Daily Lectio: Wednesday Evening, May 20

I’m posting early this morning the reflection from last night….

An amazing glimpse at Psalm 27 (NRSV)
Thinking about prayer and how we understand prayer…what prayer “is” and what it “does.”  I thought back to the curriculum meeting we had with the youth leaders, looking toward the arrival of our new Associate for Youth and Young Adults.  There is a portion in the Journey to Adulthood framework that describes prayer.  They use the ACTS “method:”  Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  It’s a wonderful method…for what it is, but then we have Psalm 27….and I wonder….might we start here for a discussion/reflection on prayer?

One thing I asked of the Lord,

that I will seek after:

to live in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in his temple.

Amazingly rich, because it isn’t pointing at some far off time, after we have died and “are in heaven.”  Rather, it’s pointing us here and now…in our present context….. that we will “live in the house of the Lord all the days of [our] lives.”  That’s a challenging image….and it guides us to consider prayer in a more contemplative, mindful way:  that the heart of our prayer, the grounding of our practice, is this seeking for unity with God…

As Norman Fischer says in his interpretation

“One thing I ask for, one thing I hope–

To live in your house

All the days of my life

To behold your loveliness

Every morning in the light of your temple

dawn.

To behold your loveliness…..

S+