Sacramental Living

Here is the prayer I’m praying this day:

Marked by Ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Taken from Walter Brueggemann’s Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), pp. 27-28.

This is a continuation of Sin and Facial Hair 2 and Sin and Facial Hair 1.

Martin Luther once wrote:

“Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth.”

Over 3 weeks in growing the beard now.  I’ve sort of plateaued with most of it.  The gotee area continues to grow nicely.

Heather tells me she hopes I keep the beard and don’t cut it come Easter.  I really don’t know what to make of that!

The growth is uneven.  Just like my life, there are areas where sin can grow quite easily and some areas that will rarely if ever see sin.

This whole exercise has me thinking about original sin.

Could pride simply be my constant desire to trust myself and my ways rather than God and God’s ways?  Is this the basest form of all sin?

Do I tend toward trusting in myself because I don’t want to become little … to become nothing … to be totally dependent on God alone?

I am attempting to “do” less in regards to faith.  That is to say, when I try to “accomplish” less, I tend to trust God more.  It’s at those times I’m closer to the center of God’s will.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
Do you struggle with trusting yourself rather than God?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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This is a continuation of Sin and Facial Hair 1.

Martin Luther once wrote:

“Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth.”

It’s been just over 2 weeks since this little Lenten exercise began. I’ve become oddly comfortable with the unevenness of my facial hair. It doesn’t yet itch. I’m sure that’s to come soon.

I’m amazed at how quickly I’ve grown (pun intended) accustomed to this emerging beard. I get surprised looks from people who know me but haven’t seen me in a few weeks. Then I remember, “Oh yeah, I look like an unshaven, unkempt, fill-in-the-blank to this person.”

Such situations have opened up great conversations.

“Why the, ummm, beard?”

“Well, you see, I and some other guys in my church have given up shaving for Lent to remind us of our sin.”

“Uh-huh. And you want to be reminded of your sin?”

“Yes, so that I don’t let it have power over me …”

And so on.

My “beard” is by no means attractive at this point. Although, my wife tells me she likes it … Not sure what to make of that.

Sin is not attractive either. But it can easily become something that no longer surprises us. We can quickly grow accustomed to sin and the power it has over us.

I’m praying for the strength of Christ’s Spirit to remind me of how easily I can be lulled into the lie … and for the perseverance to run as fast as I can away from that lie.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
What’s something that you’ve learned about the nature of sin?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.