Gleanings From The Retreat II (John 12:20-25)

"Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal' " (John 12:20-25, NASB).

"For indeed Jews ask for signs (meaning miracles) and Greeks search for wisdom (meaning wisdom of men; philosophical, scholarly wisdom)" (1 Corinthians 1:22, NASB).

The Lord is not calling us to seek miracles or the wisdom of man; He is calling us to be that grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies. Miracles will be there; scholarship and knowledge may be helpful; but we are not called to either of these. We are called to glorify Jesus. The world doesn't need miracles or the wisdom of man, the world needs to see Jesus.

This is our calling: to let them see Jesus in us.

Gleanings From The Retreat I (The Longest Reading)

I returned yesterday from a clergy retreat in Maggie Valley, NC.. Like the earlier retreat I attended, this one was spent praying the hours (i.e., the hours of prayer - Matins, Lauds, Prime, terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline). And once again, it was an incredible time of prayer and learning.

One of the best lessons that God taught me was on the last day of the retreat during Lauds. The appointed Old Testament reading was Numbers 3. This chapter is full of difficult names and countless instructions - and it's one of the longest readings! The passage told the names of everyone's grandfathers, fathers, sons, and told of how the priests were to be divided up in ranks, how they were to arrange their tents, how they were to depart from the camp and who was to go in what order. And it went on and on and on. When the passage was finished, the poor reader was exhausted and maybe a little embarrassed.

I asked the Lord, "Why did you bother with all that information about who's who? And what's the significance for us, thousands of years later?"

The Lord's answer: "I'm in the details. The details matter to me."

I was blessed and reminded that God is in (i.e., interested in, working within, speaking within) the little things (see earlier posts). Not only is He in the names of individuals and the personal details, He is into the "how to" details. He is interested in specifics and little things; things that I would have a tendency to think wouldn't matter to God or anyone. But they do, especially to Him.

The question this poses, then, is: Do I pay attention to the "little things" in following Jesus? Or do I write them off as insignificant and unimportant? Do I ever stop to ask the Lord about the details of how I follow Him, worship Him, or even serve others? And finally, is this what it means when He says, "Whoever is faithful with little will be faithful with much"?

Rhythm & Life

I returned today from a 4-day retreat at a monastery in north Alabama. The retreat was quite an experience. I was involved in praying daily the eight traditional monastic hours of prayer (Mattins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline). In Lauds and Vespers, we joined in choir with the Benedictine Sisters in their sanctuary. The chanting was beautiful and serene. I've never heard anything like it.

But why pray eight specific, set-aside times a day? And why pray some of the same prayers at every office, like the Our Father (a.k.a., the Lord's Prayer)? I can only answer from my own experience, as small as it may be:

1) Praying shapes our beliefs. During the hours (of prayer), we prayed the psalms; therefore, we prayed warfare prayers, intercessory prayers for loved ones and even enemies; we prayed for God's will to be done on earth exactly as it is being done in Heaven; we cried out for mercy, for ourselves, our loved ones and our enemies; we prayed supplications, trusting God to provide in abundance all that we need in all situations. Sounds a lot like the Sermon on the Mount, doesn't it? But we rarely left the psalms. Yet, while praying them, my mind is being renewed and reshaped into comformity with Christ and His teachings found in the Gospels.

2) The influence of a daily rhythm. By the middle of the second day, I noticed myself chanting under my breath, praying unceasingly while doing other things. The influence of each hour began to linger until it was time for the next. The invisible breath of prayer was being inhaled and exhaled involuntarily from being saturated with God. The days didn't fly by, nor did they drag by. They were calm and alive and in color. The rhythm of prayer was slowing us down, deepening our intake of life. The rhythm of prayer, being spent in the presence of the Eternal, was setting the pace for us now, not the clock.

I hope we will go back again every year. At first, I wasn't thrilled about it. But the rhythm of prayer began to shape my perception, my participation in the Spirit of Prayer, and most of all, me. May the rhythm of the Spirit of Prayer, the Holy Spirit Himself, always set my pace and the tempo of my heart. To the glory of God. Amen.