, phrase or image which caught your attention? Gently allow it to linger, giving it room to form and settle deeply in your body and heart.
Reflect on what you heard. Relish the words. Notice how the word or words affected you. Which emotions are stirring within you? Notice what is happening in your body as you linger with how the text is affecting you. You might begin to describe that and choose to journal about what you are experiencing.
Respond to what you noticed and reflected on in your prayer with God. Might there a prayer that rises within you?
Rest in God as you simply be and entrust yourself to God in the quiet.