We all fall into our ruts of worship and prayer. We pray to our style and find churches that meet that outlook. Pentecostals might find speaking in tongues as normal as breakfast, but be extremely uncomfortable praying the Rosary. Episcopalians might have no problem praying the daily office, but to sing praise songs with arms uplifted would make most run the other way. Today, pray and worship in a way you find uncomfortable. Use formal prayer, pray the Rosary, ask... Read more
Part of the work of any Christian is to reflect Christ’s work of being a gift to the world . We can be gifts to one another whether friends or strangers. Today, be a gift to someone. It could be as simple as a well put compliment to a stranger. In being a gift you will call others into an economy of gifts that transcends the mechanical transactions we so often fall into in our day. Read more
Spend twenty minutes reading and rereading Deuteronomy 10:12-21. This passage sums up the relationship of God and God’s people. Over the next week work on memorizing the passage or a shorter selection from it. Read more
Have you seen a baby rest in her mother’s arm’s recently? It is a kind of peace that is unlike anything. That is the kind of peace we have in the arms of God. This is the experience of the Sabbath practiced well. Read more
The natural world offers a kind of peace and a way to enter into God’s presence that is missing in the world of human construction. Go to a natural place today, even if it is a weedy patch of grass in a suburb. Spend time there and simply be in peace of the place. Remember that God is the creator, above all, in all. Read more
Friday is a traditional fast day in Christianity because it is on this day that we mourn both the failure and triumph of love. In the crucifiction we mourn the failure of love in that humanity refused to accept the love that Christ came to offer and yet on the cross we also see love’s triumph because Christ pursued love even to the point of a horrific death. Fasting was once a more common part of life, sometimes because there... Read more
Sit in silence for 20 minutes outdoors. Listen carefully, isolating each sound as it comes–the wind, birds, bugs, the rustling of leaves. Does God speak with these voices? Read more
Psalm 45 is bewildering to me. I can’t really understand it or why its in the Psalter, but its there and so I have to respond to it. That’s one of the wonderful things about the Bible–it forces us to engage with strange cultures and strange ideas and ask what this tells us about God. It is with the passages we don’t understand that we sometimes need to spend the most time. So today, spend twenty minutes reading and reflecting... Read more
Go outside and find a space to mark off one square foot. Sit and observe that square foot for at least ten minutes. Praise God for what you notice; ask forgiveness for not noticing before. Read more
Read, re-read and meditate on 2 Peter 1:2-10. Then work on memorizing the passage over the week. What does it mean for us to be “partakers of the divine nature”? Read more
Word + Flesh
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