The Listening That Transforms
- davidwperk
- Apr 22, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Monday, April 22, 2024
The week of the fourth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection in today’s Gospel reading:
5:1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 961)
AM Psalm 41,52; PM Psalm 44
Exod. 32:1-20; Col 3:18-4:6(7-18); Matt. 5:1-10
Today we celebrate the Feast of John Muir and Hudson Stuck. ( See below.)
David’s Reflections
Methodist New Testament scholar Walter Wink says, “No doubt a part of me wants to whittle Jesus down to my size so that I can avoid painful, even costly change. But another part of me is exhilarated by the possibility of becoming more human. So I listen in order to be transformed.” *
What would prompt me to turn to God and place my life in God’s loving hands? According to these verses, my sense of inner poverty, my desperate desire for God’s love and forgiveness. The first three steps of Alcoholics Anonymous describe poverty of spirit (substitute any addiction or captivity for alcohol in step 1): 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
This sense of need for God—where does it come from? How does one discover it? It comes about because God has found a way to awaken us, a gift of God’s love seeking us. The precipitating event might be some profound crisis (like illness or divorce). Or it might be exposure to God’s word and sacrament in worship. Or it might be an encounter with a life devoted to God. A variety of experiences may trigger that sense of need that we’ve managed to cloak from ourselves.
If we respond by turning to God in faith, we then have God’s presence and activity in our lives and the other qualities Jesus mentions in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-10) begin to become evident as God’s love does its transforming work within us. As Wink put it, “I listen in order to be transformed.” That listening process then becomes a way of life, pock marked with threshold moments of turning to God with a heightened sense of need and welcoming God’s transforming love into a new area of our lives.
How would you describe the life of Jesus, its spiritual energy and unique qualities? The challenge of attempting to do so would be daunting. Yet, as I read the words of today’s Gospel, the qualities of a blessed person, the person and life of Jesus come to mind. Jesus certainly sensed his radical need for God and lived by faith. He grieved over the broken lives of people and of his world. He maintained his commitment and surrender to God against all adversity. He hungered for God’s saving work to be done in the world. He exercised mercy. He had a single-minded commitment to God. He was a peacemaker. And, he certainly was persecuted.
What Jesus describes in these opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount is a life lived in response to God’s will and kingly rule. These Beatitudes do not describe how you must live to enter God’s kingdom and experience salvation. Rather, they express the quality of life God’s saving love produces in those who have trust in God and have committed their lives to God’s will.
I invite you to join me in resolving to listen deeply for God’s presence and voice in our life experience and in our inner being. Our sense of aloneness and need may well be God’s voice of love in our souls calling us to transformation. Perhaps as Wink says, a first step toward becoming more fully human, more fully like the Jesus whose speech reveals his own spirituality, would be to listen. I feel called to join Wink by resisting the temptation to whittle Jesus down to my size and embracing that enlarged and challenging portrait of Jesus. Where will that take me?
*Walter Wink, " A Personal and Social Transformation through Scripture," February 2004 (https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/Wink_Transformation)
Collect of the Day, Fourth Sunday of Easter
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 225)
Today we celebrate the Feast of John Muir, naturalist and writer (Died 24 Dec 1914 CE) and Hudson Stuck, priest and environmentalist (died 10 Oct 1920 CE).
Collect of the Feast of John Muir and Hudson Stuck
Blessed Creator of the earth and all that inhabits it: We thank you for your prophets John Muir and Hudson Stuck, who rejoiced in your beauty made known in the natural world; and we pray that, inspired by their love of your creation, we may be wise and faithful stewards of the world you have created, that generations to come may also lie down to rest among the pines and rise refreshed for their work; in the Name of the one through whom you make all things new, Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for the Renewal of Life
O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)
For a Birthday
Watch over your child, O Lord, as her/his days increase; bless and guide her/him wherever she/he may be. Strengthen her/him when she/he stands; comfort her/him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her/him up if she/he falls; and in her/his heart may your peace which passes understanding abide all the days of her/his life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (BCP, 830)
A Prayer for Light
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. (BCP, 111)
A Collect for Mission
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100, 257)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 5:1-10
5:1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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