hunger and thirst, tuesday

Tuesday, July 7

Opening Prayer: O God of tender mercies, I know I’ve kept you at arm’s length.  I’ve kept you safe in heaven.  But heaven has leaned down to the earth and I’ve been touched anew.  Like thirsty ground I long for you.  Forgive my casualness about your Love.  Forgive my shallow life.  I am finished with shallowness.  I used to pray that I be saved from eternal death, but now I pray to be saved from shallow living.  Eternal death?  Shallow living?  Is there a difference?  O God, deliver me from shallow living! (A Tree Full of Angels by Macrina Wiederkehr)

Scripture: John 6:25-35

Journal: How are you working for “food that perishes” these days?  What does it mean to you that Jesus is the bread of life?  What does it look like to feed on him today?

Reflection:

 

     All of us are willing to admit pangs of hunger and feelings of emptiness inside us.  We experience half-formed dreams and vague drives for something more than human resources can promise or produce.  There is in each of us a dynamic, a mystique or drive that, unless detoured by human selfishness, leads to search for God, whether we know it or not.  It is this desire that carries us beyond what we can see into the darkness and obscurity of faith.  It is a hunger that can be satisfied in God alone.  Obviously, God does not intend to satisfy this desire completely in this world; its function is to draw us closer and closer to God who alone can give us complete satisfaction.  This is the truth which St. Augustine discovered, after the discouragement of so many blind alleys:  “our hearts were made for you, O God, and they shall not rest until they rest in you.” (A Reason to Live!  A Reason to Die! By John Powell)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)

hunger and thirst, monday

Monday, July 6

Opening Prayer: O God, giver of life and source of living water.  Forgive me for all the places other than you that I go to satisfy the deepest longings of my heart.  Help me to see what broken wells I go to each day in search of the fullness only you can provide.  Allow me to quench the thirst of my soul in You this day, and in nothing or no one else.  Through Christ.  Amen.

Scripture: Jeremiah 2:11-13

Journal: What are your broken wells? Where are you trying to satisfy the thirst of your soul apart from Christ?

Reflection:

 

     It’s part of my pastoral calling to look closely at the lives of those who go to church.  They all clean up pretty nicely on Sunday morning.  But just below the surface of their navy-blue suits and colorful dresses lie souls that are not nearly so tidy.  On a typical Sunday in our church, I sit facing the congregation while the choir sings the anthem before the sermon.  I gaze into the faces of people I know and love.  I see the elder whose marriage is hanging on by a thread.  Next to him is the Sunday school teacher whose daughter was arrested last week for driving under the influence of alcohol.  Two pews behind them is the church’s newest widow, who is wondering how she will survive sitting in church alone for the first time in forty years.  She happens to be sitting next to a young couple who desperately want to be parents, but not a single one of the fertility treatments seem to be helping.  The details may change as I look from face to face, but the essential story remains the same.  They are all thirsty.

     My job is to remember that what we are struggling with is not just our families and jobs.  No, the stakes are much higher than that.  The real struggle is with our parched souls.  We were created with a need to satisfy our physical thirst, and every morning of our lives we are reminded of this thirst.  But this physical thirst is a symbol, maybe even a sacrament, that points to the deeper spiritual thirst of the soul.  So also is our longing for better families and more satisfying jobs a symbol of our deeper yearning to be a part of the family and mission of God.  We simply cannot satisfy the thirst of our souls by pouring on new relationships, experience, achievements, or careers.

      We will never find what we are looking for in the things we pick up along the way.  Not even the religious things.  Not even important things like relationships.  All of these things will leave our souls empty if we try to force them to satisfy our thirst.  The true object of our search is nothing less than an encounter with the Holy One. (Sacred Thirst by M. Craig Barnes)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Forgive us, O God, for forsaking you, the fountain of living water and creating for ourselves broken cisterns, cisterns that cannot hold water.  Help us, O Lord, to return to you and drink from the waters of life.  Amen.

hunger and thirst, sunday

Sunday, July 5

Opening Prayer: You called, You cried, you shattered my deafness.  You sparkled, you blazed, You drove away my blindness.  You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for You.  I tasted and now I hunger and thirst.  You touched me, and now I burn with longing for your peace. (Confessions by St. Augustine)

Scripture: John 4:1-26

Journal: What are you most thirsty for these days?  What well are you going to in order to try and get “it?”  How is that working for you?  What would it mean to drink deeply of Jesus?

Reflection:

     “Are you thirsty?” said the Lion.

     “I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.

     “Then drink,” said the Lion.

     “May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.

     The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl.  And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

     The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

     “Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.

     “I make no promise,” said the Lion.

     Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

     “Do you eat little girls?” she said.

     “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion.  It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry.  It just said it.

     “I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill

     “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.

     “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer.  “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”

     “There is no other stream,” said the Lion. (The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis) 

Prayers

Closing Prayer: O God, help me to realize, both this day and every day, that the thirst that lies so deeply within me can only be quenched by you.  Help me come to you this day and drink.  Through Jesus.  Amen.

intimacy, saturday

Saturday, July 4

Opening Prayer: O Lord, our God, give us the grace and the strength to dwell in you all the minutes of this day.  Allow us the pleasure of beholding your beauty in all times and through all the circumstances that lie before us.  May we continually seek your face.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 27:1-8

Journal: What beauty have you beheld recently?  How has God shown himself beautiful in your life and world?  What did that do within you?  How will you go about seeking his face today?

Reflection:

 

     The spiritual guidance Brother Lawrence (Practicing the Presence of God) offers is simple: the love of God is everything, a love that surrounds and enfolds us.  Out of this love should proceed a rhythm of continual internal awareness of God.  Our constant conversation with God helps us to remember that he is our partner in everything we do.  Br. Lawrence used to say to the Lord, “So that my work will be better, Lord, work with me; receive my work and possess all my affections.”

     Just as two people who love each other find their days filled with thoughts of each other, so in this practice we raise our minds to remember the One who loves us most.  We establish a loving, familiar union with God, who holds us in the palm of his gentle hand.  The practice of the presence of God becomes a habitual state of the soul, an openness to the Divine One who surrounds us in our busy lives. (Beginning Contemplative Prayer by Kathryn J. Hermes)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: God, I’m asking for one thing, only one thing: To live with you in your house my whole life long.  I’ll contemplate your beauty; I’ll study at your feet.  That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. God, hold me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down.  I’m headed for your place to offer anthems that will raise the roof!  Already I’m singing God-songs; I’m making music to You. ~The Message

intimacy, friday

Friday, July 3

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, Thank you that you desire intimacy with us.  Help us to always live in you.  May we always be so intimately connected with you that we are closer to you than a vine and its branches.  That way we cannot help but to bear fruit, by your power and for your glory.  Amen.

Scripture: John 15:1-11

Journal: What about this image captures your heart or speaks to your soul?  How is the process of abiding in him going these days?  What are your typical abiding places, if not Jesus?

Reflection:

 

     Intimacy is all about connection.  Nowhere do we see this more visibly portrayed that here in John 15:1-11.  Jesus is speaking to his disciples in the upper room, trying to prepare them for what is to come and the ministry that will follow.  He’s telling them what his deepest hopes are for their (as well as our) relationship with him in the days ahead.  And just look at the picture he uses:

     “I want to be so intimately connected to you that we are like a vine and its branches, so connected that you cannot tell where one stops and the other begins.  So intimately connected that you draw your very lifeblood straight out of me.  So connected that the fullness I give to you cannot help but become fruit bursting forth all over you.  That’s the way this life of the Spirit works.  Fruit cannot grow apart from the vine, it must grow because of it.  As you draw your life and your nourishment, your joy and your love, straight from my heart it will bring about beautiful fruit on your branches.  Fruit that was intended to draw others into relationship with me.  Fruit that will allow everyone who comes in contact with you to taste and see that the Lord is good.”

     So the mode of intimacy is connection, but the goal of intimacy is fruitfulness—for his kingdom and his glory.

Prayers

Closing Prayer: O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~The Book of Common Prayer

intimacy, thursday

Thursday, July 2

Opening Prayer:  Lord God, intimacy is about connection, not just proximity.  As we come to this time today, O God, help us to truly connect with you in the depths of our being, rather than merely going through the motions.  It is you, O Lord, that we seek.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 131:1-3

Journal: What does the image in this Psalm do within you?  How does it speak to your life?  To your longings?  Is this image a reality, or merely a dream?  How can you become like a weaned child with its mother in your relationship with God?

Reflection:

 

     In their book The Art of Intimacy, the Malones, a father and son team, make an important distinction between closeness and intimacy.

     Closeness, they write, “is a very intense personal awareness of the relationship you have with another.”  It’s the feeling we get when we agree with someone, when someone is like us, when we share space and emotional warmth together.

     Intimacy is often confused with closeness.  We think we’re intimate when we’re close.  That may be true, but the desire for closeness may also become a trap.  It can gradually force us to deny ourselves (our true selves) and to live a lie in order to maintain the illusion of warmth and togetherness.  This produces an unnatural “truce” in which our true passion is sacrificed for the sake of peace.

     According to the Malones, intimacy is distinguished from closeness.  The word Intimacy is derived from the Latin word intima, meaning “inner” or “innermost,” and carries the idea of being in touch with our inner selves.  It does not focus on the feelings of warmth or the awareness of similarity.  Intimacy is the art of bringing our true selves into the relationship. (The River Within by Jeff Imbach)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: God, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain.  I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans.  I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.  Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.  Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope.  Hope now; hope always! ~The Message

intimacy, wednesday

Wednesday, July 1

Opening Prayer: Lord, enfold me in the depths of your heart; and there hold me, refine, purge, and set me on fire, raise me aloft, until my own self knows utter annihilation. ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Scripture: John 17:20-26

Journal: What captures you most about Jesus’ prayer for you?  What is your sense of union with God these days?  How would you describe your intimacy level with him?  What might help move that to deeper places? 

Reflection:

 

God dwells within you.  You are yourself the tabernacle, his secret hiding place.  Rejoice, exult, for all you could possibly desire, all your heart’s longing is so close, so intimate as to be within you; you cannot be without him. ~John of the Cross

 

Some people live for God, some people live with God, and some people live in God. (Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to never settle living for you, or even with you, when you desire us to live in you.  Amen.