Archive for the 'Devotion' Category
The Shema is a traditional Jewish prayer taken from Deuteronomy 6:4. Most Jews receite this prayer at the beginning of both their morning and evening prayers. Author Scott McKnight blends some of the tradition of the Shema and the essential message of Christ into something he calls, the Jesus Creed.
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.
As a Lenten meditation, McKnight challenges his readers to receit this creed every morning and evening for forty days, allowing the essential message of Christ to be always on our mind.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Lent this year. Specifically, about how it has not been a part of my life at all up until this point and I’ve been looking for ways to integrate it. Traditionally, Lent has been a forty day period leading up until Easter and a time for Christian’s to prepare themselves for the remembrance and celebration Christianity’s most significant event: the death and resurrection of Christ.
Growing up, my church didn’t make much mention of Lent. I’m not sure why, but I think it probably seemed too Catholic for us. We’re mostly over that now, and I’ve started really see the beauty of communal traditions like this one. There’s something about joining in with people from all different cultures and even different times for the purpose of pausing to remember what Christ did. So, reciting the Jesus Creed seems like a good place to start. As for the other traditions, I don’t think I’m quite ready to take part in Ash Wednesday, but count me in for pączki day!
For more info, see the Jesus Creed » 40 Day Challenge
I was reading today and I came across Psalm 19:7,
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
And this is a function of the law that I don’t think I’ve thought of before. The law as an equalizer. It’s an indepentant source of wisdom. It doesn’t matter if you are “simple” or if you are full of “common sense”. God provided the law, something trustworthly, and if we follow it, it will make even the simple wise. Our wisdom is not found by our own mental ability but by submission to a higher authority.
I’m slowly working my way through Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son and so far, this book is changing me. I’m reading it devotionally- a page or two at a time - and really trying to let the depth of Nouwen’s insights settle in me.
In my reading today I came across this passage:
Here lies the core of my spiritual struggle: the struggle against self-rejection, self-contempt, and self-loathing. It is a very fierce battle because the world and its demons conspire to make me think about myself as worthless, useless and negligible. Many consumerist economies stay afloat by manipulating the the low self-esteem of their consumers and by creating spiritual expectations through material means. As long as I am kept “small”, I can easily be seduced to buy things, meet people, or go places that promise a radical change in self-concept even though they are totally incapable of bringing this about. But every time I allow myself to be this manipulated or seduced, I will have still more reasons for putting myself down and seeing myself as the unwanted child. (107)
I’ve been there. I think we all have. When we think that more stuff or more people can satisfy the spiritual needs of my life. I have a friend that, as we speak, has succumbed to this very issue so fully that is incapable of finding any comfort in the knowledge that He is Christ’s beloved child.
So how do I avoid following the same path? Nouwen find’s his worth when he looks, “through God’s eyes at my lost self and discover God’s joy at my coming home, then my life may become less anguished and more trusting”. (107)
The truth that I am God’s child and that he loves me and pursues me is one truth that has the potential to change me so deeply yet, at times, it seems so hard for the truth to find a deep resting place in my heart.
Want to find out more about Henri Nouwen?
Henri Nouwen on Wikipedia
See who’s blogging about Henri Nouwen via Tenchnorati
The Holy Inefficiency Of Henri Nouwen by Philip Yancy
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about God’s view of the oppressed. During my reading today I came across Psalm 12:5,
“Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise” says the Lord. “I will protect from those who malign them.”
I’m sure I’ve read that verse and many others like it before, but it really struck me today how passionately God stands with the oppressed and marginalized and how closely he identifies with them.
Just a bit later, God describes “evildoers” as “those who devour my people as men eat bread” and those who “do not call on the Lord” (Psalm 14:4). He even goes onto say in verse 6 that, “evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge”. To top it all off, the psalmist identifies the poor from verse 6 as “[the Lord's] people” whom he plans to restore (verse 7).
I guess the big question is, “do I stand with God for the oppressed?” Do I frustrate the plans of the poor or do I rise up, with God, in their defence?
Lord, help me to find your heart and truth in these matters and make them my own.
