Broken Pilgrim

Don't Grieve! Party!

This morning I was reading in Nehemiah 8. The walls of Jerusalem have just been rebuilt, the city is being resettled and Ezra spent the better part of the day reading the Book of Law, God's Word to His people, to all the people gathered in the square, people who had never heard the Book of Law being actually read. Others with difficult to pronounce names helped in the reading and the teaching. Nehemiah 8:8 (ESV) says that they "gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading." So what happened?

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Nehemiah 8:9-12 ESV)

I'll be honest. This passage jumped at me out of nowhere and I've had tear filled eyes throughout. What a beautiful, pastoral picture. As the Word, the Law, pierced their hearts, the people's natural response was to grieve. But their leaders were much wiser. They understood that while it might be the natural response, it was not the right one. The right response was actually joy, from the Lord, overflowing into celebration for all. So the leaders comforted and guided.

Mayhap this explains why confession has become such a beautiful thing for me. I used to have much sorrow and grief when I'd respond to God's truth in confession. But now I find that I can't help but be joyful and celebrate the goodness of God to me. Always.

Perhaps the culmination of this process can be found in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I grew up being taught that this is a somber time wherein we are to feel bad. It was never so bluntly said, but it was always so bluntly modeled. But over the years, my approach to the table has completely changed. What used to be a natural response of grief, has become, rightly to my way of thinking, a deep joy and celebration of the good news in Jesus Christ.

There's a reason it is often called the Celebration of the Lord's Supper.

So don't grieve. There is unbelievable good news. Celebrate!

A Prayer

A prayer from today's Moravian Daily Texts:

Word of God most holy, give us ears to hear. So often we wish to hear your voice, but listen only for the words which we wish to hear. May our hearts long only for your truth. Amen.

Ain't that the truth? At least it is for me.

Kyrie eleison

Yet even now…

I was reading earlier today in Joel and came across a favorite couple of verses:

"Yet even now," declares the Lord,
    "return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    and rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the LORD, your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.

Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)

This time I was particularly captured by the three opening words: Yet even now. The Lord always provides a "yet even now". There is no sin too great, no time too long, no hard heartedness so hard, no anything so anything that you could imagine that He would cease to be the loving Father welcoming home the prodigal child with grace and mercy.

And that makes me very, very, very happy.

Good Lenten happiness.

Ashes

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:3 (ESV)

And so the beautiful season of Lent begins this day, this Ash Wednesday.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Life!

Part of my readings today included a selection from Deuteronomy 33. Moses, at the end of his life, has called on Israel to take to heart the Torah, the law that  God has entrusted to them through him. He then says …

For it is no empty word for you, but your very life. (Deut. 33:47a ESV)

It would be easy to assume that this means that by following the law, life is gained. There is some truth in that. In fact the Israelites were promised long life in the land if they followed the law. But what would Jesus say? Is there something more, something deeper? Well, let's look at His words:

You search the Sriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40 ESV)

The law, the Scriptures, the very Word of God is not a cypher to be decoded to find the way to live and thus has life. The Word of God is the doorway to the Word of God. Life in relationship with the everliving Son of God.

The Word of God is not primarily about moral living.

It is about relationship.

It is about life.

LeChaim!

Take 5 on the 5th

Psalm 5 came up today as part of my readings I'm doing from the Moravian Daily Texts. It was verse 3 that really captured my attention today:

O LORD, in the morning
      you hear my voice;
  in the morning I prepare a sacrifice
      for you and watch.

(Psalm 5:3 ESV)

The text note indicates that "prepare a sacrifice" may mean "direct my prayer to you." This would of course be consistent with the first part of the verse. Perhaps the Psalmist is implying that prayer itself is a sacrifice pleasing to God. So knowing that God will hear him, he prepares his thoughts in an ordered way (the sense of the Hebrew) and lays them before God. The NIV might capture this better when it says "in the morning I lay my requests before you."

But what is this word "watch".  It has the sense of "keeping watch." The NIV translates it as "wait in expectation." This is no passive waiting. This is active passivity. Looking with hope and expectation for the coming of God, for His supply and provision.

Pray.

Shut up.

Wait …

… with eyes wide open,

… with Christmas morning eyes.

This is creating space for God.

More Joy, Please!

I love when a verse makes me stop and grab something fresh. It might be new or old, but still fresh. Here's Psalm 4:7 (ESV):

You have put more joy in my heart
  than they have when their grain and
      wine abound!

No material thing, NO MATERIAL THING, can begin to compare to the inner joy that comes from God alone. So why do we so repeatedly fall prey to the lie? Okay, maybe you don't … but I do. I need to continue to let God press this truth deeper into my heart. Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) says:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places …

I like that word "every". Nothing else is needed. Not grain. Not wine. Not a bigger house, more cash for flash or even an iPhone.

O mighty Father, loving Son, guiding Spirit, enlarge my heart for more of Your joy. Strip away those things and thoughts and desires that fill my heart in Your place. I want to laugh anew in You.

Amen.

(still … I wouldn't say "no" to an iPhone … but wait … did I just undermine my whole point?)

New Year's Resolution

Grow in creating space for God.

(actually, 'twas my old year's resolution as well...)

Creating Space for God

I haven't posted very much recently for I have been consumed with completing two 20-25 page papers for my Doctor of Ministry studies. As I write this, I have less that 16 hours before they both must be mailed. One is finished and another has a ways to go. It's looking like an all-nighter and I'm BAD at all-nighters.

So, I'm taking a brief (VERY BRIEF) break and want to pass on some of what I've written.

We create space for God and his transforming work as we create space for his Word in our hearts and minds by his Spirit. These thoughts are not new to me and they’re certainly not new to the world of spiritual formation. God has uniquely ordained the Scriptures as a means by which he mediates his presence and ongoing work in us. To create space for his Word is to open ourselves to the coming of Christ in our lives. It is no accident that Jesus Christ is referred to as the Word. All of this is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit for we cannot generate and create our own transformation. It is a grace received and the posture of reception is one of openness to this work of the Trinity.

Creating space, as a working image, speaks to at least three issues. First, one needs to literally set aside both time and space in order to receive. When we do so, we affirm our place in God’s world. And God has embraced this physicality which is connected to the spiritual life in his incarnation. Jesus, God in the flesh, came into time and space and regularly “created space” to be with his Father.

Secondly, we remove that which is filling the space in our hearts and mind which is not God. This can be anything from acts of purgation to strip all that hinders to simple words yielding up to God what is filling our hearts or preoccupying our minds in his place. We create space by destroying the idols we hold so dear. We create space by setting aside those good things that are just the gifts and not the Giver. We create space by intentionally yielding to God’s cleansing and transforming work.

Thirdly (and following from the second point), we must allow at least some of the created space to continue to be space. We do not fill this space with our words, our thoughts or even our study. Of course there must be a place for speaking to God, for thinking and for careful study. But it is not the role of created space. Silence. Waiting. Listening. These allow the space to be space.

Spiritual practices and rhythms such as lectio divina provide an intentional way to create space that encompasses all three of these issues. They require time and take place in the physical world. They demand focused presence free from any and all distractions. They are a place where we are spoken to rather than doing the speaking. The best of these practices incorporate the Scriptures as an essential means by which we listen and wait.

On a theological note I believe that “creating space” may be at the heart of how we cooperate with God in our spiritual formation. This is something that we do and it is essential for our growth, whatever form it takes. But the space itself has no merit and no inherent value. Much contemporary so-called spirituality is built on activities and practices designed to create space. But then either the space is just filled with the self or is simply valued in its own right. There is no openness to the God of the universe as revealed in Scripture. The wild, uncontrolled, untamed and boundlessly loving incoming of God into our created space is what makes this practice distinctly Christian. All the merit, all the value, all the abundance of God himself is provided by God alone. It is the integration with Scripture that assures that this practice is in fact an opening to the transforming work of the Father, Son and Spirit.

If we do not "create space" for God, we can delude ourselves into thinking that we are hearing from Him when in fact it is just our own self-mumbling.

The Hope of Glory

It's 2:20 in length. You've got time to watch it … and be encouraged.

Advent Conspiracy

Rather appropriate for the season …

Thanks, Deb, for pointing me to this.

Beer for Jesus!

Back on November 8, I sort of savaged Calvin Miller's The Path of Celtic Prayer: An Ancient Way to Everyday Joy. Well, this month I've started using his followup book, Celtic Devotions: A Guide to Morning and Evening Prayer … and I heartily recommend it.

The book contains 30 daily devotions. Each day has a very brief meditation by Calvin Miller (on a theme common to celtic spirituality based on a celtic text), a morning reading (from Psalm 119), a morning prayer (from a celtic text), an evening reading (from a celtic text) and an evening prayer (from Calvin Miller).

Simple. Elegant. Out of the normal box.

I particularly enjoyed last night's evening reading from Peig Sayers:

I would like to have the men of Heaven
In my own house:
With vats of good cheer
Laid out for them.

I would like to have the three Marys,
Their fame is so great.
I would like people
From every corner of Heaven.

I would like them to be cheerful
In their drinking,
I would like to have Jesus too
Here amongst them.

I would like a great lake of beer
For the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching Heaven's family
Drinking it through all eternity.

If that's not joy in the Lord, I don't know what is!

Close Up Mystery!

Today, I was reading from Psalm 139 …

You hem me in, behind and before,
  and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
  it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139:5-6 (ESV)

The psalmist here is clearly hit with awestruck wonder at the total involved presence of the Lord. Am I? Or do I just take for granted the presence of God in all things? Does this truth, cognitive truth, have a chance to become an experiential heart matter? Is this something I know or something I KNOW? Is it containable in my own preset categories or is it MYSTERY?

This is supernatural, suprarational, wondrous beyond all measure! Thanks be to God, the Lord, who is near in all things!

Advent Devotional

My good buddy Bruce Benedict (of "free lodging for Keith in London" fame) has created a fantastic devotional for Advent.

I know that we're already on Day 2 of Advent, but if you'd like to take a look at it and use it during this glorious season, click here.

I did and I will. Join me!

Thanks

I suppose that I'm thankful for a lot of things — my family, my friends, my job, my health, my stuff. The usual suspects, you know.

But what am I really thankful for (besides the fact that's it's not illegal to end a sentence with a preposition)?

Out of HIs great mercy, grace and love, the Father has made me, even me, His child and forever I am. Jesus calls me friend and died to make it so. The Spirit counsels, comforts and teaches me every moment of every day. Oh, I'm not always dialed in to "words-can't-express-the wonder-of" this relationship. But the ever-glorious, ever-present, ever-faithful, ever-loving Trinity is. I'm so very thankful.

And I'm thankful that I'm thankful. How often have I treated all this as an important truth to be merely understood and believed. But today I'm grateful that it is THE TRUTH in which I live and find my being. There is no other. This is a thing of mystery and beauty from God and God alone.

Thanks be to God.

What If Starbucks Marketed Like the Church

Chief Elder Festival

Today, in my readings from Today's Daily Text Reading from the Moravian Church in North America, in addition to the regular Psalm, Old Testament and New Testament readings, there were further texts to honor the Chief Elder Festival. I'm thinking, "what is this?"

Evidently on November 13, 1741, an announcement was made to all the Brethren's Church proclaiming the Chief Eldership of Jesus Christ. What a good reminder? How easy it is to get about the "business" of God and leave behind the Lord in the process! Who is it that is to guide us through the "business"? The Good Shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:11-6, 23-24
Psalm 8
Hebrews 4:14-16
John 10:1-10

The closing prayer from today's e-mail:

Christ, you are the light of the world. You are also the light of the church. Thank you for your presence, your guidance, and your strength. We give you our hearts and our lives to serve only you. Guide our church into your will. Amen.

Amen.

Life with God

And so my "vacation with God" is coming to an end. I'm getting ready to check out of my room, grab some breakfast and drive back to Portland to catch my flight to Chicago.

Here's the prayer from Today's Daily Text Reading, the last words I read in my time praying and reading this morning:

God, we pray for your deliverance when we become confused and disheartened. Thank you for strength which is far greater than we thought possible. Thank you for insight when the way seems unclear. We ask that today you walk before us. Amen.

Pretty good prayer for a "life with God".

And so the journey continues …

Answering God

Today I read Eugene Peterson's Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. Whereas Miller's book left me somewhat cold, this was the exact opposite … deep nourishment and the promise of more.

Peterson shows how the Psalms are answers to God's initiating word to the psalmists … and to us. He explores, in his own rich way, the many shapes and facets of the "answer to God." I can't begin to capture the fullness of this book and so I'll leave you with but one quote:

We can, of course, pray in a frenzy, thrashing about. Much prayer necessarily begins that way, but we pray better, and best, when we let the rhythms of the creating word of God work themselves into the rhythms of our living, and then find expression in the psalmic rhythms of prayer. (p. 60)

Good toolkit. Get it. Read it. Use it.

(um … er … I'm referring to both Peterson's book and the Psalms … but if you gotta pick one … duh …)

The Path of Celtic Prayer

Well, I finished the book by Calvin Miller yesterday. What can I say? Less than stellar.

Not to say that it was a complete waste of time. In fact there are some helpful thoughts that I intend to capture in my own prayer life. So I'm glad I read it. Not sure I'd recommend it.

Miller draws six lessons or ways of prayer from the Celtic tradition. They are not all necessarily unique to Celtic prayer nor are they completely discrete.

First is the importance of Trinity Prayer, addressing the fullness of God in all forms of prayer. How much of our prayer today is addressed to only one person, generally either the Father or the Son? But for the Celts it wasn't just to pray in the name of the Trinity but to enter into relational communion with the Trinity.

Second is Scripture Prayer or praying the Bible back to its Author. The Psalms in particular were embraced as an avenue of spoken prayer. (We also see this in the Benedictine tradition among others.)

Third is Long, Wandering Prayer wherein life is seen as a single, unending prayer. For the wandering Celtic monks (peregrini), it was not the destination but the journey that was important. In the journey union with Christ was sought through a life of prayer. I see some similarities, in purpose at least, with the practice of The Jesus Prayer in the Orthodox tradition. Miller describes it all this way:

The life of pilgrimage praying isn't merely punctuated by prayer. The pilgrimage is the prayer. The peregrini weren't going somewhere to pray, they were praying as they went, wherever they went. They were pilgrims without a shrine. Life wasn't a destination. Life was the journey. They never really "arrived," so they never stopped praying. (p. 79)

Well, this may be easy to describe, but it's rather hard to do, isn't it?

We say that we are committed to following Christ wherever he leads. But the truth is that when Christ doesn't reveal where we're going, we get antsy. To be happy, weve got to know our destination. Rather than tarrying in prayer, we make plans for ourselves. we make secondary plans in case our primary plans don's work out. We make tertiary plans in case our secondary plans don't work out. The very notion that God holds our plans and that we get there only by trusting scares us to death. (p. 84)

Fourth is Nature Prayer, the offering up of poetry and praise in ordinary life. There is a "nowness" to Celtic prayer. "Only in the present is it possible to pray. Try to put devotion anywhere else and it dies." (p. 94) And part of the Celts "nowness" was living in nature where they saw signs of the Maker everywhere which broke forth in praise and poetry.

One of the reasons I like to come to Oceanside, Oregon is that the beauty of the ocean, of the coast, of the islands all cause me to praise and I feel closer to my Creator than when I'm in concrete suburbia.

Fifth is the Lorica Prayer or asking God for protection. "At heart the lorica says, God, only while I live can I serve you, so please protect and extend my life." (p. 119) I really don't pray this way at all … and yet, why not? Isn't Ephesians 6:13-18 rather similar to the lorica?

Finally, there is the Confessional Prayer or living in agreement with God. Miller shows 3 meanings for confession: 1) the assent to a proposition, creed or doctrine, 2) the admission of sin and guilt and 3) a spiritual autobiography (such as of Augustine or Patrick). All of these are means of agreeing with God in prayer, even though we tend to think in terms of only the middle one.

Naturally, for all of these points, Miller unpacks and expands each category. The book is wonderfully filled with prayer illustrations from the Celtic tradition that give voice to the points Miller is making. Perhaps it was just that I was already familiar with much of the territory covered, but I was definitely hoping for more from this book.