naked, day 5

Come to Stillness:

Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O Lord my God, how I long to recapture the purity and joy of the Garden—when I was able to stand before you (and others) naked and unashamed. That, indeed, is what I was made for. But this side of heaven that is not my reality. My reality is filled with fear and shame; hiding and covering—terrified that I will be exposed, found out, not enough. How I genuinely long for true communion with you; total vulnerability; deep trust—to be fully known and fully loved. Have mercy on me! Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 30

Scripture for the Day: Ezekiel 16:1-14

Reading for Reflection:

     Rabbi Abraham Heschel said at the Liturgical Conference in Milwaukee that what we needed, what the world needed, was prayer.

     And now I pick up Thomas Merton’s book, Contemplative Prayer, which I am starting to read, and the foreword by our good Quaker friend Douglas Steere brought back to my memory a strange incident in my life.  He quotes William Blake: “We are put on earth for a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love.”  And he goes on to say that to escape these beams, to protect ourselves from these beams, even devout men hasten to devise protective clothing.  We do not want to be irradiated by love (By Little and By Little—The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day edited by Robert Ellsberg)

It is jarring to learn that what He went through in His passion and death is meant for us too; that the invitation He extends is Don’t weep for me!  Join me!  The life He has planned for Christians is a life much like He lived.  He was not poor that we might be rich.  He was not mocked that we might be honored.  He was not laughed at so that we would be lauded.  On the contrary, He revealed a picture meant to include you and me.

                      It makes me happy to be suffering

                      for you now, and in my own body

                      to make up all the hardships that

          still have to be undergone by Christ

          for the sake of His body, the Church.

                  Colossians 1:24 NJB)

     By extinguishing the spirit that burns in the gospel, we scarcely feel the glow anymore.  We have gotten so used to the ultimate Christian fact—Jesus naked, stripped, and crucified—that we no longer see it for what it actually is.  We are to strip ourselves of earthly cares and worldly wisdom, all desire for human praise, greediness for any kind of comfort, spiritual consolations included.  The gospel is a summons to be stripped of those fine pretenses by which we manage to paint a portrait of ourselves for the admiration of friends. (The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Just As I Am

Just as I am without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come. I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot.
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come. I come.

Just as I am, tho’ tossed about,
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come. I come.

Just as I am poor, wretched, blind—
Sight, riches, healings of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee I find,
O Lamb of God, I come. I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
O yes Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come. I come.


Closing Prayer:
Lord Jesus, give me the grace and the strength and the courage to take off that which I use to cover myself; and to clothe myself only and always in you alone. Amen. (JLB)