A Prayer for Humility

A Private Litany of Humility

From the desire of being praised, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of comfort and ease, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being criticized, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being passed over, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being lonely, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being hurt, deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of suffering, deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, strengthen me with your Spirit.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, teach me your ways.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, help me put my self-importance aside to learn the kind of cooperation with others that makes possible the presence of your Abba’s household.

Amen.

Adapted from a prayer by Rafael,
Cardinal Merry Del Val, 1865–1930

A Key To Happiness

Have heard this before, but good to remember and actually practice.  Maybe I will start this today.

Be Happier at Work and In Life

Teach A Man To Fish...

Thought this was an insightful post by Bruce Kasanoff.

Do Not Teach a Starving Man to Fish

Humility, Grace, and Wrath

"It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying.  Nothing is at odds with prayer as vanity"

"Every day I am getting to know people, at any rate their circumstances, and sometimes one is able to see through their stories into themselves - and at the same time one thing continues to impress me:  here I meet people as they are, far from the masquerade of "the Christian world";  people with passions, criminal types, small people with small aims, small wages and small sins - all in all they are people who feel homeless in both senses, and who begin to thaw when one speaks to them with kindness - real people;  I can only say that I have gained the impression that it is just these people who are much more under grace than under wrath, and that it is the Christian world which is more under wrath than grace."

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Being a Disciple

From "And" by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

"Disciples expect tension!  They wake up each day expecting the Father will lead and guide their day; they have given ownership of all they have back to God, for him to direct.  They trust God for supernatural provision; they let faith in God win out over safety, common sense, or worldly wisdom; moreover, their relationship with God is deeply integrated with a community of other believers, and they have many relationships with people in the non-Christian culture.  They view Scripture as God's message to a missional people instead of a series of self-help slogans; they pray out of desperation for the circumstances they find themselves in as they walk in the world instead of simply doing things in isolation; and they view the church as a community of fellow passionaries joyfully gathering to see each other, as opposed to strangers they sing songs with once a week."

True Leadership

Read this while looking at a passage of Mark this morning.  Made me think about how I choose to lead as an elder, a member of the missions team, and in other areas of the church.

So Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.  But among you it will be different.  Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Mark 10:42-45

Exporting America

Read this relevant quote from "Red Letter Revolution" by Shane Clairborne and Tony Campolo this morning.  This keeps coming up in things I am reading about our Western approach to missions.  Here they are actually talking about our government and allegiance to country, but it is the same thought.

"We've got to stop trying to export who we are to other nations.  We must recognize the sovereignty of other nations and not go around believing that we have a messianic calling to make other nations into what we are."

Tiny Houses

Interesting approach to housing the homeless that I came across today.


Tiny houses help address nation's homeless problem

The Business of Missions

From "The Poor Will Be Glad" by Peter Greer and Phil Smith

I thought this was inciteful and worth noting:

Churches and ministries never have sufficient time, talent, and money to accomplish all they wish.  However, additional resources already exist in the form of businesspeople within the church who are an essential and underutilized part of fighting physical and spiritual poverty.  You can see one of the most obvious reasons business is important if you glance at your calendar, especially if it looks like mine...The simple fact is that, for most of us, we spend far more time developing relationships and interacting with those in the world or work than we do in the world of church.

The church I attend demonstrates another advantage of involving businesspeople in the mission of alleviating spiritual and physical poverty.  On a typical Sunday, we have over a thousand Christians enter our doors.  That is certainly something to celebrate.  But we seldom have many non-Christians pop in for a visit and, despite our best efforts, many of those infrequent visitors find it difficult to follow the terminology or get meaningfully engaged.  Business offers an environment where non-Christians can watch the behavior of committed Christians and learn about Christianity at their own pace and in their own way.  Business is a window through which the people who most need the gospel can watch Christ at work in the everyday lives of Christians.