Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 80; Leviticus 16:20-34; Matthew 6:7-15; 1 Corinthians 12:14-26; Psalm 85
The whole of our lives involves striking a thing called balance between competing aspects of our experience. For instance, some individuals are regularly challenged to balance the amount of time they devote to work and the time they devote to play. Other individuals struggle to balance the food they want to eat with the food with the food they like to eat. Still others wrestle with how to balance the need to save some money with the desire to spend it. It would seem that in every direction we turn we face with the need to strike a balance. This point was brought home for me when I read today’s Gospel passage. That passage contains a portion of what we know today as The Lord’s Prayer, and here’s where the issue of balance came up for me. You see many of us in the church make a practice of reciting The Lord’s Prayer each week during our worship service. And each time we recite it, we use exactly the same language. Today I read the passage from Matthew from The Message, and it used much different language than I normally use. There was a part of me that was a little uncomfortable with the new language because there is a part of me that like tradition or familiarity in my spiritual life. At times this can be a strong urge. In sitting with The Message’s version, however, I was reminded of the importance of bringing fresh new perspectives to things in order to keep my spiritual life fresh and alive. It would be a tragedy to lead an unbalanced spiritual life: one either solely rooted in tradition and repetition or one rooted solely in doing new things just for the sake of doing new things. Instead, by seeking out a sense of balance in our lives we can have the best of both worlds: a place of comfort and familiarity in the midst of a tumultuous world AND a place of fresh insight and renewal that prevents our spiritual lives from becoming boring and routine. May God be with us as we seek to strike a healthy balance in our lives. Til next time…
The whole of our lives involves striking a thing called balance between competing aspects of our experience. For instance, some individuals are regularly challenged to balance the amount of time they devote to work and the time they devote to play. Other individuals struggle to balance the food they want to eat with the food with the food they like to eat. Still others wrestle with how to balance the need to save some money with the desire to spend it. It would seem that in every direction we turn we face with the need to strike a balance. This point was brought home for me when I read today’s Gospel passage. That passage contains a portion of what we know today as The Lord’s Prayer, and here’s where the issue of balance came up for me. You see many of us in the church make a practice of reciting The Lord’s Prayer each week during our worship service. And each time we recite it, we use exactly the same language. Today I read the passage from Matthew from The Message, and it used much different language than I normally use. There was a part of me that was a little uncomfortable with the new language because there is a part of me that like tradition or familiarity in my spiritual life. At times this can be a strong urge. In sitting with The Message’s version, however, I was reminded of the importance of bringing fresh new perspectives to things in order to keep my spiritual life fresh and alive. It would be a tragedy to lead an unbalanced spiritual life: one either solely rooted in tradition and repetition or one rooted solely in doing new things just for the sake of doing new things. Instead, by seeking out a sense of balance in our lives we can have the best of both worlds: a place of comfort and familiarity in the midst of a tumultuous world AND a place of fresh insight and renewal that prevents our spiritual lives from becoming boring and routine. May God be with us as we seek to strike a healthy balance in our lives. Til next time…
PS. I realized that last Saturday's posting was my 300th post since I began my blog the end of last May. Thanks to you for sharing pieces of my posting journey. I hope our time together has been meaninful for you! The discipline our (almost) daily "conversations" have brought into my life has been a source of spiritual renewal for me!
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