Daily Prayer :: Water

Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet by Ann Lukesh

Today’s Bible reading

Read Romans 6

Now that you have been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.– Romans 6:17

More thoughts for meditation

We are not freed to be free from the annoyance, or bad feeling, or dissatisfaction, or disgust, or whatever else happens inside of us when we are enslaved. We are not just freed from, we are freed FOR. Our purpose is righteousness because our freedom’s purpose was righteousness. We are bound to the intention of the author of our freedom, Christ our Lord. Bound – bonded – enslaved. Slavery is not very attractive to us. It was not very attractive to Paul’s reader’s either, even if slavery in Paul’s day and age WAS different from the system of slavery that plagued our history and present with its legacy.

Positive freedom is a philosophical idea that acknowledges not just the external impediment on a person to do what they want, but the internal freedom to act as they desire. As a concept it is closely connected with “self-mastery.”

As Christians we have a desire for self-mastery in one sense, but it is a self-mastery FOR submission to our heavenly master. If we are too internally disorganized, our new allegiance to Jesus, our Lord and Master,  is of little consequence. But there is so much real evil in the world that requires our agency and efficacy. Our freedom is FOR many, many people and things. On the second Sunday of Lent, we are marking our progress in this communal journey toward better self-understanding as who we are and WHOSE we are, so that we can offer ourselves and our efforts FOR others.    

Suggestions for action

Do a spiritual check in. How is it going on this journey? In the past 24 hours when did you go left when you meant to go right? When did you look down when you meant to go up? When did you zig when you wanted to zag? Remember, right, up and zag are not necessarily righteous. We are reforming our will to do what we intend so that we can offer our reliable self to the master and what he would have us do. This is one of the main benefits of Lent: that we learn to do what we intend, notice when we don’t, and adjust course when we realize.

Today is John Cassian Day! Read about one of the most influential contemplatives and monastics from way back in the fourth century on Celebrating Our Transhistorical Body

Today’s Bible reading

Read Matthew 21:28-32

“What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
“‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.
 “The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go.
“Which one of these two did his father’s will?”
They said, “The first one.”

Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.

More thoughts for meditation

Another question, “Of the two first sons, which one did the father’s will?” And another question, “Who is the first son? The one who said no to his father’s face, or the one who went and did what his father said?” Likewise “Of the two second sons, which one did not do the father’s will?” and “Who is the second son? The one who said yes to his father’s face or the one who went and refused to do his father’s will, nor his own will at the moment of his answer?”

We are not as strong as we think we are. We have things far less understood than we think. We must occasionally see (better if we often see) that we are weak and in need. Why do I so often cling to my own understanding? Why do I demand so much from such a tiny, disorganized self? Must I deny that I am indeed a slave so as to save myself from the shame, and so go on being in service to something I am not even sure is within me or without me? Who am I? Who decides?

Let us give ourselves up to Jesus. Let us let him have his way. Will he be your master? (A difficult image, “Master”, that comes from our  “Theme Chapter” for Lent, Romans 6.) Let us let him decide who we are for he has indeed done so. Christ died on the cross to show you who he says you are. You are the one he loved enough to die for. Together, we are his children, the heirs of all he has, which is everything. Everything he has is ours. And he gave everything so we would open our eyes and see. And then open up our hearts and lives and do as he tells us. Why do we fight for something we don’t really want instead of taking what he gives and we need?

Suggestions for action

Try this breath prayer: Inhale: I am yours Exhale: You are mine.

Maybe you want to sing it: Try this oldie by David Gate

Also, today is Fred Rogers Day! Honor this man who used his fame for good at Celebrating Our Transhistorical Body