The Wee Small Hours of the Morning - October 18, 2010

Daily Lectionary for October 18, 2010
Psalm 119:145-176
Micah 2:1-13
Revelations 7:1-8
Luke 9:51-62

Psalm 119:146-176 and Micah 2:1-13
I rise up before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.(Psalm 119:148)

Alas for those who devise wickedness
and evil deeds on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in their power.(Micah 2:1)

Found it interesting that both of these passages seem concerned with what's going on in our restful hours.  The Psalmist talks about how rising early to turn to God and approaching the watches of the night fixed on meditation.  Micah speaks of those who go to sleep planning bad actions and wake up prepared to carry them out.  A watch word of my understanding of the faith journey over the past several years has been the word intention.  Disicpleship is not throwing oneself blindly into each new day and hoping for the best.  Discipleship is intentionally aiming to position oneself in places where it seems most likely that God may put us to use in positive ways.  The spiritual disciplines are all about intent.  Prayer.  Scripture reading.  Worship.  Acts of service.  Sharing our faith in word and deed.  Looking for God at work in our world and in our lives.  Anticipating God's action in our lives as we start the day and reviewing the day at the end to see where we can discern God's Spirit at work.  There is no magic to this, but there is common sense.  If our minds are set on anger, bitterness, division and the like our days will most likely be consumed with these things.  If our hearts are set on God, it is not that God is more likely to act, it is more likely that we will notice that God is acting all the time.

Rubicon
AMC's Rubicon ended it's intial season last night.  The show which has been slow, thick, hard to follow and brilliant remained so through it's final scene.  There were a number of payoffs last night, but nearly as many new questions were raised which leads to the hope that rumors of the show not being renewed are just that, rumors.  Very much enjoyed season one of Rubicon and very much hoping for a season two.