Begin the day for the Lord. Begin with the reading of His Word, celebrating with a Psalm, meditating on the words of the Prophets, refined by the teachings of the Epistles. Begin with a song of praise, a joyful noise. Begin with prayer, speaking words of honesty and encouragement, seeking direction and clarity for the day ahead. Begin the day by fellowshipping together, breaking bread and gaining the sustenance needed for the day. Then go out and work well, praising through our actions, listening with our hearts, until the evening comes when we might return to rest.
What’s more, the daily ritual ought to be done together as a family, a community that seeks to live and reflect God in all of our work. Bonheoffer not only asks for the discipline of a morning routine, but of community. As if the discipline of arising an hour early each day to progress through a holy routine is nothing. Indeed, an hour of individual devotion each morning is easy compared to doing it as a community. When things get collective, they get messy.
I am a newly married man, learning to dance with my life through each days requirements. In the newness of this life, I am having a hard enough time disciplining myself to communicate clearly in fellowship with her, much less bring us together in unity before God. Our worship of our God is restrained to formal gatherings on Sundays, short prayers offered around meals, and occasional evenings before bed. Scripture is discussed on occasion as it applies to the circumstances before us, but rarely is it read together.
There is a dimension of spiritual life together that my wife and I have yet to learn. When it comes to traditional acts of spiritual devotion, we still hear different melodies and dance to our own rhythms. How do we take the busy lives before us and carve out the communal space necessary for family worship as Bonheoffer admonishes?
Since my college years, I’ve tried to foster the Presence of God amongst all the actions of my life: to be always worshipful. I’ve had good seasons when the Spirit’s guidance is steady and I am “in tune.” I’ve had bad seasons when fears and distractions crowd out any ability to perpetuate God’s peace. At this moment of re-settling into life in America and preparation for future ministry and work together, the battle between worship and worry rages. Worship calls me to surrender to God’s presence in trust and joy. Worry begs me to consider what is lacking and what can never be assured. Worship asks me to look ahead in anticipation of God’s glory and tutelage. Worry desires to cover my eyes with a lens of uncertainty that will lead me to further desires of personal control. I’ve felt the battle throughout moments of study, of writing, of driving, of class and work. As I am becoming more aware of them, I must choose to worship. Let His glory be evident in all.
Yet the greatest difference this season is that I am no longer alone. My battle for worship over worry and fear is connected to my wife. Her strength and weaknesses are, likewise, tied to me. As the year continues, my prayer is that our God given gifts continue to merge in such a way that worship becomes ever more present. I pray our individual melodies create harmony that glorifies God and reflects His favor, joy, and peace on us and our neighbors.
For that prayer to be fulfilled, we must learn to discipline ourselves. Mornings of intentionality in praise, Word, and prayer may seem far away, but small steps should be taken now before the waves of work and busyness wash in the months to come. Let us begin to pray through our morning routine. Let us remember some Scripture for our day. Let us try and make our new life together worshipful.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Praying through the Nation's Capital
I commute back and forth between DC and Baltimore for classes. As I head into our nation’s capital, I typically veer off the BW Parkway onto New York Avenue. I watch the parkway’s forests merge into the National Arboretum. Trees then become run down buildings, fast food restaurants, and gas stations. As I approach NW, construction cranes and building frames fill the sky. Passing North Capitol, I always glance left at the grand dome of the Capital rising above the row homes. I continue from New York Ave to Massachusetts past torn down housing projects, storefront churches, a revitalized Gallery Place, downtown everything, always-trendy Dupont, rows upon rows of embassies from every other nation on the globe. The National Cathedral towers over the last stretch before I reach American University and Wesley Theological Seminary.
I make this trip two to three times a week. With each trip up and down this grand tour, there are prayers to be said and scripture to reflect upon. Through the noise of the traffic I try to not only commune with God, but with the city I grew up alongside and, one day, hope to serve. I desire to bring all the elements together, fully aware of God’s presence on my internal life and the city from poverty to riches, international spaces to academic campuses.
The city is filled with people, and yet, during this weekly ritual, I am always alone. During this moving tour, I am kept aware of my surroundings in flow with traffic while simultaneously seeking to focus my mind and heart.
Turn off the radio. Listen.
What do the buildings tell you? What do the crowds reflect? Who gathers in the storefronts and the cathedrals? See how the flags of the world blow in the breeze, what are the nations saying? Remember the ragged on the streets. Consider the suits in their meetings. What does God ask of them? What does He ask of you?
Scriptures begin to trickle in…
“And he drew near and saw the city, and wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!’”
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor…”
“Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”
“Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Look around you. Speak
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
Small, short prayers.
Lord, Have Mercy.
Lord, Grant Wisdom.
Lord, Bring Humility.
Lord, Teach Us.
These are moments along the way that are filled with intercession.
Father, bring peace and witness to the nations broken by war.
Father, empower the ministers and leadership of these churches.
Father, open the eyes of the rich and powerful to your will and agenda.
Father, fill the hungry and the poor with good things
Usually, I arrive at Wesley about an hour before class begins, near noon. It’s time for lunch. I usually sit at the picnic table behind the Wesley Bells towering above the trickling pool. As I eat slowly, The noise in my mind begins to fall away. I consider all I have seen, all I have heard, all I have asked and said. When all is said and done, this sojourn across DC is but a training ground for the heart. It is a space to enact simple disciplines to deepen my connection with the Jesus in such a way that I love and weep over the city as he did, to feel the call to service and witness. If the disciplines are a window to grace, then I must sit before them more often.
God is near, beyond me, around me, within me.
It’s not always easy, but above all that comes about in this city, I try and stop to seek the one thing that ought to matter most.
Communion with my Lord.. .
Enjoy the Lord.
I make this trip two to three times a week. With each trip up and down this grand tour, there are prayers to be said and scripture to reflect upon. Through the noise of the traffic I try to not only commune with God, but with the city I grew up alongside and, one day, hope to serve. I desire to bring all the elements together, fully aware of God’s presence on my internal life and the city from poverty to riches, international spaces to academic campuses.
The city is filled with people, and yet, during this weekly ritual, I am always alone. During this moving tour, I am kept aware of my surroundings in flow with traffic while simultaneously seeking to focus my mind and heart.
Turn off the radio. Listen.
What do the buildings tell you? What do the crowds reflect? Who gathers in the storefronts and the cathedrals? See how the flags of the world blow in the breeze, what are the nations saying? Remember the ragged on the streets. Consider the suits in their meetings. What does God ask of them? What does He ask of you?
Scriptures begin to trickle in…
“And he drew near and saw the city, and wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!’”
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor…”
“Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”
“Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies-in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Look around you. Speak
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
Small, short prayers.
Lord, Have Mercy.
Lord, Grant Wisdom.
Lord, Bring Humility.
Lord, Teach Us.
These are moments along the way that are filled with intercession.
Father, bring peace and witness to the nations broken by war.
Father, empower the ministers and leadership of these churches.
Father, open the eyes of the rich and powerful to your will and agenda.
Father, fill the hungry and the poor with good things
Usually, I arrive at Wesley about an hour before class begins, near noon. It’s time for lunch. I usually sit at the picnic table behind the Wesley Bells towering above the trickling pool. As I eat slowly, The noise in my mind begins to fall away. I consider all I have seen, all I have heard, all I have asked and said. When all is said and done, this sojourn across DC is but a training ground for the heart. It is a space to enact simple disciplines to deepen my connection with the Jesus in such a way that I love and weep over the city as he did, to feel the call to service and witness. If the disciplines are a window to grace, then I must sit before them more often.
God is near, beyond me, around me, within me.
It’s not always easy, but above all that comes about in this city, I try and stop to seek the one thing that ought to matter most.
Communion with my Lord.. .
Enjoy the Lord.
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