Day By Day #35

Day by Day #35

MORNING/MIDDAY PRAYER

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: John 18:2–4, 10–11

Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” . . .

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Devotional

It’s not hard to relate to Peter’s anger at the injustice of Jesus’ arrest. In his outrage, he lashes out in physical violence. Imagine the scene, the blood, the chaos. And he did it for Jesus. However, he simultaneously failed to listen to the voice of Jesus and is rebuked by him. He thought he was proving his love, defending Jesus with an act of bravery, but in the process, he violated the very nature of the love Jesus lived and died for. When we don’t pay attention to what Jesus is doing and saying—when we misunderstand what love requires—relational breakdowns and chaos inevitably follow.

Author Henri Nouwen articulated the struggle many of us have when it comes to loving others. He described two voices within. One voice constantly pushed him to succeed and achieve. It was this voice Nouwen says he spent most of his life heeding. Following this voice led him to teach at such prestigious universities as Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale. It pressed him to write more than a book a year. But the constant demands that heeding this voice placed on his speaking schedule and ministry threatened to suffocate his spiritual life. He was praying poorly and living isolated from people.

The other voice within was God’s voice. This voice reassured him he was unconditionally loved. He had nothing to prove. This voice told him the goal of ministry was to recognize the Lord’s voice, his face, and his touch in every person he met.

Only in the last ten years of his life, Nouwen said, did he truly listen to that second voice. The transition occurred when he resigned his professorship at Harvard to accept a position as pastor of a L’Arche Community of mentally handicapped people near Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And it was from these men and women that he learned about love and community.^a

With the multiple demands and constant pressure of our lives, it can be difficult to pay attention to God’s voice. When we don’t, we easily go the way of Peter and pull out our swords when people appear to threaten what we love or the way we think things should be. Jesus, on the other hand, offers us another model—a love demonstrated through submission to the Father and humility in our relationships.

Question to Consider

In what situation, and with whom, are you tempted to “cut off someone’s ear,” to defend yourself, or something you love, by acting in ways that are not truly loving?

Prayer

Father, I relate to Peter more than I care to admit. Forgive me for my impatience and self-will that wants always to be in charge of myself and others. I so often fail to recognize your voice in the people I encounter. Deliver me from the external and internal forces that keep me from listening to your voice of love and from loving the people around me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

MIDDAY/EVENING PRAYER

Silence and Stillness before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:30–32

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Devotional

We want to obey Scripture’s command to get rid of all bitterness and be forgiving to one another. The question is, how?

A number of years ago, William Meninger, a Trappist monk who has dedicated his life to prayer for over fifty years, visited our church in New York City to teach us some of what he’s learned. One of the things he shared was a “Compassion Meditation Prayer,” the purpose of which was to help us forgive and let go of bitterness.

An adapted and shortened version of the prayer is included below. It is meant to be prayed for someone you might consider an enemy or someone with whom you are in a conflict. It may even be someone from your past, living or dead, for whom forgiveness is still possible and overdue.

            May you be happy, may you be free.

            May you be loving, may you be loved.

            May you know the fulfillment of what

               God has planned for you.

            May you experience God’s deep, profound love for you.

            May Jesus Christ be formed in you.

            May you know his peace that passes all understanding.

            May all good things be yours.

            May Jesus’ joy be in you and may that joy be complete.

            May you know the Lord in all his goodness and compassion.

            May you be protected from the evil one amidst every temptation that comes your way.

            May the Holy Spirit fill and permeate your entire being.

            May you see his glory

            May you be forgiven of every sin.

            I forgive you (or “will try to forgive you”) of every wound and hurt with all my heart.

            May God’s goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.^b

Praying this for a person who has wounded us is no small task, but it is a significant step forward. Let me invite you to pray it repeatedly, even if you don’t feel it. You can trust God will heal your wounds over time and do a work in you, by the Holy Spirit, that you cannot do in yourself.

Question To Consider

As you consider a person who has hurt you, what words or phrases from the Compassion Prayer impact you most?

Prayer

Jesus, thank you for loving me with the kind of loving compassion expressed in this prayer. I long to be the kind of person who sincerely feels and prays like this—especially for those who hurt me. But I am a long way from that now. I ask that you do a profound work in me so that I might truly love like you. In your name I pray, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

^a His story is recounted throughout Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991).

^b The original version of Meninger’s prayer can also be found in his book, William A. Meninger, The Process of Forgiveness (New York: Continuum Press, 1996), 123.