Psalm 25 - A Prayer for Defense, Guidance, & Pardon

We are studying the Psalms for the next few weeks at my church and one that really hit home with me was Psalm 25. When I prayed it tonight, this is how it came from my heart...

You are my father and my life is yours.
I am trusting in you.
Please protect me from those who want to take me out.

Guide and direct me father by your truth.
Give me faith to trust you.
I know that your character is to show mercy and compassion for those who need it.

I also know that you are good!
You are merciful and faithful to those who show humility
I ask you to lead me as I try to follow your ways.

I've fallen short and I'm sorry--really sorry.
I know that you are my friend and my teacher.
I believe that you'll protect me from those who hate me.

Father, I'm worried and cannot sleep tonight.
I feel alone and helpless.
My problems seem overwhelming.
I am hopeless and in despair.
I have no answers.
I've blown it...
Please forgive me.
I have no where else to turn.
My enemies are circling like buzzards.
But, you've got my back!
My hope is in you!
I know that you won't abandon me because I'm your child.

"A New Kind of Pope..."

My opinion of the selection of Cardinal Ratzinger to become Benedict XVI (and I hope that I'm proven wrong) is best summarized by Andrew Sullivan's (editor of The New Republic) quote from his blog:

THE POLITICAL ANALOGY: I was trying to explain last night to a non-Catholic just how dumb-struck many reformist Catholics are by the elevation of Ratzinger. And then I found a way to explain. This is the religious equivalent of having had four terms of George W. Bush only to find that his successor as president is Karl Rove. Get it now?

Guess Who Came to Dinner?

Brian McLaren

As part of our fellowship ritual, most of my recent get-togethers at Solomon's Porch seem to end up at Chipotle's Restaurant. I usually order a naked steak burrito with black beans. In that respect, tonight was no different. What was different was what happened afterward.

My pastor - Doug Pagitt - knows Brian McLaren (another pastor and author well known in the Emergent movement) personally and invited me and a few friends to meet him at TGI Fridays after a lecture that Brian gave tonight at a local Presbyterian church. I'm not a "Christian Speaker Groupie", but I was refreshingly pleased to hear someone as well known as he speak candidly and frankly about a realm of issues. There were no "sunday school answers". Instead there was recognition of the complexity of issues and the challenge to engage both the culture and the Church in constructive dialogue.

As you know, I typically don't read many books (my attention span is more like a magazine article), but after tonight I think that I may have to break down and get the "books on tape" version of some of Brian's books to listen to on my ipod. Who knows, maybe I'll become "A New Kind of Christian"...

Hallelujah!

I must admit that we Minnesotians probably celebrate the coming of Spring more than anywhere in the US - and I understand why. After months of weather that caused you to fear for your life when you stepped outside your door, Spring comes. Now you can see AND feel the sun. How could you not be ecstatic?

Not that we didn't wonder if we had been forsaken. The calendar announced Spring, but the recent Snow Emergency didn't get the memo. This MUST be what the Hebrew children felt like when they were wondering out in the desert...

My new concern is that without my skullcap my bald spot will get sunburn. What a wonderful problem to have!!!

I live in Uptown and there was a pilgrimage to the Lakes over the weekend. I can say that the dog people equaled the number of power walkers at Lake Calhoun. Watch your step... The roller-bladers were back too. People watching had returned to my neighborhood!

The Lake was frozen except for the 15 feet or so around the edges, but that was immaterial. The joy of Creation was that we could be outside and not lose a body part. In celebration of this event, I'm going to do something that I never thought I would do - return my Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) lamps. They're not needed anymore.

Spring has Sprung, hallelujah!