DAY 2 – SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBRANCE

posted on September 2, 2011 by Musings

The PC(USA) has designated a season of prayer in observance of the 10th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001.  Romans 12:9-21 form the basis of our season of prayer. This passage  sets forth the parameters for Christian life in a time of fear and violence, hatred and persecution. It also offers a compelling model for faithful Christian witness and response in our own day.

Below is a scripture passage, a short reflection, suggestions for action and a closing prayer. We particularly encourage you to consider the ideas for action and to share your thoughts, prayers and acts with us here on Musings.

SCRIPTURE

Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10)

REFLECTION

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). How might we, as the church, become a community of people known in the world by our love?

What makes for “mutual affection”? What does this kind of love require?

How do you show honor to another person—particularly a person who holds different values and beliefs, or with whom you may disagree?

ACTION

Go out of your way to show honor to someone who may be despised or unloved, or with whom you have strong differences of opinion or belief.

PRAYER

God of all honor and glory, who are we that you are mindful of us? Yet you have made us all in your image and have crowned us with glory and honor. Teach us to honor one another as the work of your hands and the breath of your Spirit— all for your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Eleven Days of Prayer- Remembering September 11

posted on August 31, 2011 by Musings

This year we will observe the tenth anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001—when terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. killed thousands and precipitated a “War on Terror” that has now spanned a decade and circled the globe.  The PC(USA) has designated a season of prayer in observance of this anniversary.  Material will be posted on the Musings blog beginning Thursday September 1 and running through September 11. Each day there will be a scripture passage, a short reflection, suggestions for action or how you might live out the scripture passage and a closing prayer.  We particularly encourage you to consider the ideas for action and to share your thoughts, prayers and acts with us here on Musings.

The prayers will be based on the Lectionary epistle reading for Sunday, August 28, 2011—Romans 12:9-21.  This passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome sets forth the parameters for Christian life in a time of fear and violence, hatred and persecution. It also offers a compelling model for faithful Christian witness and response in our own day—a time no less fraught with conflict, anxiety, and suspicion among neighbors and nations. The full reflection can be found at Eleven Days of Prayer.

First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport will mark this tragic event by participating in an ecumenical Service of Peace and Hope at 5:00 p.m. on September 11 in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Shreveport. We and five other Highland area churches, including St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Noel United Methodist, St. John Berchmans, Church for the Highlands, and First Baptist, will be joining their respective choirs and ministers to lead this hour-long service of anthems, hymns, scripture, Taizé, instrumental music, prayers, and a meditation by our pastor Pen Peery.  All are invited to attend this moving time of reflection as we gather together as worshipping congregations.

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The Six Million

posted on April 27, 2011 by Musings

At the age of 15, Elie Wiesel, along with his parents and three sisters, was deported by the Germans from Romania to the death camps at Auschwitz – Birkenau.  His mother and sister were killed upon arrival at Auschwitz.  His father died at Buchenwald in 1945, shortly before the camp was liberated by the Americans.  Elie Wiesel and two of his sisters survived.  Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.  He has spent his life bearing witness to the event, the people, and the individuals of the Holocaust and grappling, like Job, with God.

An excerpt from Night, his memory of the camps:

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.

Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

In Prayer from his book One Generation After, Wiesel seeks an accommodation with God in a post-Holocaust world.

I no longer ask you for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware of Your listening.

I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You.

I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love?  Love is not Yours to give.

As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers. But not Your countenance.

They are modest, my requests, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land.

I ask you, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too.

I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only beg You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.

In Shreveport, Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked on Wednesday, April 27, with a service at 7:00 p.m. in the Brown Memorial Chapel on the campus of Centenary College.  The service is open to the public.  More information can be found at http://www.centenary.edu/news/2011/0000062

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The Problems and the Promises of Waiting

posted on February 3, 2011 by Musings

Dr. Robert R. (Rocky) Laha, Jr. served as the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport from 1997-2006. Below is an excerpt and a link to the sermon Rocky preached on January 30, 2011 at The Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, Virginia after the death of his son, Rob.

Psalm 130; Romans 8:18-‐27, 31-‐39

I stand here before you today to tell you that what you have heard all of your life is true, there is nothing worse than the loss of one’s own child. I am well acquainted with death. I have experienced the death of countless numbers of people over the years-‐ some old, some young, some well‐known, others less so‐ and I can tell you that each and every one of them was dearly loved by their families, their churches, and by me, their pastor. I have also experienced the death of most of my family members -grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and numerous cousins. I dug the graves of my mother and my father and laid them to rest with my own hands. But in terms of their effects on me, there is not a one of those deaths or burials that can compare to the death of my son, Rob. It feels as though something or someone has reached into my chest and torn my heart into pieces.

……….

The full text of the sermon can be found at The Problems and Promises of Waiting

In memoriam: Robert R. Laha III; February 1, 1979 – December 19, 2010

A memorial was held on February 1, 2011 at Centenary College.  The program, which includes more on Rob’s life, can be found at Rob Laha Memorial

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Gospel Moments

posted on August 9, 2010 by Musings

The Cursed Fig Tree

The following is excerpted from “The Jesus Who Was and Who Is” by Frederich Buechner

We all have the Gospel moments that mean most to us, and if we happen to be preachers, those are of course the ones we tend to preach about. As for me, I have always particularly treasured that moment when Pilate asks him, “What is the truth?” and he stands there in silence presumably because nothing he might answer could be as eloquent as just the silence, just his standing there. I treasure the moment on the cross when the good thief turns to him and, speaking for all of us, says, “Jesus, remember me,” and we know as surely as we know anything that Jesus remembers him and will always remember him. And the moment, after the resurrection, when just at dawn, on the beach, he is waiting by a charcoal fire and calls out to his fishermen friends, “Come and have breakfast.” And in that first, fresh light, they come and have it. And have it from his hands. Have it from him.

The danger is that we hold on only to the moments that one way or another heal us and bless us and neglect the others. I think of his cursing the fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season and telling the Canaanite woman who came to him for help that it was not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. I think of his saying, “I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me” and of his terrible question, “Are you able to drink of the cup that I am to drink?” and of his terrible warning, ” Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” Woe to the preachers and to all of us who stay only in the bright uplands of the Gospels and avoid like death, avoid like life, the dark ravines, the cave under the hill.

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