As I have engaged in my lectio
divina on the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday (January 14,
2018), I have been particularly challenged by one phrase in each selection.
1 Samuel 3:20 says that the boy Samuel grew up to be known
as a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. I certainly do not have either the gifts
or the calling to a prophetic office as Samuel had. And now that I am not
pastor of a congregation, my ministry role is taking a different shape than it
had had for 40+ years. Yet, as I came to oratio,
I prayed not only that my reputation from those years would be that I had been
a trustworthy pastor, but that in my new roles that are still becoming clear to
me, God would consider and empower me to grow as a trustworthy servant.
1 Corinthians 6:20 says to glorify God in your (my) body. I
remember well using that in teaching teens about Christian use of their
sexuality (is directly in the context of the passage). Even at this stage of my
life, I can’t say I’m fully satisfied with how well my sexuality glorifies God,
but I am seeing that maintaining health and strength to serve in new roles as
they emerge, and especially to enable my wife Candy’s life to be as joyful as
possible on her Alzheimer’s journey, is essential to glorifying God in my body.
So my oratio is not that I will be
lauded but that God will be glorified in my daily, physical living.
In John 1:47, Jesus called Nathanael “an Israelite in whom
there is no deceit!” While “deceit” is certainly a proper translation, I still
like the KJV use of “guile.” To me it implies a broader understanding of
nothing crooked or misleading, a depth of integrity. I have often described my
wife Candy as being like Nathanael, a woman in whom there is no guile. She
assumes the best about people, even in the midst of their foibles. She takes
things at face value and speaks without any twisting of words. Friends and
family find this amusing at times and she misses the humor of jokes that depend
on double entendre. This week, this passage has been prompting my oratio to ask God to stand guard over my
mouth (Psalm 141) and heart (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45), so that I have such
integrated integrity that no guile or deceit will dwell in or proceed from me.
I know I am only half way
through the week and will be meditating on these passages for a few more days.
I think they are connected, integrated into what it means to trust and follow
Jesus. I am expecting the Holy Spirit to use them in these days to continue to
shape me to be more and more congruent with Jesus. Much as Abba Poeman wrote in
the 4th century. “The nature of water is soft, that of stone is
hard; but if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall drop
by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the word of God; it is soft and
our heart is hard, but the [one] who hears the word of God often, opens [the]
heart to the fear of God.” The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, tr. Benedicta Ward, SLG, Kalamazoo, MI, Cistercian
Publications, 1975, pp. 192-193
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