Lamb of God: Lent Daybook 2
Take a few deep breaths, settle your body, mind, and heart into a quiet space and let’s begin with prayer.
Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Look: The River, John August Swanson - Source
Artist’s Statement: Communities are formed around rivers. Farmers irrigate their crops; shepherds bring their flocks to drink; people wash their bodies and their clothes as they collect clean drinking water; children play and swim.
The River reminds me of our need to keep growing in understanding and compassion for all people, and to see our common source. It supplies the water of life to all of us as it winds along its course. Each person shares in the river’s blessing.
My mother was raised in the isolated Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mexico. On the feast of Saint John the Baptist, her family would go to the river to have a picnic and bathe in the water.
Listen: Lamb of God, The Welcome Wagon - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
Read: Psalm 37; Deuteronomy 7:6-11; Titus 1:1-16; John 1:29-34
Excerpts:
Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and enjoy security.
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For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. Therefore, observe diligently the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication shine like the light and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.
Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
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For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain, but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, self-controlled, upright, devout, and restrained, holding tightly to the trustworthy word of the teaching, so that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to refute those who contradict it.
There are also many rebellious people, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision; they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach. …
To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
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The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide forever; they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance.
But the wicked perish, and the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
The wicked borrow and do not pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep giving; surely those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
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The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”
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Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is posterity for the peaceable. But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their refuge in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and rescues them; he rescues them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.
—Psalm 37:1-3; Deuteronomy 7:6-11; Psalm 37:4-9; Titus 1:7-11,15-16; Psalm 37:19-22; John 1:29-34; Psalm 37:37-40
Pray & Do: Sit silently for 5 minutes, praying only the ‘Jesus Prayer.’
The Jesus Prayer is one of the best-known traditions within Orthodoxy. It’s a short, simple prayer that has been widely used, taught, and discussed throughout the history of Eastern Christianity.
Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,
Υἱὲ Θεοῦ,
ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλό
Its words say simply:
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
have mercy on me the sinner.
As you enter this time of prayer, find a comfortable position. Quiet yourself. Don’t worry about inner and outer distractions. Notice them and let them point you toward the words of the Jesus Prayer. For example, “Oh, there’s my noisy neighbor. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner.” Or, in response to galloping thoughts about an upcoming event, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner.” Even, “My neck and wrists are sore from bending over a screen too long today. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner.”
If you’re able to sit quietly without distraction, notice your breathing and occasionally breathe in “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” and exhale “have mercy on me the sinner.”
Here’s a bit more about the history of the Jesus Prayer from Spirituality: an introduction to the Jesus Prayer by Patrick Comerford.
“In order to enter more deeply into the life of prayer and to come to grips with the Scriptural challenge to pray unceasingly, the Orthodox tradition offers the Jesus Prayer – which is called the “Prayer of the Heart” (Καρδιακή Προσευχή) by some Church Fathers – as a means of concentration and as a focal point for our inner life.
The exact words of the prayer have varied from the most simple possible involving the name “Jesus,” or “Lord have mercy,” to the more common extended form: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
I also appreciate this insight from Allison Backous Troy: Praying the Jesus Prayer showed me Christ via Faith & Leadership.
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).