Liturgy 087: Anxious Systems

Masculinity & Spirituality Part B

Lectio Divina

You are my son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.
Mark 1:11

The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound. These make room inside us for the Holy Spirit to come in and heal. What prevents us from being available to God is gradually evacuated.
Thomas Keating

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Prayer

O God who calls us beloved

I want to be free
from proving.

When I seek to be right,
I am a sword
drawn too quickly.

Might I be free,
like a well worn path
that knows the weight of many feet?

Let the man I am
be shaped not by performance,
but by Presence.

By still mornings
and hidden service,
by laughter that isn’t loud,
by courage that doesn’t crush,
by contentment that lives off the screen.

Let him be
unhurried,
unarmed,
unguarded.

Let him be
wise enough to weep,
strong enough to wait.

Jesus
Son of God
Son of Man

Teach me the way
of power without posturing
of love without armor
of truth displayed in weakness.

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Blessing

Go now
with no one to impress,
nothing to prove,
no title to protect.

You are loved
before you lead,
before you speak,
before you succeed.

Walk in quiet strength.

In the Name of the One
who did not seek glory
from the anxious systems
of Politicians and Pharisees,

Amen.