// BLOG
Lent Lectio: Psalm 32
March 11, 2011
We enter the Lenten season wondering what is ahead for us. The season is about cleansing, preparing ourselves to experience the Christ event - crucifixion, resurrection – within ourselves. We think about how to fast, how to pray, how to live in this season.
David in Psalm 32 guides us. He invites us into this cleansing, teaching us what is expected.
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
I have deceit in spirit, wherever I am trying to conceal (from myself, from God, from others) where I am broken and where I am struggling.
It is difficult to keep up the charade, though I try.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
But God in his grace overwhelms me. Heavy-handed on my shoulder, I feel God’s awareness of me. And this gives me the strength to be cleansed.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
I choose to come out of my hiding place, to unveil my sin and the shame associated with it, to unveil my pride and the arrogance associated with it.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
I find safety in this cleansing. I find joy, singing, deliverance. I find my true self as I find myself united with God, not separate from God in my actions and my heart.
May God cleanse us in this season, teaching us who He is – truly, deeply – and delivering us from ourselves.
Teaching People to Experience God
March 2, 2011
In this session from the Society of Vineyard Scholars conference in Seattle, Stanford Anthropologist DR. Tanya Luhrmann presents her findings after studying what and how Vineyard churches teach people to experience God. One of the fascinating pieces is her exploration of the spiritual disciplines implicit and explicit as a member of a Vineyard community, which help to form us, and it’s correlation to Ignatian spirituality. Enjoy!
SVS 2011 Plenary #2: Tanya Luhrmann from Society of Vineyard Scholars on Vimeo.
Taking Stock of Your Miserable Existence
February 25, 2011
Nigel Marsh riff-ing from St. Benedict
Advent Lectio – Week 4: Psalm 89.1-4, 19-26
December 17, 2010
Psalm 89
A psalm of Ethan the Ezrahite.
I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever!
Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.
Your unfailing love will last forever.
Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.
The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with David, my chosen servant.
I have sworn this oath to him; ‘I will establish your descendants as kings forever;
they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’”
Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful people.
You said, “I have raised up a warrior.
I have selected him from the common people to be king.
I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil.
I will steady him with my hand; with my powerful arm I will make him strong.
His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him.
I will beat down his adversaries before him
and destroy those who hate him.
My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him,
and by my authority he will grow in power.
I will extend his rule over the sea, his dominion over the rivers.
And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
___________
Unfailing Love
In the beginning we wanted
only touch gentle
and milk warm and words kind,
a true near-drawing
repeatedly
someone saying,
It’s so good
you are alive with us
you cannot imagine
our delight
in your being
here.
Our first desire
it was
and only
and truest
which by virtue of being
first and true
begs an answer
not found among the living
whose inconstancy
became a known fact.
So I looked for the father
who was not my father,
the mother not mine,
for the love unfailing
whose notes I could sing
to all
forever
But was found first
in spite of my seeking,
by one who drew near
drew closest
in love
drawing out
My Father, my God, my Rock
from satisfied lips.
____________
O Immanuel, O “With-us-is-God”: for your gifts, these assurances, the solidity of your enduring presence and love, thank you.
Advent Lectio – Week 3: Psalm 126
December 10, 2010
Psalm 126
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem,
it was like a dream!
We were filled with laughter,
and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said,
“What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!
Restore our fortunes, Lord,
as streams renew the desert.
Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.
(New Living Translation)
____________
Returning
Is there any one place from which
torn we would wail long and hard
be heard from a long way off
like a wolf howling under the moon
anxious to rejoin the pack
longing to curl up in a den
thick with musk and contentment
beneath the hill whose curve
and slant differs from all others
near the stream whose perfect waters
emptied themselves into you daily
and fed the deer who fed you?
To be again where others
would first smell your arrival
eager to lick and nuzzle you
back into existence?
____________
A Prayer
We wander between the poles of longing and fulfillment, Lord, only finding our way to joy and hilarity through the gift of a opened door, the door with the god-side knob. Yet every day you open it, if only by a sliver, beckoning us to push a little if necessary, inviting us across the threshold separating absurdity and ephemerality from faithfulness and truth. Courage to enter, Lord, we pray for courage. Humility, Lord, we pray for humility. Trust, Lord, always, trust.