Advent Examen ~ Jars of Clay, Worlds Apart

Hear the Jars of Clay “Worlds Apart” lyrics.
Hear the prayer questions to our Triune God.
Hear the prayer questions to ourselves.

Ask someone to read the lyrics to you

while your eyes are closed

while you’re aware of your heart beat

while you’re breathing is smooth and deep

Ask the person you invited to read this to you to sit next to you

be aware that

your shoulders are touching

your bended knees are touching

Invite God to sit on the other side of you

be aware that

your shoulders are touching

your bended knees are touching

Worlds Apart

I am the only one to blame for this.

Somehow it all adds up the same.

Soaring on the wings of selfish pride,

I flew too high

and like Icarus I collide with a world

I try so hard to leave behind.

To rid myself of all but love.


To give and die.


To turn away and not become


another nail to pierce the skin. 

To pierce the skin 

of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans.

To pierce the skin 

of one who loves
more abundant than the tear of a world.

To pierce the skin

of one who

embraces every heartache.

Can I be the one to sacrifice?

Or...Am I the one to grip the spear

and watch the blood and water flow?

To love you ~ take my world apart.

To need you ~ I am on my knees.

To love you ~ take my world apart.

To need you ~ broken on my knees.

All said and done

I stand alone
Among the remains of a life I should not own.

It takes all I am  to believe
In the mercy that covers me.

Did you really have to die for me?

All I am for all you are because

what I need and what I believe are worlds apart.

I look beyond the empty cross


forgetting what my life has cost


and wipe away the crimson stains


and dull the nails that still remain.

More and more I need you now.

I owe you more each passing hour.

The battle between grace and pride


I gave up not so long ago.

Steal my heart. 

Take the pain.


Wash the feet. 

Cleanse my pride.


Take the selfish. 

Take the weak.


Take all the things I cannot hide.


Take the beauty. 

Take my tears.


Take this sin-soaked heart and make it yours.

Take my world apart.

Take it now.

Take it now.

Serve the ones that I despise.

Speak the words I can't deny.

Watch the world

I used to love

turn to dust and fall away.

I pray, 

and I pray, 

and I pray


take my world apart.

Jars of Clay from the album Jars of Clay, 1995





Be still your soul with this a while…

The three of you read this together…

hear the others’ voices sing this prayer

hear your voice sing this prayer

"Oh Thou, 

from whom the breath of life comes,

who fills all realms of sound, 

light 

and vibration.

May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.

Your Heavenly Domain approaches.

Let Your will come true - 

In the universe

 (all that vibrates)
just as on earth 

(that is material and dense).

Give us wisdom 

(understanding, assistance) 

for our daily need,

detach the fetters of faults that bind us,
like we let go the guilt of others.

Let us not be lost in superficial things

(materialism, common temptations),

but let us be freed 

from that what keeps us off 

from our true purpose.

From You comes the all-working will, 

the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all 

and renews itself from age to age.

Sealed in trust, 

faith 

and truth.
(I confirm with my entire being)

~ The Prayer To Our Father
(in the original Aramaic)

Examen ~ Advent ~ A little Child to guide us.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.

~ Isaiah 11: 6-9

The beginning of a new Church Calendar Year.  There are many reasons I love Mother Church.  Advent is one.

Preparation.  

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
Jesus said in reply,
“The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, 
‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’

For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”

Luke 17:  20-21 

Remember Saul’s conversion?  It came out of nowhere!  He is doing what he knows is best for the people,  ‘STOP THIS Jesus is the Messiah NONSENSE!  Stick to the Book of Law!  Our traditions, our customs are tried and true.  Our traditions, our customs are most pleasing to God.’

WARNING ~ tangent

Know what?  Paul doesn’t talk about that day.  Although he acknowledges something happened in his first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 15: 3) He doesn’t share his experience with us directly.  I imagine he did with someone since the story shows up in the Acts of the Apostles ~ chapter 9.

Makes me question why I blog my relationship with God...Remember that prayer, Tower of Babel?

Alright...alrightalright.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; 

and you will find rest for your selves.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." 

~ Matthew 11:  30

Emmanuel.  Learn from Jesus and I will find rest.

Thus says the LORD: 

How long will you be deprived of wisdom's food, 

how long will you endure such bitter thirst?

I open my mouth and speak of her: 

gain, at no cost, wisdom for yourselves.

Submit your neck to her yoke, 

that your mind may accept her teaching. 

For she is close to those who seek her, 

and the one who is in earnest finds her.

See for yourselves! 

I have labored only a little, 

but have found much.

~ Sirach 51:  24-27

Why do I complicate it?

“MyYOKE is easy”...what exactly is the yoke?

Joshua ben Sira says it isn’t that complicated:  submit to Wisdom working through me.

“SEE  FOR  YOURSELF  (EXCLAMATION POINT)”

Jesus says it isn’t that complicated:  “take My yoke and learn from me.”

Once again, what exactly is the yoke?  Get Ready.  Be Prepared.

THE  YOKE  IS  THE  LAW.

And, what is Jesus’ law?

“LOVE  GOD.  LOVE  ONE  ANOTHER.”

Remember when Jesus asked the Pharisee versed in the Law that beautiful prayer question just before defining His ‘yoke’?

“TELL  ME,  HOW  DO  YOU  READ  IT?”

Saul lived under a complicated yoke.  The Law dominated his life, his life with God.  He Loved God so much but, apparently, could only find God in the Law.  With that said, listen to Paul's letters differently.  I hear Paul complicating Jesus' easier yoke sometimes. Other times, he seems to be clearer...especially as he matured.  What do you think?


I pray I will hear "Love God.  Love one another" always.  Even when picking wheat on the Sabbath is necessary.  Even when I am faced with the dilemma, "is it easier to say, 'I forgive you' or 'get up and walk.'


It was my soteriology that created such a stir last week.  Actually, sharing my salvation theology thoughts and feelings created the stir last week.  Maybe I need to follow Paul’s example and casually, humbly allude to my relationship with God rather than shout it from the rooftops, if you will.  The truth is...I want so desperately to find another who thinks and feels about our Triune God as I do…

With that said, I am going to stick my neck out there again!  This is important to better understand my Examen prayer.

Examen is my Preparation…

Alright...alrightalright.

Tomorrow?  I am exhausted.  Let’s rest.  Feel our hearts beat...and...sigh...