Anna

In the "Pray as you go" app today the lesson was from Luke and the story of Anna.  She was a widow who spent years in the temple praising God and saw Jesus and knew he was the long awaited Messiah

 She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child^[k] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

  It is a picture of fulfillment of a life and just plain praising God.

I wrote this in my journal that described her experience:  " My eyes have seen joy beyond belief.  I've seen the Messiah...the Kingdom of God has come"

Then the narrator asked us to ponder the "Anna" figures in our life.  I continue to be blessed by the older members of Gender Road Christian Church.  It is a good thing to live a life of praising God and trusting God.  So I am grateful to Betty, Shirley, Joanne, Tim, Kay, Charles and so many who are older than me and show the way to find peace and joy in a broken world and a sometimes challenging life.

I am working on my sermon for the 9th of January which is always a blessing - because I find myself thinking a lot about  "the abundant life".  It is psychologically a good thing - we are told - to live out of an "abundant mindset."  You are what you think and if you are looking for the blessings, you will find them.  I do believe that.  I also believe it is more than a psychological thing - it is spiritual and that God is the source of the blessings, the love and the grace.

It is in watching the Anna's of my life that I know I am becoming an Anna myself.  I am not staying in the temple praying and fasting night and day.  But I am living  - more and more - with my antenna sensitive to the activity of God that might remind me that the kingdom of God is near..I think that is called praying.

Here is Mary Oliver's poem called "Prayer"

Praying

by Mary Oliver

It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.