David’s Bucket

In recent weeks, I have made the comment that in reflecting on the last 24 Hours of Jesus’ life, I see the themes of judgement and grace.  We are reminded of the depth of our sin as we observe every character failing Jesus. At the same time, we see Jesus, fueled by his compassion and grace, presenting himself as a sacrificial offering for the redemption of the world.

The difficulty of talking about judgement and grace is that for most of us, those two words are polar opposites. We think of judgement in terms of punishment and grace in terms of “getting off the hook.” Neither of these understandings are entirely accurate according to the Biblical story.

To think of judgement in the Biblical sense begins with the idea that, “all have fallen short,” and grace was never meant to be an excuse to avoid the demands of discipleship.

So how then do we live in response to this story?

Sunday morning I was reminded of how I answer that question.

This past Sunday was my birthday. When my daughter woke up on Sunday, she came walking into the living room witha big smile on her face. She didn’t stop by the couch to give me a hug. She went straight to the kitchen with her sneaky grin still intact. Climbing up into the seat by the bar, she opened up her box of crayons and began to go to work on a paper sack she had picked out to wrap up the present she had gotten for me.

I was getting ready for church which meant I was wandering around the house collecting things I needed for the morning. Whenever I entered the room, she would catch me out of the corner of her eye, give another wry smile, and attempt to cover up the artwork she was creating.

She could not have been more excited about making this gift for her daddy’s birthday.

I took this picture of her while she worked.

In the Message translation, The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome, “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” In other words, the life that we live before God is the gift that we offer to God.

Each day you and I make choices.

We set priorities by where we choose to invest our time, our talent and our resources.

We choose whether to bless or to curse… to love or to withhold it… to forgive or to remain captive to unforgiveness.

We are either making the gift of our life more beautiful or marring the beauty that our lives were meant to reflect to our Creator.

My daughter could not wait to present her gift to me. She took delight in sharing it with me.

Why?

Because despite my faults and shortcomings, my daughter knows that her daddy loves her.

That’s what we find at the heart of the last 24 hours… A God who loves us.

When are lives are defined by that truth… that our Heavenly Father loves us… the honor of presenting our lives before him as our “offering” becomes the true joy of life.

Yesterday, in my post about my plans for Lent this year, I mentioned that I was going to be using a book called Eastertide which is a prayer book put together by Phyllis Tickle. I promised to write more today about what is called The Daily Office, a pattern of praying at certain hours of the day, which provides the framework for Eastertide.

I actually wrote a bit about the Daily Office several years ago in preparation for Lent. Here is some of what I shared in that post dated February 13th, 2008.

Throughout the Judeo-Christian story, both Christians and Jews have participated in certain practices that have taken place at certain times of the day. Going back to the days of the Jerusalem temple, there were certain sacrifices, prayers, and liturgy that were specific to the hour of the day. The Psalmist writes, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances.” [Psalm 119:164]

In the New Testament, we read several references to the hour of the day and the significant things that happen in this life of Jesus and his disciples at these specific times of prayer. The most notable is Peter’s vision in Acts 10 which happens when, “About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.” [Acts 10:9] What was Peter doing? The same thing he did everyday at noon… Praying!

The best way to describe the Daily Office is that it is fixed hour prayer book [also called The Canonical Hours]. Working with a prayer book, you set aside time during certain times of the day to work through some readings and prayers. The book that I use has four prayer times during the day; The Morning Office to be observed between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., The Midday Office to be observed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., the Vespers Office to be observed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Compline which is observed before retiring before bed.

Each of the Office times take about 10-15 minutes and include prayers, scripture reading, and other portions of sacred writings from all parts of Christian history. Sometimes this is a thought from a 13th century theologian. Sometimes it’s the words to a hymn written in the 19th century. Each office incorporates the Lord’s Prayer and the Gloria which those who attend one of our traditional services would know. [Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever, AMEN.]

If you have never worked with a prayer book like this before, I will warn you that it will feel a bit strange at first. It has a set pattern, and you basically read through all the sections for that particular time. We tend to overvalue spontaneity in our prayer life and so reading through a prayer book might feel a little dry. If you do try it out, I encourage you to do a couple of things.

• Don’t give up too quickly. Try it out for a few weeks. It may not fit you, but since it is so different from what many of us are used to, it may just take some time to adjust.
• Read out loud. I have found that in doing this, it makes me slow down the pace of my reading and really focus in on what I’m saying.
• When you are finished, record your reflections in a journal. As I said, each office only takes you 10-15 minutes. Take 5 minutes to check in with yourself in your journal.

If you’re interested in learning more about using The Daily Office in your prayer time or have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below or email me.

The season of Lent was originally designed as a time of preparation for individuals preparing to make a commitment to faith in Christ. Potential converts were to dedicate themselves to prayer and acts of self-denial during these 40 days leading up to the celebration of Easter and their baptism into their new family of faith.

Today, Lent is thought of as a time for all Christians to reflect and  to pray and is often associated with a period of self-denial. Many choose to give up a certain food or a practice they might enjoy during this season. In recent years, I have given up eating meat as well as listening to the radio in the car. Still others choose to add a practice to their daily living during these forty days like waking up a little earlier for a time of prayer in the morning.

In every case, the intent is the same.

Lent is a time to reflect, to pray, to repent of our wrong ways of living, and prepare ourselves for embracing the full and abundant life God offers to us in Jesus, the resurrected King.

I would strongly encourage you to consider doing something a bit different over the next forty days to mark this special season of the Christian year.

Here is what I plan on doing for the next forty days. I’m sharing it here today for two reasons. One, it holds me accountable to be true to my word and stay faithful to these commitments. Secondly, I want to encourage you to consider what you might do during this season.

1. I plan on waking up an hour earlier in order to spend the first part of my day in prayer. During the summer months when my wife is home from school, I really do this well. With kids, I often struggle with this during the school year.
2. I will be using Phyllis Tickle’s book, Eastertide, for my prayer time. This is a resource that uses what is called the format of The Daily Office. Tomorrow, I will share more about what that means, but basically, it provides a pattern to pray four times a day. I’ve used this resource before, but never dedicated myself to all four times. I plan on doing that over the next forty days.
3. I will be taking a Sabbath from Facebook & Twitter during Lent. Like many of you, I enjoy connecting with others through these two resources, but during the next 40 days I want to focus more intently on those face to face relationships that fill my life.

Today is Ash Wednesday.

According to the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of a 40 day journey [excluding Sundays] we call Lent. We set aside these days each year in the life of the Church to focus our hearts and minds again on the road that Jesus walked towards the cross, the sacrifice given for the world on that fateful Friday, and the joy that was found on Sunday in the Resurrection of Jesus.

The first day of this journey is referred to as Ash Wednesday because on this day we focus on the places in our lives where God is calling us to “repent” of our sins. To some, “repent” might sound like a strange word. It is best understood as not only acknowledging our wrongdoing, but also committing to living in a whole new way. To repent is to turn away from living life on our terms while turning towards life on God’s terms.

The “Ashes” of this Wednesday come from the ancient practice of dusting oneself with ash to not only signify mourning, but also sorrow for our sins and shortcomings. In churches across the world today, Christians will gather to receive the “imposition of Ashes,” where Ash is place on the forehead in the sign of the cross, and in our service this evening, these words are shared.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.”

The marking of Ash Wednesday may be a new practice for you, but I want to strongly encourage you to begin the Lenten journey with us in this holy and humble way. We will be having our Ash Wednesday service at 7 p.m. in our Sanctuary this evening, but if your schedule does not allow you to attend, consider stopping by our chapel between the hours of 6 a.m. – 8 a.m. or 11 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. One of our pastors will be there to help you mark this holy day.

Grace and peace to each of you brothers and sisters. Today, we begin a special journey together.

This weekend we begin the season of Lent, and we will be kicking off our “24 Hours that Changed the World” message series. I am really excited about sharing with you over the next six weeks an in depth look at the last 24 Hours of Jesus life… 24 Hours that Changed the World.

Here’s a clip I would invite you to watch and share with your family, friends and neighbors you might be considering inviting to join with us in worship over the next six weeks.

This last weekend during the second message of our sync series we talked about why “kneeling” is an image we have for prayer. Prayer always involves, “kneeling” before God, submitting our hopes and dreams in order to take up God’s hopes and dreams for our lives. It is always, “not my will, but yours.”

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement understood that very well, and modeled that in his own prayer life. If you were to visit Wesley’s house today [a historical site in England] you would find two kneel holes in his closet where he knelt to pray everyday. He also carried this emphasis into a famous prayer that is an important part of our Methodist heritage and tradition.

During this year, one of my goals is to pray this prayer every day.

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

Last weekend we kicked off our SYNC message series. The heart of this series is really about investing in our prayer life… the time we give to listening to God’s heart and sharing our heart with God.

At the end of the message, I shared the prayer below. Wherever we find ourselves on our journey, I think it appropriately expresses our desire to stay in sync with God.

God, help me to hear your voice, to recognize your presence in my life, and follow you wherever you may lead. Help me God to remain in you all the days of my life.

I got a response from a great friend about my message last weekend. If you missed it, I talked a little bit about my love for Apple. If you’d like to listen to the message, you can click here. If after listening you feel inclined to purchase any Apple products click here.

Here’s the response I received.

I had to point this out… you had a “safe harbor” statement to the effect of “I know it wasn’t the first…” but your infinite Appleness chafed me slightly. Here’s the old shoebox phone I first “synced” with:

I bought it back in 2001 I think. Predated the original Palm/Handspring Treo 90 by a year or more. Still have it, too! It was basically a Palm device mashed up with a basic phone. If it wasn’t the first it was darn close.

All that said, I did take away a lot more from your message.

Thanks for hearing me out, Apple Man.