Liturgy 089: My Marriage and My Children
Masculinity & Spirituality Part D
Lectio Divina
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2
My marriage and my children. All the rest could go to pot… [chuckles] I think I still could make it. Yeah. My marriage and my children.
Eugene Peterson
in an interview towards the end of his life, joyfully responding to the question, “What’s been the best bits of living for you?”
Prayer
Ambition and anxiety.
Ambition and anxiety.
Adult life
is a windup monkey toy,
clanging these two cymbals
over and over and over
again.
Ambition and anxiety.
Ambition and anxiety.
We perform.
We press on.
We wake early.
We stay late.
We scan the room.
Who’s watching?
Who’s winning?
Meanwhile,
underneath…
the ache
the fear
the eternal discontent
with kingdoms
we have served unnamed.
Could I hear that whisper from the garden?
Bone of my bones,
flesh of my flesh.
Not performance.
Not progress.
Union and Presence.
Naked.
Unashamed.
Let me return, O God,
to what is real.
Covenant,
not consumption.
Love,
not a ladder.
For the ones you’ve given me,
my marriage, my children
Unwind the toy.
Shalom and praise.
Shalom and praise.
Over and over and over
again.
Blessing
Dear Friend
May you enjoy the gifts of God,
even as you name the false kingdoms
that once claimed your heart.
May every foreign god of toil and hurry,
who forged for you a life without sabbath,
be violently crucified without mercy.
May you find courage
to seek first a Kingdom
not made by ambition or fear
but love.
May you walk
slowly
with a smile
as a man after
God’s own heart.
In the Name of the One Who Brings Good News
Amen.