At the dawn - Walter Brueggemann

Our first glimpse of reality this day - everyday - is your fidelity.

We are dazzled by the ways you remain constant among us,

in season, out of season,

for better, for worse,

in sickness and in health.

You are there in watchfulness as we fall asleep;

You are there in alertness when we awaken...and we are glad.

Before the day ends, we will have occasion

to flag your absence in indifference...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Before the day ends, we will think more than once

that we need a better deal from you...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Before the day ends, we will look away from you and

relish our own fidelity and our virtue in mercy...

but not now, not at the dawn.

Now, at the dawn, our eyes are fixed on you in gladness.

We ask only that your faithfulness

permeate every troubled place we are able to name

that your mercy

move against the hurts to make new,

that your steadfastness

hold firmly what is too fragile on its own.

And we begin the day in joy, in hope, and in deep gladness. Amen.

It Might Get Loud

This poster is pretty genius.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

bon iver - blood bank from Parker on Vimeo.

We Are Not Alone

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." - Romans 8:26-27

We are not alone in our prayers. In our sighs. In the very things that surpass words. Unable to speak? Process? Understand? Put to words?

You are not alone.

We are not alone.

Pray As You Can

Read this in "Sacred Space" this morning and it made me think:

"One of the chief dead-ends in developing my spiritual life is to want to have someone else's spiritual life. If, for instance, I visit a convent one day, or see a monastery on TV, I may find myself thinking, 'I wish I could pray like them.' But if I am a school teacher, or an accountant, or looking after my children all day, then that rhythm of prayer may just not be suited to me. Pray as you can, not as you can't is an obvious maxim, but one that is frequently overlooked, leading to a lot of unrealistic expectations and frustration."

"Finding my own rhythm, a way of praying that suits me, may involve some experimentation with times and places and with different styles and approaches. At times I will need to persevere and not give up on something too easily. I also need, however, to be prepared to say, 'This doesn't work for me.' Finding a way of praying I can sustain is an important step in developing my relationship with God."

Isn't that encouraging? First off, it reminds me that we are all called to pray. It's not an optional piece of life. We were created to interact and be in relationship with God, and prayer is a major component in that journey. The struggle shouldn't be, "should I pray" but rather "how should I pray". Find ways that help you engage with God. Sometimes I journal my prayers because it helps me focus. Praying out loud helps me remained focused as well. Silent prayer doesn't work as well for me, simply because I start thinking about a million other things. Going on walks around the neighborhood is a great exercise as well. If you're not sure to pray, start with prayers you know. Open up the Psalms, or perhaps pray the Lord's Prayer. Let those prayers start the journey but then open up to other prayer pieces. Be honest with God. Tell him how you're feeling.

The other thing this quote did was give us freedom to be who we are. Comparison brings one of two things: pride or shame. Pride because you've assessed yourself next to someone else, and you fared well. Shame because in the comparison, the other person looks better than you and you feel "less than". Neither are good, healthy postures. Good self-assessment is welcome, but one should never be shamed into trying harder. The motivation should always be, "God, shape me to be who you've made me to be. Continue to create where I've destroyed, continue to grow where I've withered. Make me truly alive."

Lastly, I'd encourage you to find some books on prayer to read. Pick up books that address the understanding of prayer like Richard Foster's "Prayer", CS Lewis' "Letters to Malcolm", Anthony Bloom's "Beginning To Pray", or Eugene Peterson's "Answering God: The Psalms As Tools For Prayer". Also consider books that actually call you to pray along with them like the Puritan's "Valley of Vision", Walter Brueggemann's "Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth", Phyllis Tickle's "The Divine Hours", or the Jesuit's "Sacred Space".

Would we be a people who pray regularly as God has made us to be. It's in that place that we'll continue to be shaped and refined.

Shalom Seekers: A Third Meditation on Psalm 34:14

"Swerve from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it."

The first couple meditations focused in on refraining from evil, engaging in good, and finally we end with this last phrase: "seek peace and pursue it." The word for peace in Hebrew is "shalom" which although it does mean peace, the peace spoken of here is on a much grander scale than the peace we might imagine. We see peace as the lack of conflict or war, while the shalom of the Bible is a peace that entails a wholeness, a rightness. Not just a wholeness for the individual, but also for his relationships and for the whole world he lives in. With the fall of man in Genesis 3 we saw a multi-layered curse issued because of it, clearly seeing its fruits throughout the world today. This curse affected the relationships between man and God, man and woman, and man and nature. God's desire is for a large scale shalom movement, re-newing and re-novating that which has been incomplete and fractured for thousands of years.

So what does it mean for us today to seek peace? I would argue it entails seeking wholeness in our lives. The first "rightness" we must find is a rightness in our relationship with God. We need what Jesus called a "new birth", or a "second birth". Jesus came to earth, died on the cross, and rose again to bring us from a place of separation from God to a place of union with God. He came to correct that which we were utterly incapable of correcting. In Romans 5:1, Paul declares that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. This vertical peace spoken of in turn leads to a desire for a horizontal peace, a rightness of relationship with others and with nature. We are taught by God to be good stewards of our friendships, our jobs, our city, and our environment.

The final encouragement is the same in the verb at the end of the verse: "pursue it". It's a reminder that shalom seeking is not always an easy thing to do. In fact, it's just the opposite: very hard and discouraging at times. We see an "anti-shalom" that permeates the earth and even our hearts. It takes the gospel of Jesus transforming our fist-shaking rebellion towards God into clean submitted-hands that work to carry out the very things that Jesus's hands did on the earth. We follow him towards a global shalom. It takes discipline and an intentional focus on the things we hope to see happen, regardless of the initial outcomes. It takes what Nietzsche called "a long obedience in the same direction":

"The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is... that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living."

Let it be so.

Doing: A Meditation on Psalm 34:14

"...and do good"

This is part 2 of the meditation on Psalm 34:14.

Although the last phrase's emphasis was on the negative (ie saying "no" to evil, turning away, or swerving from evil), we can't let that be the end of the movement. We can't turn from evil and then assume we're "good". It's good to turn away, but what are you turning towards? Something better or worse? The Pharisees found themselves in this same place, turning from evil, but turning towards self-righteousness, in a sense attempting to be their own saviors. This sort of thought process was violently opposed by Jesus, because it led to the Pharisees assuming they were "healthy" when in fact they were just as sick as the tax collectors but completely unaware. They were outwardly healthy but inwardly dead.

So what do we turn towards? Jesus seemed to have a "third way". It wasn't a life spent on pleasure (like the "sinners" he hung out with), but it wasn't a life devoted to meaningless ritual (like the Pharisees he confronted). He invited people to repent of both these paths, and be "born again". This re-birth involved placing a new spiritual heart within people. A new humanity learning to live again under a new King in a new kingdom. Jesus the King was crucified by his subjects under the old kingdom's regime so that today we could live under a new authority, stronger than sin and death (the very things he declared as dead on the cross and evidenced by the empty grave). What do we trust in as we swerve from sin? Our new good deeds? Our good behavior only lasts so long, and then we realize the problem wasn't just our outward actions, but our inward intentions. We're bent outwardly, but primarily inwardly. Jesus' life isn't just meant to "un-bend" our actions, but also our heart. In a strange sense, we all had been kidnapped since birth and Jesus' life was the very ransom that paid for us to be freed from the hands of our captors. We learn to trust in his ransom, recognizing that we lacked the power to ransom ourselves, and then also learn to live a new life that's forever affected and influenced by that very ransom. If you want to read a simple book on this thought, check out Tim Keller's book called "The Prodigal God".

Another thought: often our empty religion can lead us to a list of things we're refraining from (sex, alcohol, rated R movies, fill-in-the-blank morality) but never call us to engage in anything. The word repentance is commonly misunderstood by our generation, and is almost called a bad word. However, in the word "repentance" is the idea that we don't just turn from something, but we also turn toward something. Jesus calls us to follow him. So often we think faith is about abstaining, but it's also about engaging, feasting, delighting, and enjoying God and his gifts. We turn from evil and turn from thinking that our turning suddenly makes us holy, and turn towards Jesus, following Him, trusting in His ransoming sacrifice. Would we consider what are we swerving from but also swerving to?

Those rescued from death, from kidnappers, from a terminal disease always live differently. They are a grateful people. They know what matters. They seem to be present, in the moment. Would we not just settle for outward purity, but an inward joy that leads to a full life of someone who's grateful for the days they have. The gospel is not just about saving people from something, but rather saving people for something. Let's be known not just for what we say "no" to (which is necessary often), but primarily for what we say "yes" to... Would we consider ways of doing good, not just in word but in action. He didn't say, "swerve from evil and talk good (Okie way of saying "talk nicely"), but "do good". Throughout the New Testament, it's clear our faith doesn't just affect a portion of our lives, but rather consumes the whole thing. True religious affections always lead to full expression of life, they must be manifested. The God-life in us always finds its way out into our actions, evidenced by fruit that looks like God. Because of the good work in you, go and "do good".