Lectionary Readings for September 19, 2021
Reading One: Numbers 11.4-6, 10-16, 24-29 (NRSV)
Song: Full Attention (lyrics here)
Reflection
Today’s Old Testament reading begins with an almost unbelievable complaint from the Hebrew people:
“If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (vv. 4-6)
Imagine being in a place where your attitude has gotten so bad that you look back on a life of slavery and imagine it to be “the good old days.” Picture a mindset so warped that we look on the current provision of God as a nuisance, and proclaim that it’s just not enough. What kind of people do that?
It’s tempting to answer “The people of the Exodus” and leave it at that. But truth be told, the complaints of the Israelites in Numbers 11 are not too far removed from our own experience, are they? I know in my own life I can complain and grumble in ways that are far too similar. When faced with the question, “What kind of people do that?” I’m forced to accept an answer I’d much rather ignore:
“People like me.”
We live in a culture that seems to cultivate discontent. The message we get from so many voices seems to be, “There’s something more you need. There’s something missing. Can’t you feel it?” And feel it we do. In fact, we feel it so deeply that we become blind to the blessings and opportunities right under our noses. We’re too busy looking behind us to days we thought were better, and looking ahead of us to days that we hope will be different.
A Jesuit priest from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Jean Pierre de Caussade, wrote a work that has become known as The Sacrament of the Present Moment. In it, he encourages followers of Christ to cultivate an awareness of how God is at work around us. He speaks to how we’re called to seek God’s will not as something we once knew, or something we hope to know again, but rather to seek it as a present reality.
“The present moment is always full of infinite treasure. It contains far more than you can possibly grasp. Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith. Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides. The will of God presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love.”
What a powerful picture of a truth so often lost. We can spend so much time and energy in images of the past (which are usually painted in colors of false perfection) or in hopes for the future (which will be just as fraught with trials and frustration) that we miss what is happening right here, right now. Read that last sentence one more time:
“The will of God presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love.”
We will drink from the ocean of each moment according to our faith and love. In other words, the cycle of discontent can only be broken by the practice of abiding. In that place, “look at all this manna!” becomes a cry of thankfulness and praise instead of a grumble and complaint. In that place, neither past nor future have a hold on us, only God.
What practices help you stay in the “present moment” with God? What distractions and frustrations are most likely to divert your attention? Do you spend time yearning for the past or daydreaming about the future? While there’s nothing wrong with looking back or looking forward in thankfulness or anticipation, how might God be calling you to a greater place of abiding and awareness of what he’s doing right now? Spend some time in prayer asking him to guide you into that place.
Reading Two: Psalm 19:7-14 (NRSV)
Song: Ancient Words (lyrics here)
Reflection
When it comes to paying “full attention” to God, we can never understate the importance of God’s word in that equation. Scripture grounds us and speaks to us. It roots us in an awareness of who God is and what he is doing. If we are struggling to stay in the here and now, if daydreams and unhealthy yearnings overtake us, the word of God can bring us back to the moment. Notice all the things that the psalmist tells us about the nature and power of God’s word:
“The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.” (vv. 7-10)
Perfect
Reviving
Sure
Making wise
Right
Rejoicing
Clear
Enlightening
Pure
Enduring
True
Righteous
These are good words for us to chew on. As you look at that list, what word most captures your attention? Why does it grab you? Does it perhaps reveal a need in your own heart, a place where God is ready to meet you through his word and the power of his Spirit?
No wonder the psalmist called God’s word something more desirous than gold itself, something sweeter than even the freshest honey. What else in this world has the same effect on us? Nothing. What other words bring life as they do? There are none.
God is calling us to a deeper place of abiding in him. He desires to meet with us. In Scripture, he does just that. What a marvelous and astounding gift.
Spend some time holding before God the words from the psalmist that speak most to your heart. Which ring most true for you? How have they done so in your life? Spend some time in prayer thanking God for his word, and asking him to help you dwell richly in it as you seek to abide in Christ.
Reading Three: James 5:13-20 (NRSV)
Song: If We Are The Body (lyrics here)
Reflection
Sometimes, despite our desire to stay rooted and pay attention, we wander. Sometimes we lose sight of the present moment. And sometimes the journey back seems impossible. What then?
James has a good word for us, both as those who seek to stay rooted and those alongside others who desire the same thing. He reminds us that this is not a journey we take alone:
“My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (vv. 19-20)
There are a lot of theological issues and questions we could pull from just these two verses, but the point James is making is very simple: we need each other. When we’re suffering and sick, we need sisters and brothers in Christ who will come alongside us and pray with us. When we lose our way, we need loving and corrective voices who will speak truth and encouragement to us. The Christian life is not a solo act.
This is an easier truth to grasp when we sit in the place of need. But when the need is not as evident in our own life, we can lose sight of it easily. We can get so caught up in our own “stuff” that we become blind to those who are wandering. These words are not only a encouragement to seek help, they are also a plea to be a helper.
Casting Crowns captured well our ability to be blinded to those around us who need help in their song “If We Are The Body.” It’s a hard song. It’s a convicting song. But it’s a needed song. It reminds us that it is our arms that are meant to be reaching out to the hurting. It reminds us that it is our hands that are to be extended in acts of healing. It reminds us that the words of Jesus are to be on our lips as we seek to both teach and be taught.
It’s a plea to stop, pay attention to those around us, and go to them.
As you look back over your walk with Jesus, what names and faces come to your mind as examples of what James is talking about? Who has embodied the hands and feet of Jesus for you, reaching out and making an effort to come alongside you? Spend some time offering to God thanks for those who have represented Jesus to you, and prayers that he will use you to do the same for others.
Reading Four: Mark 9:38-50 (NRSV)
Song: I Surrender All (lyrics here)
Reflection
Jesus doesn’t mince words in this passage from Mark, does he? What he says is stark and true:
Following Christ sometimes requires radical change.
Some of the ancient church fathers took Jesus’ words here quite literally, performing acts of self-mutilation in an attempt to demonstrate fidelity to the way of Christ. But I don’t think Jesus is asking that of us. What I think he’s asking of us is to be aware of the forces in our lives that have the ability to pull us from the path of abiding into a place of sin and wandering. We need to name them, and we need to excise them.
The life of “full attention” is a life that lives in awareness of the things, voices, and temptations that can distract us. It doesn’t deny them, it surrenders them. It offers them to God in prayer. And it makes the changes necessary to deny them power in our lives.
The classic gospel song “I Surrender All” is one that has taken on new meaning for me in this context. I typically have heard the word “all” as a very general concept—saying, “Yes, Lord, I hold nothing back.” And that’s good. If I have thought about it in more specificity, it’s been in very broad concepts: I surrender my career, my relationships, my hopes, my dreams, etc. And that’s good, too.
But as I have been seeking to embrace a life of deeper abiding in Christ, I have heard the Spirit’s voice inviting me to think in much more specific terms. I sense his invitation to surrender, by name, all the things that pull me away from him. It’s an opportunity to “cut off” from my life anything that takes my attention away from Jesus. To “surrender all” requires nothing less.
How aware are you of the forces and voices that repeatedly cause you to lose your spiritual focus? What things have that power in your life? How might God be calling you to surrender them at a deeper level? Spend some time in prayer offering them, by name, to God.