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Thoughts and Prayers
Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. – Psalm 79:8-9 (NRSV)
Vague spirituality is common in the wake of public tragedies. Politicians send generic “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of a mass shooting. Pastors add the tragedy of a flood to the endless list of “thoughts and prayers” in the bulletin. Journalists publish analytical “thoughts and prayers” about wildfires and hurricanes and starvation within the rush of a news cycle. Many of us publicize our “thoughts and prayers,” too: Substack essays about whether to mourn or to rage; Facebook posts about whether to set politics aside or to organize with partisan passion; tweets that sympathize and tweets that blame.
Explicitly woven throughout the massive word cloud of so many thoughts and prayers: a cry for compassion.
Implicitly understood in our thoughts and prayers: a certainty that we (collectively) will not be convicted by the iniquities of this tragedy, or the next one, or the next one.
Because vague spirituality prefers not to remember past sins or to contend with present wickedness.
Vague spirituality prays for deliverance from our unresolved histories but not for resolution itself, and certainly not for reparations.
Vague spirituality talks a lot about speedy compassion, in pursuit of shared forgetfulness.
Vague spirituality is Psalm 79:8 without Psalm 79:9—a prayer for relief without a desire for salvation.
Salvation does the hard work of holistic relief, not swept-under-the-rug consolation. Salvation is relief plus remembrance. It is compassion plus reparation. It is grace plus accountability. Salvation is a prayer wed to an ongoing commitment. Salvation is a thought born of disillusionment and confession, enfleshed in grace and humility. Salvation seeks the glory of the holy whole, not the Band-Aid of the few.
Prayer: Forgive me, O God. I have no prayers for the wicked and little hope for their redemption. Turn my thoughts to a holier and whole-ier salvation, for your name’s sake.
cross-published with the UCC Daily Devotional
People-Pleasing
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. … And without faith it is impossible to please God. – Hebrews 11:1-2 & 6b (NRSV)
All my life, I’ve believed I’m not a people-pleaser.
Then I started paying attention to my emotional relationship with email: The guilt over every message collecting dust for lack of a reply. The assumption of anger in an email’s tone. The avoidance of a message if I cannot immediately meet its need. The projection of disappointment, the perceived obligation to acquiesce, the default of an apologetic tone.
I walk on eggshells around email like it’s my ex-husband: unpredictably volatile, a landmine of overwhelming and unrealistic demands that will explode if not pacified.
Meanwhile, I manage 4 personal inboxes and 5 professional inboxes, which is a lot of ex-husbands to placate.
And here comes Hebrews 11, harboring a dilemma that is intimately familiar to us people-pleasers and fawners: “How can we secure approval from Someone who is impossible to please? How can I be certain Someone is content with me?”
“Faith” is not the answer to our search for certainty that God is pleased. Faith is the mechanism by which we dare to ask, “Does God require pleasing?”
Is not God already pleased? Pleased to set healing before us? Pleased to plant hope within us?
Is not God already abundant in pleasure—in the delights of heaven and earth, in the invisible that waits to unfold?
Eggshells and insecurity are but for a moment. God’s love is for a lifetime. Disappointment may linger for the night, but unrestrained-by-external-expectations joy comes in the morning.
Prayer: Lead us not into anxiety, and deliver us from email.
cross-posted on ucc.org’s Daily Devotional
Reminders
“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between [me] and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” - Genesis 9:16 (NRSV) The world needs more reminders. Guns need not just one safety lock but five safety...
The Breaks
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning? Yet you are holy … and sovereignty belongs to you, the ruler over all the earth. All families and all nations worship before you; all who sleep in the...
Going to Battle
King Neco of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish, and Josiah went out against him. But Neco sent envoys to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming out against you today. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy...
Whose Glory?
Deborah, a prophetess, used to sit under a palm in the hill country of Ephraim. She summoned Barak and said to him, “The God of Israel commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor; I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you with his chariots...
Praise
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Bad News
The spirit of the Holy One is upon me, because the One has anointed me and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of divine favor, and the day...
Advent’s Harvest
Where the ground is frozen, raspberries will ripen. Where the street is empty, dancers will parade. Where the embers are cold, a phoenix will soar. Where hope's heart is broken, compassion will bloom. on Jeremiah 33:10-11
Let It Count
Let it count in our favor, O God, that it's been a rough year. Let it be to our credit, O God, that we can still find a prayer— or at least a swear in your direction, which should also count. Put a "plus" in our column, O God, for all the strikes against us. Let it...
About Those Chickens
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for God gives sleep to those who are...
