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| Room for Good Things to Run Wild |
Holy Imaginations,
minds and hearts
and souls and bodies saturated in
are the tools of transformation.
+ Room for Good Things
+ Room for Good Things
To close the month of May 2025, I had the joy of returning to the Abbey of the Genesee, one of my favorite thin spaces, for a special time with friends old and new at the Benedictine monastery, as we focused on the hours of prayer, infused with Psalms throughout.
On the evening that the Great Silence began for our group (24+ hours of silence together at the monastery), I had planned to keep my phone off for the entire duration. But since I was sharing my room with two other men who were already asleep in the still darkness when I made my way to bed, I turned on my phone for a flashlight and noticed I had a text.
I could have ignored it, but I was wondering if something might have come up at home at this late hour that my wife or one of my kids needed to contact me (ex. our oldest daughter has just earned her driving license, so new adventures in parenting have been added to the mix), so I checked. These were the words I first read:
Hey, Sweetheart, if you get this
Hey, Sweetheart, if you get this
before you go to bed this evening,
would you call me or
(our oldest daughter) back?
Acknowledging the places my mind could go, I noticed another text with these words featured in a snapshot of a conversation with my oldest daughter and one of her friends from childhood:
Friend: Hi, can you help me?
Friend: Hi, can you help me?
Daughter: What's up, love?
Friend: I really want to find God
and give myself to Him
but I have no clue where to start.
Daughter: You're serious?
(tearful and cry emojis)
Friend: Yes, ma'am.
I've been thinking about it a lot.
Daughter: I'd love to help.
Do you want to come over tomorrow?
What made you start thinking about it?
These words were then followed by:
Papa, can you call me back?
It was close to midnight then, and I sensed that God was inviting me to trust Him in how His Spirit was at work in my daughter and her friend while I was in solitude and silence for the next 20+ hours.
And I trusted that in this space, the communion of saints would be stirred to pray for my daughter and her friend, too, in ways that are infused by the Spirit with groans beyond words.
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| Abbey of the Genesee Prayers at Night |
So I prayed before I went to bed.
I prayed while I was in bed.
Awakened through the night,
I sought to join the whisper of God.
And then I woke
and went to the sanctuary
to pray for my daughter
and her friend during Lauds
with the monks and others.
Lauds
come just before dawn …
It is the hour that takes us
from darkness into light —
awakening to life, to God.
come just before dawn …
It is the hour that takes us
from darkness into light —
awakening to life, to God.
And in that morning hour of prayer
God seemed to answer
as the Holy Spirit used
the exact Psalms from Scripture
for that specific Thursday morning
sunrise hour of prayer to
answer back through
the communal prayers of the saints
at Genesee and around the world.
+ Psalm 81:6-7
(as words God is speaking /
(as words God is speaking /
will speak to Zoey's friend,
a voice she's learning to recognize)
A voice I did not know said to me:
"I freed your shoulder
from the burden.
Your hands were freed
from the load.
You called in distress and
I saved you."
+ Psalm 80:1, 3-4
(as words I and my family
were praying for this friend)
O Shepherd of Israel,
hear us ...
O LORD, rouse up Your might,
O LORD, come to our help.
God of hosts, bring us
(bring this friend and her family)
back; let Your face shine
on us (and them) and
we shall be saved.
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The night before and that morning in bed, I had been thinking of and praying for Jesus to be the Good Shepherd to this young woman. And then I woke up to pray with the communion of saints at the monastery that morning in Psalm 80: "O Shepherd of Israel, hear us ... "
And then shortly thereafter during the Terce hour of prayer:
Terce
is the marker of midmorning.
It was at this “third hour”
that the Spirit came
to the early Christian community,
the prayers, including those of the Abbott, were focused on Jesus being the Good Shepherd whose sheep hear His voice as He continues to gather more and more people to His fold.
All this occurred while I was reading Josh Nadeau's book, Room for Good Things to Run Wild: How Ordinary People Become Every Day Saints, the title of which is based on G.K. Chesterton's quote:
The more I considered Christianity,
the more I found that
while it had established a rule and order,
the chief aim of that order
was to give room for good things
to run wild.
After we broke the silence together that night to share about our experiences and receive the Eucharist together, I shared with the brothers I was with about who and what I had praying for throughout the night and day, and how they had unknowingly been participating with me in praying for this young women when they prayed during Lauds that morning.
Multiple men were moved to tears, and then multiple men prayed for this friend of my oldest daughter. And then I received a call.
I just wanted to share with you, Papa,
that my friend prayed to receive
the Holy Spirit after I shared with her
about Jesus through the Story of God.
A stirring and a stillness dropped into the waters of my soul then. And the ripples are still being felt. I will get to spend some time with my wife, my daughter, and her friend over a meal soon to hear more of the impact of this seeming moment when heaven drew near to earth and people were transformed by the mystery of the Master who resurrects new things to life.
But for now, I leave you with these words I continue to meditate on:
Take a moment to listen,
to hear the Hidden Music,
and where Jesus might be leading you,
all the ways He wants to heal you
and transform you,
all the ways He wants
to make His Kingdom known;
and then have the courage
to take a step.
To follow.
It will be hard,
the hardest thing you ever do,
but it will be an adventure,
and it will be Good,
and it will lead you Home.
+ Josh Nadeau,
Room for Good Things
to Run Wild,
pg. 258
Bonus Post on Prayer:
More Abbey Awe Posts:
+ Awakening to New Wonder in Vigils
+ Finding God in a Thin Place
+ God Moves Thru Unlikely Saints
+ Facing Death w/ "Of Gods & Men"
4th Century Church
Adapted by New Life,
2022 A.D.
How lovely all creation shines,
How glorious from sky to sea.
All beauty is a blazing sign
To God the Everlasting.
Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
Glory to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
As it is right now,
And will be forever,
World without end.
Amen.
The glory of Almighty God,
The centerpiece of all that is.
The selflessness of triune love,
Demands our highest worship.
(Chorus)
Amen, amen, amen,
World without end,
Amen.
When we behold the radiant Son,
The shadowlands will fade away.
At last the One who is to come
Will rule the new creation.
He’ll rule the new creation.
(Chorus)
With presence and peace in Christ,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
Email Pastor Mike | Website | Visit Us | Support Us | Facebook Us
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