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Monday 6 March 2017

"...Acceptable to God."

"I pray for kindness, empathy and compassion, gentleness and patience.  I pray that we discern a desire to pray and know God's will for us here and now, not assuming that what we have always done is what God will always want.  I pray that we abstain from anxiety, fear, anger, discouragement, arrogance, and compulsive behaviour.  I pray that we may know and follow Jesus more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness and walking humbly."


Psalm 51:15-17

15 O Lord, open my lips,
   and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
   if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.


1) "...open my lips;" "...declare your praise;" "...contrite heart;" "...no delight in sacrifice;" "...acceptable to God;" "...a broken spirit;" "...a broken and contrite heart;" "... a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart."


2) I have mixed feelings about "a broken spirit" and "a broken and contrite heart."  God doesn't want us broken, God wants us whole.  But God does want the light to get in, to  make an homage to Leonard Cohen.  This is a call to genuine humility, not gratuitous groveling; a call away from arrogance and self-righteousness to genuine right relationship that is honest and just.  God wants our hearts open and vulnerable to the pain and suffering of the world, not just our own.  A broken and contrite heart is a heart that is empathetic and willing to take responsibility.  I'm tempted to look up the word "contrite"..."completely penitent" [The Concise Oxford Dictionary].  Now I need to look up penitent, but I'm afraid the COD is just going to continue giving me conventional meanings. 


3) What is the invitation in all this?  To explore what God wants of me that constitutes a "broken and contrite heart."  To trust that this "broken and contrite heart" is in fact, more "whole" and more worthy of "delight" and "praise" than how my heart may often, or even currently be.  To be in the world in a way that God might delight in my offering.  To remember that everything I do, say, am is my offering.


"Holy One, create in me a heart and spirit that brings you delight and praise."


Breathprayer: "...acceptable to God."

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