ordinary, saturday

Saturday, August 2

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

Opening Prayer: Our Father, help us to see you today in all that we come into contact with, knowing that you use ordinary things to give us an extraordinary sense of your presence in our lives.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Scripture Reading for the Day: Acts 2:42-47

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Ordinary Time, ultimately, is about how we order our lives in a way that makes space for the movement of God within us and among us.  It is about living out our day-to-day existence in such a way that it moves us in the direction of the life we most deeply long to live, or, more accurately, the life that God most deeply longs to live in and through us.  This will not happen in a casual or haphazard manner, but requires a good bit of thought and reflection and prayer.  The old adage is: “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”  Therefore, we must be both intentional and purposeful in what we do each day, each week, each month, and each year if we ever have any hope of arriving at our chosen destination—union with God.

     We have to look no further than the early church to see a prime example of that.  Here in Acts 2 the Spirit-filled community of the Risen Christ is just beginning to take shape.  God is moving in mighty ways, and as this movement of His Spirit becomes more and more pronounced, the people of God have to decide what things they will devote themselves to in order to intentionally make space for, and nurture, this fire of God’s Spirit that has flamed up among and within them.  The Greek word here (proskartereō) is a combination of two words that literally means to be strong toward.  Thus, as the Spirit began to move, God’s people realized the need to arrange their lives in such a way as to ensure they paid regular attention to the things that would nurture this new life.  They decided—somehow, someway—that they would be strong toward four specific things: the apostle’s teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and the prayers.  And that these four things would be the axis around which their life with God would revolve.

     Likewise, if we have any hope of living the life God most deeply longs to live in and through us—a life of depth and quality with God and with each other—we will need to be intentional as well.  We will need to think and reflect and pray.  We will need to listen to the voice of God’s Spirit as he tells us what things we need to be strong toward in order to live a life of union and intimacy with Him.

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

 

Closing Prayer: O God within me, give me grace today to recognize the stirrings of Thy Spirit within my soul and to listen most attentively to all that Thou hast to say to me.  Let not the noises of the world ever so confuse me that I cannot hear Thee speak. (A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)