November 17, 2009
This post is a test of our system. The Advent Prayerscapes will begin appearing here daily, starting with the eve of Advent 1 (Nov. 28). Each posting will appear late night on the blog and should deliver by 7 a.m. the day they are intended to be read.
Questions about subscription or this site should be addressed to Rev. David Chafin, Deputy Regional Minister. Please freely share links to this site with your friends.
November 10, 2009
The second annual publication of Prayerscapes for Advent, the daily devotions prepared by our region’s ministers (and mission partners) is ready for downloading on our Publications page. Daily publication of the devotions will still be available on this site (you can subscribe for email delivery in the box at right).
Individuals and congregations wanting to use a convenient full-season booklet which may be freely distributed, will find instructions there (booklet prints on 4 sheets of letter-size paper, 2-sided). A weekly version is available, as well, for those who wish to feature each week’s collection on 1 sheet of letter-size paper (2-sided) as a bulletin insert, or to print for personal reading. Visit the site for full details and download links.
If we can be of any help in this process of sharing this gift with your congregation (including printing assistance for congregations who may not be well-equipped for that), please do not hesitate to contact us.
October 26, 2009
It is our hope that you will gladly receive our daily Advent Prayerscapes as you enter the journey toward Christmas. These readings and prayers, offered by the ministers of our Region, will be available on this site, or in your inbox. To subscribe for email delivery, just click “Subscribe to Mountain Prayerscapes by Email” in the right-hand panel. Master copies will be provided to your congregation and to individuals who wish to download them for print on our homepage by mid-November. We look forward to this time of prayer and renewal in the life of the church.
September 23, 2009
Ministers from around the region, and our partners in Global Ministres, Kim and Patrick Bentrott, will be “conspiring for the good” as we produce our second Advent Devotional Guide, which will be offered on Prayerscapes and in print. This labor of love will once again be available for your congregation to print either in a weekly bulletin insert or as a season-long pamphlet to distribute as you please.
When you see your pastor this Sunday, or any of our Disciples ministers from around the region, give them a nudge and remind them that this process is underway. They need to contact David Chafin or call the Regional Office (304-428-1681) before Oct. 1 to be included.
May 25, 2009
This is from the United Church News Blog:
Gracious God, on this Memorial Day weekend, we remember and give thanks for those who have given their lives in the service of our country. When the need was greatest, they stepped forward and did their duty to defend the freedoms that we enjoy, and to win the same for others. O God, you yourself have taught us that no love is greater than that which gives itself for another. These honored dead gave the most precious gift they had, life itself, for loved ones and neighbors, for comrades and country – and for us. Help us to honor their memory by caring for the family members they have left behind, by ensuring that their wounded comrades are properly cared for, by being watchful caretakers of the freedoms for which they gave their lives, and by demanding that no other young men and women follow them to a soldier’s grave unless the reason is worthy and the cause is just. Holy One, help us to remember that freedom is not free. There are times when its cost is, indeed, dear. Never let us forget those who paid so terrible a price to ensure that freedom would be our legacy. Though their names may fade with the passing of generations, may we never forget what they have done. Help us to be worthy of their sacrifice, O God, help us to be worthy. Amen.
May 5, 2009
As I prepare to wrap up my last day with the College of Regional Ministers’ Stewardship Event and to fly home from Kansas City, I am reminded of what wondrous things God has done with generous people from around our Regional Church. –David Chafin
All-giving and All-loving God, your abundant love shines through all of creation. In and through the people of West Virginia and Western Maryland, you have blessed our world with faithful examples of gracious hospitality, tenacious love, and transformative generosity.
May we never take for granted the goodness of your created world, and of each of your creatures – especially one another. Open our hearts to hear each other’s stories of fear and joy, of tragedy and triumph, of death and life; and in hearing them, may we be turned toward you and shaped as better stewards of all that your hands have made.
Let us marvel at the wonder of your work, and at the mystery of your grace which calls us toward new horizons of gospel hope in the voices of those who most need to view it with us.
Through our self-giving, may your reign of peace and justice be known on your earth; this we pray in Christ’s name and in his spirit. Amen.
April 17, 2009
The Rev.Dr. Bonnie Thurston is a much-loved scholar, retreat leader, and pastor of this Region. We were pleased to have received this release from her publisher:
NOTRE DAME, IN, March 16, 2009
Bonnie Thurston, a noted scholar and prolific author who lives near Wheeling, West Virginia, has published a new book titled FOR GOD ALONE: A Primer on Prayer. In this book, she draws on her biblical studies expertise and her extensive knowledge of Christian spirituality to write an engaging and practical introduction to the different traditions and methods of Christian prayer.
FOR GOD ALONE is published by the University of Notre Dame Press. For more information about the book, click here:
April 11, 2009
Read John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.
The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
(NRSV)
—from Rev. Thaddaeus B. Allen, Regional Minister
Have you ever been so full of life that you simply had no choice but to run?
I love watching toddlers get around. As they grow and learn about their abilities, their bodies, and their surroundings, more often than not they run! They also seem to be joy-filled as they journey forward in life.
To be so full of good news that we run joyfully forward in life is one of the nicest parts of Easter. Christ is risen, and we run (metaphorically perhaps) into the places and people of our lives. We cannot help but share and embody the Good News that Jesus Christ is alive, well, and present in us and in the Church.
Because of the Resurrection, we have life and we have it abundantly. We are not wrapped in grave-cloths and entombed. We are alive. So live – rejoice – proclaim the Gospel – he lives! This is the defining truth in our lives and in the world.
Life-giving God, with joy we celebrate the fullness
of the mystery of your love and redemption.
We give thanks for life made new in Jesus Christ.
Impel us into our world with renewed vigor and joy,
that we may gladly tell—in word, and in deed—the story
of Christ’s resurrection, and of our own!
Alleluia! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
April 11, 2009
Our Lenten journey has come to a joyous close.
Our Savior is victorious over death,
and through Christ we know forgiveness,
healing, and life eternal.
While our Lenten journey is over,
our spiritual journey continues.
April 10, 2009
Read Romans 8:1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
(NRSV)
—from Rev. David Chafin, Deputy Regional Minister
“Death cannot keep his prey…He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!” The words of the hymn may seem a vague fantasy to the rational minds of many of us, who see the signs of death all around.
Yet even in this day of grave silence, we see the glimmer of the resurrection just beyond the night’s horizon. It will not be for nothing that we watch and wait this night. The promise of the empty tomb will be fulfilled. Let us trust in the One who gives the promise!
You are utterly trustworthy, O God. You do not leave your
chosen one in the dust. Help us to be open to your surprising
possibilities as we watch and wait through this long night ahead.
