action and contemplation

Opening Prayer: “I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

Scripture: Psalm 131:1-3

Journal: Is your soul like a weaned child with its mother right now?  Why or why not?  What would happen if you actually took the time right now to stop and rest in the loving embrace of your God?  Will you?

Reflection: “When there is a crisis in the Church, it is always here: a crisis of contemplation.

     The church wants to feel able to explain about her spouse even when she has lost sight of him; even when, although she has not been divorced, she no longer knows his embrace, because curiosity has gotten the better of her and she has gone searching for other people and other things.” (The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto)

We talk about being a weaned child with its mother, we read about it, we study it, we teach it, and we even write about it.  But do we do it?  Do we actually ever become a weaned child with its mother?  That is the crisis of contemplation.

Action that is not born out of contemplation has no power or authenticity.  It is just theory and dogma without experience and encounter.  We must stop talking about it and just do it!  Become a weaned child with its mother!  For only then will we be able to experience the stilled and quieted heart of one whose hope and love and life are rooted firmly in God alone.  Only then do we have any hope of being a non-anxious presence in this broken, chaotic, and fearful world.

Pray

Closing Prayer: O Lord, help me not just to talk about being a weaned child with its mother, but help me to actually become a weaned child with its mother.  Help me to live every minute of my life in your strong and loving embrace.

connectedness

Opening Prayer: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice.  Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.  If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  My soul waits for the Lord ore than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.  He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.” (Psalm 130:1-8)

Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8

Journal: What does praying and reading this psalm do within you?  What is stirred?  What is challenged?  What words or images stick out the most to you?  Why?  What is God saying to you through them?

Reflection: Have mercy, wait for the Lord, put your hope in the Lord, and trust in the Lord are all interconnected.  If you take out one of them out, the whole thing falls down.  Thus, all are essential, and all are interdependent as we walk with God. 

Mercy involves the realization of my immense need for Jesus—not merely in salvation (which is huge), but in all things.  It involves me realizing that I cannot do or accomplish anything of eternal value on my own.  Not one thing.  I am totally helpless and dependent on God and his power.

If I can do nothing (as Jesus tells me in John 15:5), then I am totally dependent on God’s mercy for anything and everything.  Which is not a good look for us.  We do everything we can to make sure we never have to depend on anyone.  But the truth is that all of us are totally dependent on God and his mercy.  Therefore, our only recourse is to wait for the Lord.

But we can’t really wait for the Lord if our hope is not in the Lord.  This is where the lines get a little blurry, because it is hard for us to see, at times, what our hope is really in.  Sometimes our hope is in our gifts and abilities.  Sometimes it is in the gifts and abilities of others.  Sometimes it’s in our circumstances, our performance, or the opinions and affirmations of those around us.  All of which point to our hope being in ourselves instead of in our God.

So, it all comes down to trust.  We can’t possibly hope in the Lord—or beg him for mercy or wait for him—if we do not trust him.  It’s as simple as that.  Which brings us right back to begging for mercy.  For when we cry out for mercy, God gives it to us 100% of the time.  It may not look like we want it to—which is a mercy in and of itself—but it is exactly what we need.

Pray

Closing Prayer: Hope in the Lord, O my soul; wait for him.  Do not take matters into your own hands, but trust in him to move, speak, and act in whatever way he sees fit.  That’s what walking with God is all about; he leads, and we follow.

come and rest

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are tired and weary, but for some reason we refuse to come to you and rest.  We are so busy carrying our own heavy yoke that we never really consider carrying your easy yoke instead.  Help us to have the courage and the strength and the grace to come to you, to take you up on your beautiful invitation.  Then we will be finally able to experience the rest and the peace and the refreshment that only you can offer.

Scripture: Matthew 11:25-30

Journal: Do you resist rest?  How and why?  Are you hesitant to come to Jesus?  What causes that hesitation?  Will you take him up on his invitation today?

Reflection: “Come unto 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) What a beautiful invitation, and yet we rarely, if ever, take Jesus up on it.

Why is that?  Why are we so resistant to rest?  Why are we so hesitant to come?  Jesus gives us an open invitation into the life and joy and rest of the Trinity and we refuse.  Why on earth would we do that?  Are our egos so big that we think we can manage and control our lives better than he can?  Are we so prideful and delusional that we would rather sink or swim on our own than surrender to his care, direction, and control?

It’s nothing new; Isaiah and Jeremiah ran into the same thing: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy one of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.’” (Isaiah 30:15) “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’  But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” (Jeremiah 6:16)

What is wrong with us?  God offers us the moon and we settle for the darkness.  He offers us a life of peace and joy and rest, and we settle for anxiety, weariness, and busyness.  We’re a piece of work, huh?

Pray

Closing Prayer: “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:5-6)

broken and contrite

Opening Prayer: “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

Scripture: Psalm 51:17

Journal: What does it mean to have a broken and contrite heart?  What does it look like to offer it to God as a sacrifice?  What is the spiritual fruit of brokenness, desperation, and dependence?

Reflection: “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

It could be that my brokenness, desperation, and dependence are the best things I have going for me.  It could be that they open up great space for God to live, move, and act in and through me.  Thus, maybe I should embrace them rather than reject, avoid, or deny them.

Maybe they are an invitation rather than an intrusion.  An invitation to recognize the presence of God, the hand of God, and the power of God amidst all the chaos.  An invitation to share in the sufferings and vulnerability of Christ, and to become more and more like him.

Maybe a continual sacrifice of my deep brokenness and contrition makes good space for God to do some of his best work, because it keeps me from taking up all the space.  I am emptied of my competence and my adequacy and independence so that he can finally fill me with himself.  Maybe that sacrifice keeps me where he wants me and makes me who he wants me to be―humble, lowly, and dependent.  When we don’t recognize our great need for Jesus, we tend to take up all the space ourselves.  That’s why God will never despise an offering of a broken and contrite heart.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.  I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered.  Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.” (Psalm 51:17, MSG)

an old invitation for a new year

Opening Prayer: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why send money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul with delight in the richest of fare.  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-3

Journal: What is God’s invitation to you for the New Year?  How is he inviting you to come?  How is he inviting you to listen?  How is he inviting you to eat what is good, that your soul may live?

Reflection: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why send money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul with delight in the richest of fare.  Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

A New Year has begun, but God's invitation is always the same: "Come!" Could intimacy with God really be this simple?  Just listen to God’s words of invitation here, and you tell me: come, come, come, come, listen, listen, eat, give ear and come to me, and hear me.  That's all we've got to do; the rest is up to him.  He’s the one who fills our hearts and brings delight to our souls.  All we have to do is come and listen.  Why do we make it so complicated?  And why don’t we consistently do what is written in these short few verses?  For if we did, our souls would truly live.  

What is God’s invitation to you for the New Year?  How is he inviting you to "Come"?  How is he inviting you to listen?  How is he inviting you to eat what is good, that your soul may live?

Pray

Closing Prayer: “Hey there!  All who are thirsty, come to the water!  Are you penniless?  Come anyway—buy and eat!  Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.  Buy without money—everything’s free!  Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?  Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest.  Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, MSG)

dwell, gaze, seek

Opening Prayer: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Scripture: Psalm 27:4

Journal: What is the “one thing” you are asking of the Lord these days?  Where does dwelling, gazing, and seeking fall on your list?  If you took time and made space to do those three things, how would your life be different?  How different would your level of intimacy with God be?

Reflection: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t typically ask to dwell, gaze, and seek.  I’m far too busy asking for my circumstances to change.  But circumstances are fleeting; they are only the tip of the iceberg.  A lot more substantial things lie underneath the surface.  Maybe it’s those things I need to address.  Maybe those are the “things” I need to “ask” for.  Maybe I need to ask God to do a work in me that’s far bigger than my ever-changing circumstances.  Wouldn’t that be a much better thing to ask for?   

We all long for spiritual intimacy with God but are often resistant to doing the very things that can bring it about.  We want the result, but don’t want to have to invest in the process.  Thus, the problem spiritual practice is that it only works if we do it.  The spiritual practices work on us, not on God.  They make time and space for spiritual intimacy to be more of a possibility.

If we set aside time and make space to dwell in his presence, to gaze upon his beauty, and to seek him in his temple, our level of spiritual intimacy is bound to increase.  For it is in the dwelling that deep knowing takes place, it is in the gazing that our hearts are captured by his beauty and his love, and in the seeking that we find him—and are found by him—in new and deeper ways.

I suppose that’s why it’s the “one thing” King David “asked of the Lord.”  And we might want to do the same. 

O Lord, we just ask for one thing: help us to learn how to dwell in you, give us eyes to gaze upon your beauty, and give us a heart that is continually seeking after you.  If you give us that, we will know you deeper and better than our hearts ever imagined.

Pray

Closing Prayer: “I’m only asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long.  I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.  That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world.  The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.” (Psalm 27:4, MSG)

all things new

Opening Prayer: “I am not making all new things; I am making all things new.  That includes you!  How do you long to be made new these days?  Will you give me the space and the time to make that happen, or will you continue to try and do it yourself?” ~Jesus

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-7

Journal: What “things” is God making new in you these days?  What old things need to be let go of in order to make room to fully receive the new?  How are you longing for the day when he will make all things new?

Reflection: The “new” that God will bring about, both within us and among us, cannot be commandeered, manipulated, or controlled.  It can’t be contrived or forced.  It can only be received.  It is a gift, coming down out of heaven.  Thus, our only job is to watch and wait and keep our hands empty and open, which is much harder than it sounds.

But in order to be truly received, the new must be fully taken hold of once it arrives.  It can’t just be seen and acknowledged; it must be lived.  Which means that our old ways of being and seeing must be surrendered and abandoned in order to give this new life room to grow and take shape and take root within us.  

Pray

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the now and the not yet.  Thank you that you are making some things new and that one day you will make all things new.  Give us the patience and the strength and the perseverance to wait for that day.