Posts Tagged ‘disciple’
Short Term Memory… or Stay Close to the Grill
July 14, 2012 | 
Author Short Term Memory… or Stay Close to the Grill
This might not be the best title for this thought, but it seems close enough to work.
I forget stuff. I still know the things I forget, but I need reminded every so often that the things I have forgotten are moved back to my frontal lobes and immediate memory. I don’t know enough about the brain to say it really works that way, but it makes sense to my way of understanding. Oh, anyway, I forget stuff—stuff that I still know—I just need reminded that I know the stuff I’ve forgotten.
Take for instance, teaching from the Bible. Many Christians are very knowledgeable about the Bible and practice its teachings faithfully, especially while life is running smoothly. We have a fairly good memory of God’s teaching to us while life is unharried and we’re often quick to offer “faith nuggets” to those in need when they suffer short-term memory loss due to the pressures of life. I personally identify with these examples. Sometimes I succumb to an annoying season of life and begin to spin into doldrums where I’m smitten with frustration and disappointment. I’m cruising along in my dark shuffle when I will hear or read something that reminds me of the promise of God’s word and I am immediately lifted out of the shuffling dark to the dancing light. And I say; “I knew that.” And I wonder why I forgot it in the first place.
I remember times when I’ve gone to a county fair or town carnival. There’s always tons of stuff going on with rides, midway games, and all types of neat things to eat. It’s almost some sort of sensory overload when you walk onsite of one of these events… lights, sounds, tastes, and smells. Walking around ground level at these fairs, it’s hard to distinguish where sounds and smells come from and you get lost in one to another. I would be walking along and catch a whiff of popcorn or cotton candy… grilled sausage or charbroiled burger. All of the sudden I’m overtaken with desire wanting the thing I smell so vividly; I’m captured, consumed with want and hunger—until I walk around the corner and a new sight and sound overtakes me. I forget about the burger because a “carnival barker” invites me to test my strength or challenge my fears. Life can be like that too. I get pressured with stuff and distracted by the moment and forget the things I “know” and I need to be reminded. Like the carnival.
If I want that great smelling burger, I can’t be walking around being distracted by the other noises and smells. I need to stay close to the grill. I believe remembering God’s promises might be similar. Life’s distractions are many and every day. If I don’t want to be pulled from God’s truths, I need to stay close to His grill… I mean word.
Posted in Daily Meds, Spiritual Formation, The Christian Walk | 
Tags: disciple, Jesus, The Christian Walk | 
No Comments »
Patient Exploration
Patient Exploration
∞ Patience ∞
There are many words I am exploring in these days and patience is one of the more prominent explorations. Other word explorations that seem closely aligned with patience are waiting, trusting, and being. One of the things I am coming to realize about patience is how much contemporary culture is its enemy. It seems that everything about our society is urgent and “now” driven, so patience is often the outcast.
As I explore patience, I do so from a Christian perspective. It seems patience is one of the more prominent characteristics of God once we move past the biggies (omnipresent, omniscient, immutable, and well…you get the picture). The Bible tells us that God is patient (Psalm 86:15, 2 Peter 3:9), and that makes sense to me understanding that God is eternal, but God also entered into time and became flesh like we are, in the person of Jesus. This is important to my exploration because, I am created in His image and the life and person of Jesus is my model.
How do we, as mere humans, measure patience? I think part of the measurement is judged by how we wait. Waiting requires patience or it is not really waiting at all. Waiting implies (to me) something that is done voluntarily or with some measures of humility and surrender. Often, what we call waiting, is forced upon us and we “wait” involuntarily. I don’t know what word I would use for an involuntary wait…maybe internment or detention or determent, but not waiting.
I think this line of thinking is relevant; as Christians, we find ourselves on the path of transformation—becoming reimaged and re-formed into the likeness of Christ. This transformation is not instant, nor is it easy…as much as we might like it to be. Spiritual formation can often seem glacially slow in its progress in its worst light and like watching hair grow in its best light. This is why patience is important; it is ultimately the reflection of our heart’s attitude revealed in how we wait…revealing in whom or in what we trust.
Considering the prominence of patience in the development and character of the Christian, it seems odd to me that so many Christians flee from it. I don’t think I have ever been with a group of Christians when the word “patience” was mentioned and someone did not say, “Whatever you do, don’t pray for patience…” It is as if patience is the anathema of Christian virtue. Why is this? I think; because the testing of our patience will inconvenience us, the testing of our patience will reveal our weakness of character, and the testing of our patience will put to test our trust in God. We do not want to be found out… not by others and not by ourselves. We like to believe we are “good with God.” When we wait, the trial of our patience reveals how selfish we are as well as the depth of our brokenness. This is why we flee from patience and warn one another not to pray for it.
Regardless of whether we pray for patience or not, the Bible teaches us that patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We are also taught that patience is part of the ladder of Christian virtue as we ascribe to grow in the likeness of Christ (2 Peter 1:5-7). Patience is also part of the embodiment of Christian love (agape), without which, we are nothing less than clanging gongs and empty-handed (1 Corinthians 13:1-8). Yet we tell one another to run from patience… seems like ridiculous advice, but this is the world in which we live today and this is terrifying to me for my Christian brothers and sisters. Think about the words of warning that come from James and John (see James 4:4 and 1 John 2:5-16).
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God… Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:4-10)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15-16)
If we get caught up in the systems of the world, we make ourselves enemies of God…and impatience is the system of the world.
I think, with regard to our individual spiritual journeys, most of us want instant landscaping. Instead of prepping the grounds of our lives for planting, we want to hire someone to come in with all kinds of heavy equipment to clear cut and wipe out all the unsightly stuff in our life. We want this to happen without much personal involvement… almost something like the TV show Extreme Makeover where the hosts send the family away on a vacation. While the family is away, the makeover team demolishes the house and yard completely rebuilding and landscaping something entirely new in the span of a week. This is the world system…completely at odds with the God system. Consider the acorn and the oak; from a tiny acorn a huge and mighty oak will develop, but it takes dozens and dozens of years—and patience. The acorn weathers seasons, pressure, pestilence, and more on its way to maturity. When it reaches maturity it resembles nothing of its former self, but it is capable and useful for many, many good works—not the least of which is reproducing hundreds, even thousands more of itself. Patience.
Patience teaches us to trust God. Patience teaches us how to wait on God and how to wait with God. Patience teaches us how to “be” with God. Patience teaches us about eternity. Patience teaches us about infinity. Patience teaches us about satisfaction and fulfillment. God is patience. We need patience—and we need God. Pray for patience.
Posted in A Deeper Walk, Becoming the Word, Daily Meds, Meditations, Shaping Me | Tags: 1 Cor. 13, AGAPE, christlike, disciple, Jesus, Love, patience, virtue | No Comments »
Stirrings—The Word of God in my head and in my heart
Stirrings—The Word of God in my head and in my heart
There seems to be quite a bit of “stirring” coming from my Bible reading these days. Not that this is unexpected or new…more, it is intended as a means of confession and accountability I suppose. I figure the stirring is meant to incite change in my actions and my thinking, so putting it “out there” sort of puts me on the spot…sorta.
I don’t know if, or think, the passages I’ll share are directly or contextually related; well actually, I know they are not, but in a general “big picture” application, I believe they are connected. I’ll share my thoughts as they came from my journal, raw and unedited.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
My Thoughts: What is the “yoke” of Jesus? I wonder if we truly consider what is involved with or counting the cost of coming under the authority of the One who guides the yoke. While there is partnership involved in sharing the yoke, there is always a dominant leader who “rules” the yoke— Sometimes I think we are eager for someone to help us share our load and manage our burden; however we are also quick to abandon the yoke when the course of sharing and partnering carries us onto a path we dislike… or when our progress and relief doesn’t come as quickly or in the form that we would like. I think we like to picture the yoke of Jesus more like the yoke on a team of oxen instead of a Roman cross… so much tamer that way.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God… Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:4-10)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15-16)
My Thoughts: Do we give these passages enough serious and honest thought? I think more often than not, we try to think or talk our way around them attempting to convince ourselves they mean something different than what they are intended to mean. I think we like the world and the comforts its systems and governmental order brings. We prefer comfort over sacrifice. We prefer compromise instead of pushing back against the systems that are antithetical to the ways of Jesus. We prefer selective obedience instead of whole-hearted submission to the authority of Christ. We choose the kingdom of men and the world over the Kingdom of God and excuse ourselves through self-deceiving lies intended to make us feel better about our disobedience to the commands of Jesus.
“What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29)
My Thoughts: Too often, I think; we take words like these above and say things like, “Oh, those are demons chatting up Jesus and the meaning of this to me (since I am a Christian) is their recognizing Jesus as Son of God. So, this proves Jesus is God…” and we move on. We think or assume this is the extent of what God has to speak to us about those words. Maybe we are mistaken.
More often than we care to admit, we tend to embrace the attitude of those demoniacs. Perhaps anytime we push back against the leadership of Christ Jesus we also say, “What have you to do with me Son of God?” We feign compliance to the will and way of God until it imposes too much discomfort on us—and then we rebel—either in a tantrum of overt disobedience and rejection of His commands, or passively aggressively we ignore, pretend not to hear, or reinterpret what we “hear” God say in order that we might justify our rebellion. Honestly, when we do this, we are not too far removed from those demoniacs.
O Lord, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
And, I continue to ponder…reflect…
[24APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
[24APRIL2012] Eastertide Devotional Series
I will be posting this devotional series as part of my Eastertide reflections for the next three weeks (see this link for other installments in the series). Each week of this devotional series focuses on a specific theme (week one: brokenness, week two: repentance, and week three: renewal). I hope you’ll enjoy the series and I invite you to comment here on the blog or email me direct; I would love to hear your thoughts.
Renewal: Week 3 | Day 3
Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 1:5-14: 2 Peter 1:3-11
“I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline… Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.”
One of the things I have found as I’ve looked backward over the history of my own life are times and places where I’ve wanted to abdicate my own responsibility for past and/or future actions. Even in the present season of my life, there are times when I am reluctant to want to make choices. Choosing or deciding will often mean I need to move or do something and I might not be ready to do that… or at the very least, I might think I am not ready to move.
As Paul writes to Timothy, one of the steps in the process of renewal is taking personal responsibility. He exhorts Timothy to “fan into flames the spiritual gift…” Yes, he tells Timothy to do this. He reminds him also that it was God who has already given Timothy the spiritual gift and he goes on to add that the spiritual gift comes with power, love, and self discipline… “self-discipline.”
There are times when I don’t like assuming the responsibility of self-discipline either. I don’t like the idea of being accountable for myself. I find it easier to pray to God with words like; “God, make me do this or make me do that.” In my subconscious mind I think this would be easier for me and then if I fail, I’m not to blame, but then, I also resent being forced to do things too… even if they are good for me. I think the truth lies in the reality that I’m fearful of the commitment that it might take or scared that I might not have the fortitude to succeed in the life of faith, because overall it isn’t the easy path; it is a narrow path that Jesus has said that few find and sometimes I find that troubling to consider, but there is great hope.
Peter writes in his second letter some remarkable things (2 Peter 1:3-4); “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature” He has given us everything we need for living a godly life. He has enabled us to share his divine nature. Incredible! I have and you have everything we need even to the sharing of God’s divine nature. My part is to fan this great spiritual gift from the “ember” it may have “cooled” to the great roaring holy flame that God has enabled it to be. Perhaps I should get to fanning…
Do you believe God has enabled you to “burn” brightly with Him? Is there anything that holds you back? Have you “cooled” from where you once were walking with God? Have you doubted your ability to return to where you were?
Our Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am ready to take responsibility for fanning into flame the spiritual gift you have given to me. I recognize that I am a partner in this relationship and want to do my part. I pray your holy assistance and Holy Spirit to guide me in the practice and discipline of everything you have given me for living a godly life. I forget sometime that I bear the divine nature, help me to keep this close in my mind and close in my heart as I fan my spiritual gift into flame. Amen.
Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 45—Reflection
[06APRIL2012] Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 45—Reflection and Meditation
A Good Friday Meditation…
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon a cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
♦ Psalms 22:1-2, 14-22
♦ Isaiah 52:13—53:12
♦ John 18:1—19:42
Blessed be our God. For ever and ever. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing Lord, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs. Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen. I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people. (Psalm 22:1-2, 14-22)
Toward midafternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I don’t know and do not profess to fully understand all of the deep and divine mystery that is the Cross of Christ. I suppose one day the entirety of that great undertaking will be revealed and reveled—perhaps even sung in multiple verses with one of the great Heavenly Hymns before the throne of the King who was actually crucified upon it. One can only imagine…
I do know with resonate affirmation in the deepest parts of my soul that it was so much more than Jesus simply taking my place for the crimes of my own sin. While the reality of my sin alone deserved a response from God…the response of physical punishment leading to physical death wasn’t the completion of that great and mysterious act.
While I believe the torture endured by Jesus was very real, both the events of his beating before being crucified and the act of execution upon the Cross, I don’t believe those were the most agonizing moments of his atoning sacrifice. The torture leading up to physical death is one thing, but the spiritual death and reality of God becoming separated from God is another dimension of the God-man-God exchange that is near incomprehensible for us to imagine—much less for us to fully understand. But this is what happened; this is one of the realities of the Cross—the Holy Trinity rent and broken, so you and I might be saved from eternal separation which is the spiritual death. Yes, Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God, died physically and spiritually, so we might live. Likewise, his resurrection was both physical and spiritual…as is ours. This is part of the symbolism we find in the Sacrament of baptism; which, I believe, is often the beginning and the end of many “believers’” association with the Cross…at least on this temporal side of Eternity. And, that is a very, very sad confession for the Church.
This day is the day we mourn the death of our Savior…symbolically. We have hindsight; we know he’s going to arise from the depths of the grave—and not only arise, but emerge completely victorious—our Christus Victor, our Victorious Messiah! As he emerges glorious and victorious, thus becomes the most tangibly edifying result of this gruesomely divine exchange; Our separation from God which is the spiritual death is broken, We are reconciled…not only justified, but reunited with Abba Creator! The agony of our broken fellowship with God is a thing of the past, if we choose to embrace and live into this reconciliatory exchange. Drink deep from this cup. The cup is bitter as it touches our lips, but the aftertaste is Eternally sweet…so sweet that our eternity can be “tasted” even today.
____________
see also this meditation on the Holy Tridium
Posted in Daily Meds, Gospel of John, Lent, Lent 2012, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Psalms, Shaping Me, The Liturgical Year | Tags: Christus Victor, Crucifixion, disciple, Good Friday, Holy Week, Jesus, Lent, Lent 2012, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 44—Reflection
[05APRIL2012] Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 44—Reflection and Meditation
“The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and had washed their feet, said to them ‘do you know what I, your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done.” (John 13:1-17)
♦ Psalms 116:1,10-17
♦ John 13:1-17, 31-35
I have given you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
Maundy Thursday: Jesus washes the disciple’s feet—teaches servanthood; Jesus provides the disciples with a new mandate, “love one another as I have loved you;” Institution of the Lord’ Supper—Eucharist; Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17) Gethsemane; Judas betrays Jesus—the arrest; Jesus indicted before Annas, Jesus answers to Caiphas, Jesus taken to trial before the Sanhedrin; Peter denies Christ.
And being found in the design of a human being, he humbled himself… Jesus said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Maundy Thursday is a troubling day for me; it is a day that causes me to realize how far short I fall from truly being a disciple of Jesus. In effect, and as I mentioned yesterday, it is why I feel as though much of my representation of Christ is a betrayal. This isn’t meant to be an exercise in false humility; let me explain.
Retracing the events of Maundy Thursday help to shed light and bring focus to the weaknesses of my faith (see the event timeline for Maundy Thursday above). There are, perhaps, other views, but this is my comparison to the events I see as critical for people who profess to follow Jesus. I consider the teachings on this particular day the great summary of all that Jesus taught—he didn’t leave his disciples with a litany of do’s and don’ts. He simply told them to live humble lives, serving people as he had served them (I’m reminded of the Kenosis passage from Philippians 2:5-11). He also told them to love one another as he had loved them; again, a hearken to Phil. 2:5-11. As simple as these mandates seem on the surface, they are truly the deepest essence of what it means to follow Jesus…and herein lays my problem.
I have to examine my own soul and life motives laid side by side to these mandates. Do I live with such purity of intent; to love my neighbor as myself…with the same capacity and intensity as Jesus? Do I live to serve all humanity with humility and absolute selflessness? I don’t think I can answer an honest “yes” to either of these questions. Oh, I want to, but I’d be less than honest if I professed that I was succeeding. And who is my neighbor? There is a bigger problem with this soul-searching for me though and it extends beyond my acknowledging my failure to love and serve as Jesus commanded. The bigger problem is how I respond to my examination. What am I doing about it? My answer is not too much. My common response is to put off any action steps. I like to tell myself that “I’ll get there…” but that’s impossible to believe if I’m not intentionally working to those ends. Invariably, I console myself by saying that God’s grace covers my weakness and failures to love as he loved, but I think that is a lie I tell myself. Is God’s grace sufficient to cover my sin? Of course it is, but if I concede these failures of mine and do not do anything to correct them, isn’t that the same as taking God’s grace for granted? The writer of Hebrews says that it is akin to trampling the blood of Christ underfoot and for that…there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 10:26-31). That’s why I can see myself as a traitor like Judas and a “deny-er” like Peter. You see, I cannot approach the day of Jesus’ crucifixion without openly and honestly doing some open-heart surgery on myself. This is not a day or season to “bump and run” into and out of. The sum of my faith is what I do with this day. What then, will I do about these things I realize about myself? I don’t know. I know I need real community to help me grow in the grace and the likeness of Christ—and I still haven’t found a community willing to be open and intentional about growing in this way. I’m sure they exist, but I haven’t found one yet. Maybe soon. God willing—maybe soon.
Almighty Father, whose dear Son,, on the night before he suffered did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end.
Lord, make us fruitful members of Christ by renewing us in his Paschal Mystery. You have made Christ Jesus our wisdom and also our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. To You, O God, be all the glory for ever and for ever. I ask You, O Lord, to help me to be ever convicted of my weaknesses and motivated toward perfection. I ask by Your always present and indwelling Holy Spirit to guide me by Your strength to fulfill the mandates to love as You loved and to serve as You served, so I might be a holy and accurate reflection of You to the world in which I live. All this, by Your grace and to Your glory and for Your Kingdom. Amen. Amen.
Posted in Becoming the Word, Bible Speak, Daily Meds, Lent, Lent 2012, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | Tags: disciple, Holy Week, Jesus, Lent, Lent 2012, Maundy Thursday, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 41—Reflection
[02APRIL2012] Lent | Holy Week 2012: Day 41—Reflection and Meditation
“There are very few people who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace.” -St. Ignatius of Loyola
Jesus said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Holy Week is unlike any other week in the Church’s year. It begins with the illusory triumph of Palm Sunday, when Jesus is hailed as a celebrity in his own city of Jerusalem. It leads through the betrayal of Judas (remembered as Spy Wednesday) and the farewells of Thursday (called Maundy Thursday), the humiliations, tortures and death on Good Friday, to the victory over death on Resurrection Morning. Nearly every human life will include some of these experiences. This week we can identify with the Lord each step of the way from the Mount of Olives to Calvary. When it comes to the resurrection, the imagination boggles, yet it is the centre of our faith. Lord, teach me to love my face and body, my temple of the Holy Spirit. It will grow old and die with me, but that is not the end. My body is sacred, and Easter opens a window for it and me onto a mysterious but endless vista. (From Sacred Space, a Prayer Book of the Irish Jesuits).
“Instead of spreading our own garments, let us spread our hearts before him.” -Methodius
The promise of our Savior has been given to us from the beginning of time… of which He also created. His plan and His promise have been as ancient as He is. His plan and promise are timeless and eternal—without fault and without fail. It is for this reason He says; “I Am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”
I continue to be amazed at the incredible revelation shared in the passage of Scripture that is John 12:23-28. The great expression of Jesus’ glory will be his death and resurrection. Then, he asks those who will follow him to “follow him” and to be where he is. I think most persons reading this text fail to grasp the full meaning of what Jesus is asking his followers to do. He asks them to die to their self… to put aside their perceived divine right (see also Philippians 2:5-11), and to live a life of humble surrender to the larger and eternal plan of God. No matter how much we claim to get this message, many of us professing followers fail to act upon our knowledge with obedience to God’s plan and the way of Jesus. Not me. I will not despise my God. I will follow Christ and my flesh be damned. He died so my spirit might be set free and I might know who I was truly created to be… my destiny lies before me and awaits me—all because Jesus showed me the way. “Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am.”
I will follow.
In the silence of my innermost being, in the fragments of my yearned-for wholeness, I hear the whispers of God’s presence. I feel God’s nearness as we walk together and I let myself be embraced and consumed by His full and unfailing love. Thank you, Messiah Jesus, for the completed work of redeeming me and reconciling me to yourself. I continue to surrender myself to you with wonder and anticipation of my full restoration. I offer my praises to you for bringing me out of slavery to sin into freedom of new life by your death and resurrection. Though I have been unfaithful, you wait for me with strong and gentle care. Thank you for your gentle patience and please listen, as I pray: Lord, save me, your child and save us, your people. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be—world without end. Amen.
Posted in Becoming the Word, Gospel of John, Incarnational, Lent, Lent 2012, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Shaping Me, The Liturgical Year | Tags: disciple, Holy Week, Jesus, Lent, Lent 2012, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
Lent 2012: Day 31—Reflection
[23MAR2012] Lent 2012: Day 31—Reflection and Meditation
“If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian.” Evagrius Ponticus
♦ Psalms 91
May God, who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply our seed for sowing and increase the harvest of our righteousness. Amen.
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.” Psalm 91
I wonder if anyone of my generation, nationality, gender, race, and religious affinity feels convicted after reading the words of James (James 5:1-6). Scary stuff. I think many of us should be scared, but we’re far too arrogant for us to fear.
Posted in Bible Speak, Daily Meds, Lent, Lent 2012, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | Tags: disciple, Jesus, Lent, Lent 2012, Psalms, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
Lent 2012: Day 29—Reflection
[21MAR2012] Lent 2012: Day 29—Reflection and Meditation
“Our souls are waiting for God our help and our shield. Our hearts are glad in you, Lord, because we trust in your Holy Name“
♦ Ephesians 4:13, 5:1
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, Even as we wait for you. Amen.
It is the desire and goal of our God that we be fully transformed and conformed to His image. Our old image is a poor reflection of it Creator…a failed testimony to the glory of God who created us. Therefore, He has given us disciplines, testings, trials, purging, and mentors to teach us and for us to follow.
Today is the Solemnity of St. Benedict—The following is a reading from the Rule of Benedict:
Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from evil and leads to God and everlasting life. This, then, is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love: They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other (Rom 12:10), supporting with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of body or behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another. No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else. To their fellow monks they show the pure love of brothers; to God, loving fear; to their abbot, unfeigned and humble love. Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, 12and may he bring us all together to everlasting life. RB—chapter 72
“The good zeal is not just for monks, but for all Christians… Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ.”
Praying Psalm 15
1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
3 Those who refuse to gossip
or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
4 Those who despise flagrant sinners,
and honor the faithful followers of the LORD,
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
5 Those who lend money without charging interest,
and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
Such people will stand firm forever.
Lent 2012: Day 26—Reflection
[18MAR2012] Lent 2012: Day 26—Reflection and Meditation
O God, you yearn jealously for the spirit that you have made to dwell in us; you oppose the proud but give grace to the humble. O Lord, draw near to me as I draw near to you this day.
♦ Psalms 107:1-3, 17-22
♦ Readings – Numbers 21:4-9 ♦ Ephesians 2:1-10
♦ Gospel - John 3:14-21
“I am bound by my promise to you, O God; I will offer you my thanks, You deliver my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before you in the light of life.“
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 ”For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 ”There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Amazing words are spoken in this passage of Scripture. God has freed humanity from condemnation and death. The explanation given in verses eighteen through twenty-one are very stark…almost cold and without feeling; however, when taken in the context of what the Apostle writes in his letter to the Ephesians; “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” it begins to make more sense to me. God created humanity as a reflection of Himself, a masterpiece. The actual Greek word is poiema, the word we get our word, poem, from. We are God’s poem, His epic masterpiece. The problem is that we don’t always reflect that image…truthfully, we rarely reflect that image. And this is a problem. If we do not reflect the spirit of Jesus Christ, we stand condemned simply for the reason that we are God’s masterpiece and by that fact alone we should reflect Him. Amazingly, it is not too difficult for us to reflect Christ… We believe and there is no judgment; God does what God does in us and through us …and by the empowering gift of His Spirit in us, we reflect God. Amen and Praise Him!
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Posted in Bible Speak, Gospel of John, Lent, Lent 2012, Liturgical Year, Meditations, Spirituality, The Liturgical Year | Tags: disciple, Gospel of John, Jesus, Lent, Lent 2012, Spiritual Formation, The Liturgical Year | No Comments »
