 |
 |
Devotions Archive
Archive:
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
2022
|
2023
|
2024
Lead on, O King EternalThursday, April 4, 2019
From Psalm 106 I am who I am indeed! This season of penance and reflection can last and last forever. It seems like 40 years. But where else can we go? . Here we are, thirsty, hungry, caught between Egypt and a hard place, and clamoring for evidence. Yes, Evidence! I want to know if all this God Stuff is really real. Isn't there something I can touch, something I can worship, that I can smell or feel or taste? Something more precious than silver. Something gold? But golden calves do not satisfy. That lesson's learned and unlearned, learned and unlearned. How many simpler substitutes for God have I had this week? The "Pray As You Go" folks make a good point today. We all fall short, we all get bored and discouraged. Then there's someone ... maybe Moses, maybe not, but someone spurs us on. I might do that for you, and then tomorrow you might do that for me. In every way, we are all in this together. False promises are foolish and go nowhere. God didn't promise you a rose garden, and I can't either. What I can do, though, is take one step and then another, and beckon you to come too. Take another step. See what happens next. Tomorrow you can do the same for me. This strength to lead doesn't come so much from pep talks as from God inside. I feel stronger in the quiet, more connected to God in what poet David Whyte calls the "sweet confinement of my own aloneness." With God's peace comes peace of mind. It surpasses understanding, and rather than confining my boredom and frustration, it transforms them. Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be. If I don't eat meat, if I don't taste chocolate or coffee, if I don't watch Netflix for a few more days, what will I do instead? Another poet, much less contemporary, wrote of "the inward eye which is the bliss of solitude." Can I see around the golden calves and gaze on the mountain Moses climbed? God's so close. Can I see him with my inward eye? I can take another day, and then another, and see what God will show me on this fifth day of the fourth week of Lent in the year of our Lord, 2019. Lead on, O King Eternal, till sin's fierce war shall cease, and holiness shall whisper, the sweet amen of peace. For not with swords' loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums; with deeds of love and mercy, the heav'nly kingdom comes. "Pray as You Go" is available as a free app for your phone or tablet. |
It's gone on so long. Here it is, the fifth day of the fourth week of Lent. Perhaps you're getting tired of your fast. Perhaps like Moses' people on their journey, you are losing confidence on yours. Perhaps you've had enough of the invisible, unknown, unnamed God.