April: Oh Lord, open my lips...

Pastor Mary's Blog 
 
“O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall proclaim your praise.”
Psalm 51:15
  
Dear friends and members of RLC,
 
These words from Psalm 51 are the first words spoken in the church's traditional morning prayer service.  In religious communities, these were to be the first words spoken together each morning. 
 
I learned of this practice back when I was in college and would attend morning prayer in the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University. As a personal discipline, I would avoid speaking until I had gone to worship and sung these beautiful words.
 
These days, in the isolation of my own home, I find myself returning to this practice.  I sit in my chair by the window with a hot cup of coffee and utter these words aloud:  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
 
It is a way of orienting myself to the coming day, of praising God for what is before me, of praying that what comes out of my mouth is praise.  I invite you to try this practice yourself and see if it changes the way you view the day before you.
 
Macrina Wiederkehr, a woman who has lived monastic life for more than forty years with the sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas, offers this guidance for morning prayer in her book, Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day.
 
"Gently lay your hands upon your lips, longing for the grace to speak only words that are helpful this day.  Remember the words that you have already spoken.  You cannot take them back.  Bless them and let them go.

O Word Made Flesh, stand guard at the gate of my mouth.  Be my voice this day that the words I speak will be healing, affirming, true, and gentle.  Give me wisdom to think before I speak.  Bless the words in me that are waiting to be spoken.  Live and abide in my words so that others will feel safe in my presence.  Surprise me with the words that have come from you.  Oh, place my words in the kiln of your heart that they may be enduring and strong, tempered and seasoned with love and resilience.  Give me a well-trained tongue that has been borne out of silent listening in the sanctuary of my heart.  May my words become love in the lives of others."
 
I know it is easy to feel disconnected in these days of social distancing, but there are still ways we can connect with one another through words: written or spoken.  And there is power in the words we speak.  Perhaps your words of encouragement, of solidarity, of comfort, may be just what another person needs today.
 
At the conclusion of the traditional morning prayer service, the following prayer is often said.  I share it with you for your own meditation and prayer:
 
"O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths  as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen."
 
With praise on my lips and love in my heart,
Pastor Mary