Let me see again

I've been slowly making my way through the gospel of Mark these last few weeks and have been pretty faithful to reading a few verses a day and reflecting on them. Like many new or renewed loves, though, my response to these verse has changed.

I started this process right after I came off a retreat and was renewed and reinvigorated (as often happens when I'm on retreat). The first chapter of Mark was a revelation even though I'd read it many times before. I felt I was there at Jesus' baptism, I was intrigued and inspired by his going into the wilderness. Over time, though, the stories and verses have lost their punch. "Oh, that's the story of Jesus stilling a storm," I think to myself. "Another feeding of masses of people?" I ask. I stick with it, though, and I think this is important.

So many people come to Urban Village and are excited about this new or renewed faith, but then the luster wears off and they go to try something else that gets their spiritual juices flowing. They don't know quite what to do with spiritual boredom. And that's when I recognize how important perseverance (which is often mentioned by Paul) is.

I was reading the story of the healing of Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) yesterday, a man who was blind. Jesus asks him what he wants and Bartimaeus says, "My teacher, let me see again." It's that last word that caught me. He once was able to see. And he wants to see again. That's a good prayer: Let me see again, Lord. Stir up excitement and joy that has been there in the past and I trust will be there in the future. In the meantime, give me the perseverance to keep asking.

Praying over Christmas cards

We kicked off what has become a really nice holiday tradition last night. We got this idea from a former parishioner of mine whose family saved all their Christmas cards and then prayed for a person/family every day after Christmas until they ran out of cards.

It's nice for many reasons, including, of course, that it's always a good thing to pray for people and it gives our kids a sense of what petitionary/intercessory prayer is and isn't. In the midst of receiving these cards, of course, I rarely take the time to really sit down with the cards and this gives me a chance to read through them and give thanks for a wide array of people and organizations...including those we barely know!

Sit. Stay.

For years, I've had my prayer/devotional time early in the morning, right after I wake up. I'm usually the first one up (not counting our son's occasional ventures into our room around 3 a.m.) so it's quiet and allows me to start the day with the right focus. Granted, I'd fall asleep while praying from time to time (hey, the disciples did it), but, still it worked out well. That's changed once school started this fall.

School buses aren't too common in the city so I've been driving my daughter to school nearly every day. It's not that bad of a drive. At most, it takes 15 minutes and we leave around 7:40. If I want to run in the morning, though, that pretty much means my prayer time has shifted to 8:30 or 9. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge deal, but my body has been used to getting going with the day at 8:30 or 9 so I'm fighting my mind now. It says, "Hey, this is your most productive time of the day and you're spending it...praying?!? You should be writing, planning, answering e-mail."

At 8:30, I feel a little like our dog when she's particularly energetic. The only way to get her (the dog) to settle down is to use an authoritarian voice and command, "Sit. Stay." And, most of the time, she does. In fact, she seems a little relieved that some boundaries have been placed on her.

Those words came to mind yesterday morning as I was eager to get going. Sit, the Spirit said. Stay. And I did. And I was glad. I've had to get used to this new rhythm, but it's slowly coming.