naked, friday

Friday, October 10

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.

         

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hosea 2:1-23

Reading for Reflection:

If ever there were words that served to strip us bare—in order to convince us of God’s extraordinary affection—they are the words of Hosea 2.  It is such a powerful, challenging, convicting, and yet passionately tender chapter.  It calls us to recognize the ways in which we have left the Lover of Our Souls and have chased after lovers that can never even begin to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.  It calls us to name these lovers (affirmation, security, significance, recognition, esteem, etc., etc., etc.) and to identify them as the cheap imitations that they really are.  It calls us to stand naked and vulnerable before our God, with our intentions exposed, admitting that we have pursued lovers other than him.   And it calls us to repent, to turn, to stop chasing after these sorry substitutes and turn back to the One who knows us like no other and loves us like no other.  It calls us to leave their flimsy, glittering arms and return the arms of him who made us for deep intimacy with himself.

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                 
Closing Prayer: O Lord, my God, what false lovers do I continually chase after for my food and my water; for my security and my significance; for my value and my worth; for affirmation and identity?  Help me to recognize that when I chase after these “lovers,” I have left you, my One True Love.  Allure me now, O Lover-God, betroth me to you, and you alone, forever.  Ravish me with your passionate love and capture my heart completely.  Make it wholly yours, that I may chase ever and always only after you. Amen.