Hello my friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome as we continue in this series of our Psalms of Refuge.
Today,
Reflecting deeply on Psalm 16.
As always,
As we begin,
I invite you first of all just to stop and pause and bring yourself fully into this moment.
Take a nice deep breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Just allow.
.
.
Your body to settle,
The muscles to relax.
Your mind.
To come fully into this moment.
If it helps,
Just focus.
On your breath coming in and out.
Don't change it at all,
Just follow it as it goes naturally as it does.
Bringing your mind,
Your heart,
And your body fully into this moment.
As we open our ears.
Our minds and our hearts.
To what the Spirit might be saying to us today.
Just become aware of God's presence.
A presence that's accompanied you throughout this whole series so far.
The presence that's always been here and remains with you now.
Just take one more deep breath in.
And out.
And rest.
So over these reflections.
Of the Psalms of Refuge we've explored many images,
God as refuge,
As shepherd,
Shelter.
As shade as home.
And again and again,
The Psalms have invited us to discover a deeper place of rest and safety.
Right here in the midst of everyday life.
So as we bring this first season of this series to a close with Psalm 16,
We hear an important question.
What happens.
When refuge becomes a way of life.
What happens when we stop merely?
Visiting peace and actually begin to live.
From it.
So let's just listen to the words of Psalm 16.
Is the tenting.
To what seems to draw.
And trusting whatever arises as we go.
Psalm 16.
Protect me,
O God.
For in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord.
You are my Lord.
I have no good apart from you.
As for the holy ones in the land.
They are the noble.
In whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows.
Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out.
Will take their name upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.
You hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel.
In the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me.
Because the Lord is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices.
My body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol.
Or let your faithful one see the pit.
You're showing me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy.
In your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Now just notice what remained with you.
Out of that psalm,
The phrase,
The image.
The feeling.
One of the central themes of this psalm is guidance.
The psalm speaks of a path,
A way of living,
A direction.
And this is important because refuge isn't just a place that we go to when life becomes hard.
Refuge is meant to shape us.
How we live.
Because the peace that we discover in prayer.
.
.
Is meant to accompany us into ordinary life.
A lot of people think of spiritual practice.
As an escape,
A temporary retreat from the pressures of daily life.
A moment where you can find some calm before you go back to reality.
The Psalms point towards something much more important,
That the purpose of refuge is to bring transformation.
We enter God's presence so that we can learn to live from God's presence.
So take a moment just to reflect,
How different would your day be?
If you carried this awareness with you,
Not just during prayer or meditation.
Keep it in your conversations,
In your work.
In traffic.
In waiting,
In decision making.
In the ordinary moments.
The psalm speaks of God showing us the path of life.
And you'll notice.
That God doesn't give.
A complete map,
Or answer every question.
Instead,
God shows a path,
A way of walking.
A way of being,
A way of living.
And so the spiritual life.
Is quite often less about certainty and more about trust.
Less about having all the answers and more about learning how to walk on that way.
And maybe right now there's an area of your life where you're looking for clarity in a decision,
A change.
The next step.
I wonder.
.
.
Rather than seeking a perfect answer,
What if the invitation?
Is simply to trust.
The next step.
And what if the path actually becomes clearer?
By walking it.
You'll notice the Psalm 2 also carries this beautiful sense of contentment.
The writer is certainly not speaking from a place of scarcity,
But from abundance.
And it's certainly not because life's perfect,
As with all the other Psalms we've read.
The stuff's hitting the fan and the life of the writer.
But it's this place of abundance because they recognize the presence of God with them.
And they recognised that presence.
Is enough,
It's become enough for them.
And this has really been.
One of the recurring themes on this journey through these psalms,
That again and again they've invited us away from trying.
And back to trusting.
Away from fear and towards presence.
Moving from scarcity to a heart of gratitude.
So just take a nice slow breath and notice what's already present in your life.
Don't worry about what's missing.
Or what's unresolved still,
But look at what's already there,
What gifts.
Have you been quietly enjoying?
What goodness has been present even in the difficult seasons.
Because sometimes.
.
.
Peace isn't found.
By getting something.
Peace is actually found by noticing more deeply and being aware of what's been with you all along.
And so as the first season of this series comes to an end,
Maybe the most important realisation you could take is this.
The refuge has never been.
The psalm,
The prayer itself.
It's never been the meditation or the practice.
That the refuge has always been God.
The practices,
Whatever they are,
None of them are inherently bad,
But they're not it.
They simply help us notice.
They help us remember.
These Psalms have helped us remember.
That our times of prayer and silence simply help us become aware of the refuge that already surrounds us.
And that awareness doesn't end.
When your time of prayer ends,
When your time of meditation or contemplation is finished.
When this meditation audio concludes.
That awareness goes with you.
Into the next conversation,
Into your work day,
Into your family,
Into your joys,
Into your challenges,
Into your ordinary life.
So for the next few moments,
Just imagine yourself.
Stepping into the rest of your diet.
That as you do,
That God's presence isn't left behind,
But goes with you.
Imagine moving through your day.
From a place of peace because you're surrounded by that peace.
From a place of trust because you cannot shake it.
The awareness that you now have of the presence of God with you through all things.
And as you reflect on this,
Perhaps you might.
.
.
Take on a breath,
Perry.
But as you breathe in,
You might say.
Show me the path.
And as you breathe out.
I will walk in peace.
Breathing in.
Show me the path.
Breathing out.
I will walk in peace.
Show me the path.
I will walk in peace.
Show me the path.
I will walk in peace.
Just allow the words to settle.
And become a quiet intention for the rest of your day ahead.
And as we prepare to finish,
Just hear once more the heart of the psalm.
God isn't just a refuge in difficult times.
But God is also our companion.
In ordinary times.
The Invitation.
Isn't just a visit with peace from time to time,
But to live from it all the time.
To walk the path of life with an open heart and carry that refuge with you.
Wherever you go.
As we close,
I invite you to join me in a prayer.
Let's pray.
Loving God,
You've been our refuge throughout this journey.
You've met us in silence.
You've met us in scripture.
You've met us in stillness.
As we return to our ordinary lives,
Help us carry your peace with us.
Show us the path of life.
Guide our steps.
Steady our hearts.
Help us trust your presence in every circumstance.
May the refuge that we've discovered in you become the foundation from which we live.
May we walk through this world with greater peace,
Greater trust and a greater awareness of your love.
And may that grace,
Peace,
Trust and love,
The refuge of our God,
Be with us,
Stay with us and remain with us this day and always.
Thank you so much for spending this time in prayer and reflection and for sharing in this journey through some psalms of refuge.
May the words of these ancient prayers continue to accompany you and may you remember.
The refuge isn't somewhere you go.
The refuge is the presence that goes with you.
Until next time my friend.
Go in peace.
Bye for now.
