time, tuesday

Tuesday, August 19

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

Opening Prayer: Lord, help me walk slowly and deeply with you through the hours and minutes of this day—that I might find all of you that is to be found within it.  Allow me not to miss you because of hurry or busyness, but let me sense the fullness of your presence in each moment.  Slow down both my feet and my heart that I might be more present to you as I go about my normal activities.  In the Name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 58:13-14

Reading for Reflection:

 

     We redeem time (Ephesians 5:15-16 KJV) when we allow a moment or a series of moments to become for us a vehicle of God’s presence.  To redeem time is to make time transparent so that we experience it not as pressure (“Hurry up, hurry up, we haven’t enough time”), but as a sign of the holy.  Obviously, we can’t always live this way, but we can live in such a way that the redemption of time becomes an ongoing and consistent possibility.  I call this living in a Sabbath rhythm, and I am more and more convinced that the development of such a rhythm is at the heart of the recovery of authentic spirituality. 

     We can begin living in a Sabbath rhythm by deliberately setting aside one day in the week that will be lived differently from the rest.  For some people Sunday becomes this kind of day.  It seems to me, however, that this tends to confuse the issue.  For the Christian, the Sabbath is not the same as Sunday; it is a preparation for Sunday.  The idea is to take a day a week and deliberately slow it down.  Our Sabbath can be Saturday or a regular workday, but it is a day that is planned.

     We begin the day with a prayer of simple awareness, which of course can take many forms.  One way is to let your mind, at the point of awakening, focus on all that surrounds you, without analyzing or judging.  Simply take note of what you see and hear—the room, the light, the sounds.  Be aware of yourself and of the life that has been given to you and, at this moment of awareness, place the day in God’s keeping. (Ministry and Solitude by James C. Fenhagen)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

          
Closing Prayer: O Lord of the Sabbath, thank you that you have woven rest into the very fabric of creation, and that when I am not making space for Sabbath rest, I am actually going against the very image I was created in.  Give me the wisdom and the courage to stop my frantic running around and enter into the rest for which I was made.  Amen.