Rest

In a market culture we commodify everything: including time. The risk of losing this fundamental rhythm is a-rhythmia.. inability to rest, loss of an essential center, and an increasing drive to find self in our acts rather than in the gift of God. But if we lose the ability to rest, we lose the ability to offer a restful place for others. We lose a listening and attentive heart. As Bonhoeffer put it, “let him who cannot be alone beware of being in community.”

Len Hjalmarson: pace, sabbath, fragmentation

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual warfare, largely the frame Paul has in mind throughout Ephesians, comes to us in small and ordinary ways. The enemy is cunning — we often miss the small ways he attacks us because we are expecting noise and explosions.

As Paul notes, our trials come from both within and without. Inwardly we struggle to truly believe the Gospel: that I – even I! – am truly God’s beloved. Outwardly, we fail to accept and believe in one another. We accuse one another of faulty motivations and intentions without truly listening and understanding first. We become judges with evil thoughts. The enemy loves this! May we learn to put on the full armour of God, especially the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness – we must know in whom we stand or we will not stand for long.

Len Hjalmarson in a post called 90 Days, on the blog, NextReformation.

Regular prayer

“Prayer that is regular [based on a daily rhythm, like The Office] confounds both self-importance and the wiles of the world. it is so easy for good people to confuse their own work with the work of creation. it is so easy to come to believe that what we do is so much more important than what we are. It is so easy to simply get too busy to grow.. But regularity in prayer cures all that. Regularity harnesses us to our place in the Universe. Morning and evening, season by season, year after year we watch the sun rise and set..w e come to realize that we are simply small parts of a continuing creation..

“Benedict called for prayer at regular intervals of each day, right in the middle of apparently urgent and important work. The message is unequivocal. Let no one forget what they are really about. Let now one forget the purpose of life. Let no one forget to remember. Ever.

“To pray in the midst of the mundane is simply and strongly to assert that this dull and tiring day is holy and its simple labors are the stuff of God’s saving presence for me now…

“To pray when we cannot, on the other hand, is simply to let God be our prayer.

Joan Chittister, quoted by Len Hjalmarson in his blog. Source not listed.