Monday Manna
The time to stand in love...
If you are new to Monday Manna, I’m so glad you are here. My prayer with this little pause on Monday mornings is to offer some nourishment (“manna”) for you — via my reflection, prayer, and painting — as you are nourishing the world around you. Together, we are watching for the ways God is with us and for us as we take one day at a time….
Good morning, friends, and deep breaths for hope and courage as we begin the new week….
It’s been kind of a week for our family— lice (!!!), travel, and other surprises — so today’s post is going to be another short and sweet one, just art and a prayer.
I read Krista Tippett’s words the other day in which she said, “This is an age of devastating tumult. It is an age of magnificent possibility. Much is breaking. Much is being born. The two go hand in hand, and that is one of the deepest and strangest, most terrible and most redemptive truths of human reality.”
We’re watching an unfolding reality we didn’t think could happen. But this is our time, friends — and it’s actually always been our time — to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Many of you also watched Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon last week and her speaking of truth to power in a the way Jesus would…humble and strong.
It inspired me to share again this prayer from the second edition of my book, Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life.
When I must take a stand
Refugee King,
You linked your only life’s arms
with those who were fleeing
and those who were forgotten,
with those who were abused
and those laid bare to brutality.
From the manger to the cross,
and all the broken places in between,
you bore a truth
the world tried to bury.
You made your home in vulnerable spaces
and I need you to free me from this
prison of privilege so I can
make my home there too.
What I saw and heard and know…
make it burrow into my bones,
becoming the very frame
of a convicted, confessional life.
I sometimes think I must be careful
about taking a stand,
but that never benefits
your suffering ones…
Silence is its own form of speaking….
You say people sharing
what they believe
from a place of humble love
is where things really start turning.
“Be nice,” wasn’t one of your commandments.
Love was.
Is.
Repentance plus courage has
always been the only way forward.
It is what I do now that reveals my
heart’s true treasure.
Will I be an extremist for love,
an agitator for justice,
a holy troublemaker?**
Will I lean in toward those
I don’t even desire to understand,
setting aside evaluation so my
hands can freely embrace curiosity?
Help me transcend my outrage,
instilling in my soul’s eye
the kin-dom whose basic foundation
seems swallowed by those
lost to even themselves.
“What is truth,” a fearful man
with a trembling, hiding heart
asked you.
As your answer, you gave your life.
Please, God of mercy, take mine.
Amen.
Proverbs 31:8–9 * John 18:37–38 * 1 John 3:16
“Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” — Proverbs 31:8–9
My deep gratitude to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and book, Holy Troublemakers and Other Unconventional Saints, for inspiring this prayer.
Ash and Starlight, plus other good things…
*SECOND EDITION OF ASH AND STARLIGHT ~ Find the updated edition of my book here at Chalice or at the Amazon link! Also, I am happy to mail personalized bookplate stickers to you. And maybe one of my watercolor bookmarks, too. :) Just ask!
*MONDAY MANNA ARCHIVES ~ You can view previous Substack Monday Manna reflections as a paid subscriber here, or for the really old stuff, go to my website.
*WHAT DOES MANNA MEAN? ~ Check out an earlier post to learn how this little bit of “daily bread” got its name…
Let’s do this work of love and taking a stand together, friends. Love God and love neighbor. Again and again and again…
Love and Light,
Arianne
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Writing is a gift, but so is knowing just what to pull from the archives for this moment. You nailed it.
Absolutely *LOVED* Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon - perfect. Be well as we stand in love.