Backward, Day by Day

(a look back on the FORWARD DAY BY DAY pamphlet for February - April 2008. As always with this publication, the author is anonymous.)

Whoever wrote the daily reflections for the FORWARD DAY BY DAY booklet this past time is wise. Many mornings I marked the pages to remember them later. Here's what struck me:

Friday, Feb. 8, John 17:9-19 "I am asking on behalf of those whom you gave me . . ." Jesus prayer on behalf of his disciples, who don't seem to be able to pray for unity themselves, makes the author think of a Last Supper painted by Bassano: "Jesus sits in the center, gazing steadily at the viewer, surrounded by all of the [quarrelling, distracted] disciples, not one of whom is looking at him."

Monday, Feb. 11: Genesis 37:1-11: "When Joesph's brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him." The author reflects that Jesus, beginning his ministry in the Gospel assigned for this day, would have grown up hearing the story of Joseph and his envious brothers, and would know how the painful story ends in redemption. The author writes, "May God open our hearts to stories within stories, hope hidden in darkness, providence at the bottom of even the darkest pits."

Tuesday, Feb. 19: Psalm 62: "God alone is my rock and my salvation." The author thinks about images of God as a rock and fortress, and adds: "But the Christian tradition has always insisted that God both shelters us and sends us out.... 'Send us now into the world,' we ask."

Tuesday, March 4: Psalm 97: "Let the many coastlands be glad" (RSV) The author remembers a coastline in Scotland: "The same wind blew a low stinging cloud of sand from the hard-packed beach: sand and sea racing toward each other in an encounter as powerful and primitive as the collision of stars. " He concludes, "May the many coastlands remind us that our gladness too may sometimes be not just a sedate thank-you, but racing like the wind to meet our God."

Wednesday, March 12: 2 Cor. 2:14-3:6: "You are a letter of Christ." The author writes, "I confess I love this epistolary imagery (especially from such a famous epistle writer): the idea that each of us, in ourselves and in our communities of faith, are Christ's open letters to the world."

Thursday, April 3: John 15:12-27: "This is my commandment, that you love one another." "How, our sentimental-romantic culture wonders, can love be commanded? Surely it is something one helplessly (and pleasurably) feels, not something one obediently (and possibly with difficulty) does?" But no... It is an order.

Monday, April 7: Exodus 18:13-27: "You will surely wear yourself out." "Moses's sense of victimized indispensability might sound familiar to workaholic leaders everywhere. ....It is tempting to believe that without me, nothing would get done, and that no one else could do what I do for God. ...God commands us to stop thinking we are called -- or allowed -- to bear our burdens alone."

Thursday, Psalm 37:1-18 "Do not fret yourself. It leads only to evil." The author remembers a friend, afraid of flying, who cheerfully admits that, deep down, she must believe that "it is her white knuckles alone that keep planes in the air." And our fretfulness is no more useful.

Saturday, April 12: Col. 3:1-17: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." The author searched for another translation where the peace would "rest" or "dwell", but it's unequivocally "rule." The author recalls William Alexander Percy's poem-hymn, "They Cast Their Nets in Galilee," which demonstrates that the "peace of Christ" is "No peace," leading to crucifixion, stoning, loneliness. "Yet let us pray [for] the marvelous peace of God."

Wednesday, April 16: Exodus 33:1-23: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." The author recalls a dream of water skiing in rough waters, and letting go of the bar to sink in "suddenly, blessedly, silent water." It was a comforting dream of contemplative prayer.

SUNDAY April 20: John 14:1-14: "No one comes to the Father except by me." Author quotes C. S. Lewis: "God has not old us what his arrangements about other people are." We do not know that only those who KNOW him can be saved through him. "Grace is a mystery, not a formula, -- and not subject to our prior approval. ... The Spirit blows where it will. ... In hidden ways we cannot see, control, or imagine -- even in other religions -- Christ is bringing the whole world home to the Father. . . ."