The following are words given by participants at the streamed meeting. 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others weigh carefully what is said." 1 Thess 5:19-21 tells us not to despise prophecies, but to test everything and retain what is good.
Scripture Reading Hebrews 13:1-6 - "Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?""
Scripture Reading Psalm 13:3-6 - "Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me."
Scripture Reading Psalm 37:4-6 - "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
Prophecy - "Tell my people to surrender, to surrender to my love, to my word. Give me all that you are, my children, and I will send you to help, heal and free my people. Heal my people from this world, from all evil. Trust me. Hear my word."
Scripture Readings - Scripture has long promoted the practice of gratitude. From meals to marriage (1 Tim 4:3-50, to the beauties of creation (Ps 104). Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (Ps 107:1).
Scripture Reading Rev 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with me."
Fr. Paul Erickson - Fr. Paul shared about one of the exercises they did at a conference on Intercessory Prayer and what this could look like. They had this time at Adoration where they spent some time praying in intercession for different things. Fr. Paul asked Jesus, "Who needs my prayers?" A phrase entered his mind: "the upper west end." He didn't know what that meant. And then an image came into his mind of blocked pipes. Fr. Paul still didn't what that meant. "Jesus, this isn't very clear." He asked others what that could mean. The reason Fr. Paul paid attention to those two things of all the other different thoughts he had in that prayer time was that they were very distinct. Upper west end is not a phrase that Fr. would normally use. This led him to think that it wasn't just his thoughts. Maybe the Lord was really speaking to him there. And the same with that image because he wasn't really thinking about blocked pipes. This all came very randomly. The next day, Fr. Paul was sitting at lunch across from a woman who worked for the diocese. In their conversation, he learned that she lived in the upper west of Lansing and was having these big issues with pipes; maybe being forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars to excavate her yard. Fr. Paul said, "Oh, I'm actually supposed to pray for you." So they went into the chapel and prayed. If he hadn't been paying attention the day before and dismissed those thoughts, that time of prayer the next day would not have happened. Even though this woman may still have to go through some trials, she knows that she is on the Lord's mind and her situation is not outside of his control. Story of Lazarus: Jesus actually has power over life and death, and not only the life that's in the flesh and the body but the life of the spirit. Jesus wants to raise all of us, too; that we can be joined to the life of God. He can speak into our lives, into our hearts in ways that we can hear and understand and respond to in faith and in hope and in love. He uses those inner voices; our thoughts and our feelings and our desires, to communicate to us his will. We have to pay attention. Maybe that thought doesn't sound like me. Did it come out of the blue at random? God desperately desires this intimate communion with us. Fr. Paul said that God wants to tell us something about him or about us. He then asked everyone to ask in the silence of our hearts one question of God and to expect God to answer. Ask the Lord, "Lord, please speak to me." If the thought doesn't make sense, ask God to clarify it. If it still doesn't make sense, leave it for a couple of days because sometimes it takes time to figure it out.
Georgina thanked God and us for praying for her friend Colin who had been in the hospital for Covid and other complications. He is now home.
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