The Third Day

In another Lenten devotional guide, Bread and Wine, author Walter Wangerin discusses "mirrors" on this Friday, the third day of Lent.

"In mirrors I see myself. But in mirrors made of glass and silver I never see the whole of myself. I see the me I want to see, and I ignore the rest.

Mirrors that hide nothing hurt me. They reveal an ugliness I'd rather deny. Yow! Avoid these mirrors of veracity!

My wife is such a mirror..."

Relationships of close proximity, perhaps in a special way marriage itself, has a way of bringing to the surface those hidden and dormant capacities of our DNA. And often times those capacities aren't pretty. We have a way of twisting the best intentions into something that's a full turn in the opposite direction.

For one reason or another, coming into more of an awareness of this posture of humility in Lent has got me thinking about knees and kneeling. Whenever I think about knees and kneeling I think about our Catholic sisters and brothers who, often times, have an historical leg up on us Protestants in the areas of meditative prayer and the posture of penitence.

I'll always remember a dear couple my wife and I met while studying in Oxford. Devout Catholics, they were the first ones to talk with what really felt like rooted conviction that if they didn't start the day out praying (literally) on their knees, those days just didn't seem to make as much sense as the days when they did start out on their knees. The couple has since gone on to study in Austria, where, interestingly enough, one of the mottos of the school is to "study theology on one's knees."

At first blush, this may seem like a quaint form of piety that all of us Enlightened Protestants have since outgrown. "Why actually bend my body when I can simply pray in my mind?" But there's something to it. And I'm certainly intrigued enough to try and figure out more of what it's all about.

Bonhoeffer is certainly on track in this regard on Day 3.

We start with question:

In what ways might "prayer offered in the morning" be "decisive for the day"?

"This order and discipline must be sought and found in the morning prayer. It will stand the test at work. Prayer offered in early morning is decisive for the day. The wasted time we are ashamed of, the temptation we succumb to, the weakness and discouragement in our work, the disorder and lack of discipline in our thinking and in our dealings with other people -- all these very frequently have their cause in our neglect of morning prayer. The ordering and scheduling of our time will become more secure when it comes from prayer."

- from his book Life Together

Give ear to my words, O Lord;

give heed to my sighing.

Listen tot eh sound of my cry,

my King and my God,

for to you I pray.

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice

in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.

- Psalm 5:1-3

Prayer for today

Lord, show me a time in the morning when I can listen to you for the day ahead and when I can talk to you for the day ahead.

Amen

In Good Company

There is nothing quite like having good traveling companions. I know this from my many experiences backpacking, trekking, and traveling. And I also know this from the many small groups, studies, and classes that I have been a part of. It's good to be on the road together, not just for support, but for the fact that we're much more likely to get somewhere that we wouldn't have gotten to on our own.

I'm feeling this way, already, about Bonhoeffer. For example, check out this essay, forwarded to me by my dad, where Brett McCracken reflects on Ash Wednesday and the Lenten journey, while also quoting Bonhoeffer, and, to my great delight, throwing in some quotes from an essay on Bonhoeffer written by Marilynne Robinson (author of Gilead, the '05 Pulitzer for Fiction). It's a great, quick read, and really helps to put in perspective all the "giving stuff up" talk that circulates around the Lenten season. Robinson writes of Jesus' own potent mix of power-in-self-denial that "He (Christ) is present even where he is forgotten and efficacious even where he is despised."

How in the world is grace so confoundedly incessant?

That's where Day 2 takes us in the 40-Day Journey, guiding us towards a readiness and an openness, not to our own self-constructed regimens, but to "God's Word for us."

We start with a question:

Are you satisfied in your present experience of prayer and meditation? What kind of time do you give to these activities?

"There are three things for which the Christian needs a regular time alone during the day: meditation on the Scripture, prayer, and intercession...

In our meditation we read the text given to us on the strength of the promise that it has something quite personal to say to us for this day and for our standing as Christians -- it is not only God's Word for the community of faith, but also God's Word for me personally... We are reading the Word of God as God's Word for us. Therefore, we do not ask what this text has to say to other people... but what it has to say to us personally."

- from his book Life Together

Consider these words from the Psalms:

How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Through your precepts I get understanding;

therefore I hate every false way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:103-105

Prayer for today:

Lord, draw me to your living Word and let it be for me food for the journey.

The Journey Begins!

Ash Wednesday always holds a bit of anxiety. The holidays are over, the year has opened to a brand-new page, and you can almost hear the binding on the new journal crack open. There's a blank page staring back.

There's a 40-day story to write during Lent, and the questions are familiar: Should I give something up for Lent? What's my plan for these 40 days? If I try and steer myself too much or be too harsh on myself, I know I'll run out of steam in a couple weeks. If I don't take Lent seriously enough, I'm missing the chance to actually get something out of it.

I don't know the forecast for these 40 days, and I'm the first to admit that I need some guidance, some encouragement. And I need some grace.

If you are in a boat that bears any resemblance to mine, the hope is that Dietrich Bonhoeffer will serve as a great guide for these 40 days. I have never walked with him this intentionally through Lent. But I trust him as a guide. Suffice it to say that Bonhoeffer was a courageous Christian leader during the Second World War, and his conviction, that our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ shapes every fiber of our being and molds every action we undertake, has pushed Christians for decades to encounter God at the very center of our lives.

Along these lines, the British essayist G. K. Chesterton once wrote: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."

The hope for these 40 days is that we may all be led to a deeper encounter with God "at the center of life."

The book, "40-Day Journey with Deitrich Bonhoeffer", edited by Ron Klug, will be our guide. For those of you who have let me know you want a copy, they will be available on Sunday.

Until then, I will be posting the first couple of days worth of entries, albeit in a parred-down version.

So on Day 1, we begin with this question:

Do you sense there are places Jesus might want to lead you where you would rather not go? If so, where are they and what is holding you back?

"Those who follow Jesus' commandment entirely, who let Jesus' yoke rest on them without resistance, will find the burden they must bear to be light. In the gentle pressure of this yoke they will receive the strength to walk the right path without becoming weary... Where will the call to discipleship lead those who follow it? What decisions and painful separations will it entail? We must take this question to him who alone knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy."

- from his book, Discipleship

Consider these words from the gospel according to Matthew:

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

Prayer for today:

Lord Jesus, only you know where my path will lead, but I trust that, even if I do not know either the way or the destination, you are with me and before me, and I follow you with joy.

Amen