Becoming Chris Kamalski

This was our closing prayer as a community this evening as we ended our Listening Posture Retreat at Lorraine’s place (Mohale Rest and Retreat), literally a block and a half from Pangani.  I thought it beautifully captured the spirit of our weekend, and our Listening Posture as a whole, which we finish up this week and then head off Thursday AM to our Men’s Trip to the Drakensberg Mountains!

Teach me to listen, Lord, to those nearest me, my family, my friends, my co-workers.  Help me be aware that no matter what words I hear, the message is, ‘Accept the person that I am.  Listen to me.’

Teach me to listen, Lord, to those far from me–the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten, the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, Lord, to myself.  Help me to be less afraid, to trust the voice inside–in the deepest part of me.

Teach me to listen, Lord, for Your Voice–in busyness and in boredom, in certainty and in doubt, in noise and in silence.

Teach me, Lord, to listen.  (Anne Long)

May your Sabbath rest be filled with a heart open to the Spirit’s whisper, whether you find yourself in noise or stillness, alone or in a crowd, with strangers or those you hold dear.  May you find what you are looking for this Sabbath day.