Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 3*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

2) Scripture Reading—1 Kings 19:11-12
The Lord said “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

3) Devotional
When God appeared to Elijah after his flight from Jezebel and suicidal depression, he told him to stand and wait for the presence of the Lord to pass by. God did not appear in the ways he had showed up in the past. God was not in the wind (as with Job), an earthquake (as in Mount Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments), or fire (as in the burning bush with Moses). God finally revealed himself to Elijah in “a sound of sheer silence.” (See 1 Kings 19:12). The translation of God coming “in a still, small voice” does not capture the original Hebrew but what could the translators do? How do you hear silence?

The silence after the chaos, for Elijah and for us, is full of the presence of God. God speaks to Elijah out of the silence.

God invites you, too, to stand and wait like Elijah. Why? He also wants to speak to you out of the “sound of sheer silence.”

4) Question to Consider
When can you set aside some time for extended, uninterrupted silence to hear God?  Will you do that today?

5) Prayer
LORD, you know how difficult it is for me to be in silence before you. It feels, at times, almost impossible with the demands and noise all around me. I invite you to lead me to a quiet, silent place before you, to a place where I can hear you as Elijah did. In Jesus’ name, amen.

* from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero

Daily Office - Discovering the Rhythm of Sabbath Pt. 2*

1) Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

 2) Scripture Reading—Genesis 2:9b, 15-17
In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

4) Devotional
At the heart of the Daily Office and the Sabbath is stopping to surrender to God in trust. It is the very essence of the sin in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve legitimately worked and enjoyed their achievements in the Garden. They were to embrace their limits, however, and not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were not to try to see and know that which belongs to Almighty God.

As theologian Robert Barron has argued, the heart of original sin is the refusal to accept God’s rhythm for us. The essence of being created in God’s image is our ability, like God, to stop. We imitate God by stopping our work and resting. If we can stop for one day a week, or for mini-Sabbaths each day (the Daily Office), we touch something deep within us as image-bearers of God. Our human brain, our bodies, our spirits, and our emotions are wired by God for the rhythm of work and rest in him.

Stopping for the Daily Office and Sabbath is not meant to add another to-do to our already busy schedules. It is an entirely new way of being in the world, resetting all of our days toward a new destination—God.

5) Question to Consider
How do you hear the invitation to “stop and surrender to God in trust” today?

6) Prayer
Lord, help me to grab hold of you today. I need you. Set me free to begin reorienting my life around you and you alone. Help me to pay attention and honor how you have uniquely made me. Thank you for the gift of rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

* from "Begin the Journey with The Daily Office" by Pete Scazzero