September 1 - September 7

6 comments:

Tim Suttle said...

I did the morning office from the Divine Hours this morning - did lectio with staff - and did the midday office just now. I'm hopeful that I'll get vespers in before I leave.

peace,

-t

Tim Suttle said...

I'm starting to get back in a groove with praying the hours - at least I hope that is what I'm doing - yesterday I got three out of four. Today I started with the morning office from the BCP. There was an interesting passage concerning the resurrection from Job 12 that I don't remember ever reading before.

Kerrie said...

I'm working my way through 1 Kings. Admittedly, the Solomon story with the putting his brother to death and getting even with his father's enemies has me a bit confused....anyone have an explanation? But, always love the story of the two women and cutting the baby in half.

Tim Suttle said...

I did the BCP morning office today. yesterday I did the hours 3/4 times and I'm hopeful that I can get at least that many in today. I'm loving what the prayers are doing for me...just maintaining that connection with God through my day is helping my emotional stress level. I'm still a little eratic, but it's getting better!

Hey Kerrie, I love the story of Solomon...here's my take.

It was a rough world Solomon & David lived in. Nowdays we read that he killed Adonijah his brother and it just seems off...too brutal. It seems sinful. But this was the cultural reality, these are the only people who were listening to God and they were pretty barbaric. So, in those days if you made a play for the throne there were only two ways that could end - kingship or death. It doesn't mean that God sanctions the murder of one's brother and political rival, at least I don't think so (see Cain & Abel). I think it means that God was willing to work with Solomon, even though Solomon was terribly flawed and part of a terribly flawed social system.

That being said, the story does seem to foreshadow the fact that as time goes on Solomon will be come more and more seduced by money, sex and power. It will not be long until Solomon is oppressing whole big blocks of people - Israelites - so that he can have an extravagant lifestyle & protect his rich family and friends...so much so that God rejects him as king and breaks off his agreement w/David that his family will sit the throne.

I love this stuff.

Peace,

-t

Tim Suttle said...

I did the hours from the BCP this morning and it was really good. I was in a hurry and trying to just get through them when I realized that they are designed to keep you from doing that! I literally don't think it is possible to hurry through them if you really follow the liturgy.

Now I understand why the Psalm reading comes first in the daily office. I always wondered why not do the OT reading first, then the Psalm then the Gospel, then the epistle. But lately I've been very aware of my struggle to truly commit myself during the first few minutes of prayer. My mind if filled with the pressures of things I need to do. My head is hardly ever in the right space when I begin my solitary prayer service.

But, the Psalms declare utter dependence upon God. They proclaim God as the creator and sustainer – the one on whom our entire existence depends moment to moment – and there is no ambiguity. The Lord is seen as the protector, the object of worship, the forgiver, and the only way to happiness and peace. But I’m sitting down to “take time” to pray, as though my whole day isn’t supposed to be bathed with prayer. I’m attempting to “worship,” as though my whole life isn’t my true act of worship. And by the time I hit the Psalm reading, I’m already into thoughts of what I’ve got to get done, what I’ve left off my “to do” list that I have to remember to put in there. I’ve even resorted to keeping a blank paper near by so I can jot down those anxious thoughts and then just let them go; although it feels like that is giving in it seems to help.

Anyway, today I’m experiencing the Psalms as they work against my anxiousness and my self-centered need to get things done. I’m realizing that this anxious need probably does not make me any better at my job or more productive. And even if it does it just goes against the peace of Christ. It also probably makes me much less of a good husband, father, and friend. So, among my many other sins, I'm trying to resist the sin of hurry while I pray to the Lord & read the scripture. That's what God taught me today.

From today’s Psalm: 32:7-8; “Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”

Tim Suttle said...

[I just realized that my confession didn’t post yesterday, so here goes]

Friday Confessional:

I confess to really struggling with despair this week. It’s one of my all-time favorite sins and one which I’m never comfortable with fighting head-on; I feel to cheesy. I confess that this week I’ve been overwhelmed with grace from friends and family in the midst of the despair and that has brought peace when I really needed it.

I confess to an inability to make myself read. It’s really weird. I decided to take a week or two off from reading before my classes start, just to give myself a break. They finally started on Thursday of this week and now that I need to read but I’m having trouble making myself start in. This is not a good sign. I just need a good long reading block to get me back into the swing of things…I hope it comes this week.

I confess to worrying about what people think of me. I confess to struggling with humility & my need to always be right.

I confess that I’m really anxious about my schedule this fall. I’m already having trouble trying to make everything fit into the day & school will only exacerbate that issue.

I confess that I get very frustrated with the pre-conceived notions of many of my evangelical Christian family members and friends & sometimes become argumentative. I confess that the whole political conversation draws out how deeply saddened I am by the state of the church right now. I confess to a certain amount of cynicism regarding our inability to actually think deeply about the way we organize ourselves as a society - to go deeper than the well crafted sound-byte. I confess that I think being uninformed and disengaged is inexcusable for the Christian, but it seems like I'm nearly alone in that conviction - at least in my circles. I confess that I think the political polarization is not the fault of “liberals” or “secularist,” but the fault of the church. The deep division is our failure, not the world’s failure. We are God’s agents of peace to the world. I confess that I believe we could do much better.