"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Tuesday, 19 April 2016 of The The Upper Room of Nashville, Tennessee, United States

"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Tuesday, 19 April 2016 of The The Upper Room of Nashville, Tennessee, United States

TUESDAY, APRIL 19
READ PSALM 126:1-6
PSALM 126:(0) A song of ascents:

(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,

we thought we were dreaming.

2 Our mouths were full of laughter,

and our tongues shouted for joy.

Among the nations it was said,

“Adonai has done great things for them!”

3 Adonai did do great things with us;

and we are overjoyed.

4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,

as streams fill vadis in the Negev.

5 Those who sow in tears

will reap with cries of joy.

6 He who goes out weeping

as he carries his sack of seed

will come home with cries of joy

as he carries his sheaves of grain.

To live as Christians is to live in a dream state. The best dreams are those from which we do not want to awaken.
In them we enjoy unabandoned play or we find everything suddenly making sense or we relish the embrace of a lover. Then when we awaken in the darkness of a cold morning, another day of duties begins to make demands on us, tempting us to shut our eyes and try to extend the dream, the wonderful dream.
But duties press upon us, and we put our feet on the cold floor and hobble to the bathroom. In minutes the dream is forgotten, and reality envelops us with its demands, worries, and responsibilities.
To live as Christians, however, is to continue to live the best of the best dreams: the dream of unending sabbath rest, when we can cease from our labors; the dream of a life that makes sense and where it doesn’t make sense, the peace and trust to live in the mystery; the dream of a life lived in the constant embrace of Love.
So important is this “dream” that we must strive weekly—in worship, in prayer, in scripture reading—to remember it. That’s what all the means of grace are about: exercises to help us remember that the “reality” of burdensome responsibility is not as real as the dream.
Then, like the psalmist, we can laugh—partly because the dream is such a joy and partly at ourselves for our silliness in so quickly forgetting the dream. And mostly because we are reminded once more how when God gets hold of us, everything gets turned upside down and inside out.
Lord, fix in my mind the dream, and fix in my heart the joy of knowing its reality. Amen.[Mark Galli]

Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007

Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Wednesday, 20 April 2016 of The Upper Room of Nashville, Tennessee, United States

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
READ 1 PETER 2:2-10
1 PETER 2:2 and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. 3 For you have tasted that Adonai is good.[1 Peter 2:3 Psalm 34:9(8)]

4 As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. 6 This is why the Tanakh says,

“Look! I am laying in Tziyon a stone,

a chosen and precious cornerstone;

and whoever rests his trust on it

will certainly not be humiliated.”[1 Peter 2:6 Isaiah 28:16]

7 Now to you who keep trusting, he is precious. But to those who are not trusting,

“The very stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone”;[1 Peter 2:7 Psalm 118:22]

8 also he is

a stone that will make people stumble,

a rock over which they will trip.[1 Peter 2:8 Isaiah 8:14]

They are stumbling at the Word, disobeying it — as had been planned. 9 But you are a chosen people,[1 Peter 2:9 Isaiah 43:20; Deuteronomy 7:6; 10:15] the King’s cohanim,[1 Peter 2:9 Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:6] a holy nation,[1 Peter 2:9 Exodus 19:6] a people for God to possess![1 Peter 2:9 Isaiah 43:21; Exodus 19:5] Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.[1 Peter 2:10 Hosea 2:25(23)]

In a world that pronounces so many of us “not good enough,” what might it mean to believe that we really are chosen, precious, and beloved? In new members’ class we talked about baptism: this holy moment when we are named by God’s grace with such power it won’t come undone.

Fayette was there—a woman living on the streets, struggling with mental illness and lupus. She loved the part about baptism and would ask over and over, “And when I’m baptized, I am . . . ?” We soon learned to respond, “Beloved, precious child of God, and beautiful to behold.” “Oh, yes!” she’d say, and then we could go back to our discussion.
The big day came. Fayette went under, came up sputtering, and cried, “And now I am . . . ?” And we all said, “Beloved, precious child of God, and beautiful to behold.” “Oh, yes!” she shouted as she danced all around the fellowship hall.
Two months later I got a call. Fayette had been beaten and raped and was at the county hospital. So I went. I could see her from a distance, pacing back and forth. When I got to the door, I heard, “I am beloved . . . ” She turned, saw me, and said, “I am beloved, precious child of God, and. . . . ” Catching sight of herself in the mirror— hair sticking up, blood and tears streaking her face, dress torn, dirty, and rebuttoned askew, she started again, “I am beloved, precious child of God, and . . . ” She looked in the mirror again and declared, “ . . . and God is still working on me. If you come back tomorrow, I’ll be so beautiful I’ll take your breath away!”
Lord, baptize me in the waters of your grace so that I always remember who I am and the One to whom I belong. Amen.[Janet Wolf]

Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007

Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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