Piloting Faith: At the beginning of the year, I choose a word...
A Word for the Day...
At the beginning of the year, I choose a word that I will hold onto, that guides my intention for the year. For 2019, I've decided my word is "generous."
In the coming year, I want to manifest generosity by committing to...
Generous conversations...conversations that create space for others to tell their stories
Generous convenings...hosting spaces that connect people to one another
Generous agendas...aligning my interest with others in ways that deepen our collaboration and our shared trust
Generous silence...being mindful of what I can leave unsaid and the ways I can refuse to take up space with my own need for recognition
Generous advocacy...hoping for and working for all of our wholenesses.
What is your word for the year?
- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
Prayer for the Week
Holy One,
As I begin this year, show me how to be God-minded without being self-righteous. How to wear my faith lately, yet hold it deeply.
I want to find that way. I want to receive the gift of piety, that I may have a rich reservoir of faith and trust in you, without an ounce of self-regard seeping in.
Keep holding me fast to your ways, and let me not take pride in doing so.
May I be mindful of you first. May I look and listen for your well in all things.
Save me from making the gifts a spiritual practice–
meditating,
reading a sacred text,
praying a sincere prayer,
walking through the door of the church –
occasions for pride, for that warm feeling of achievement that I so easily mistake for your "well done."
Let piety be your work in me, your genuine goodness suffusing my heart.
In the meantime, thank you for receiving me...just as I am.
Amen.
(adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess, and David Van Biema)
