Monday, July 11, 2005
I suck at the office
I really suck at the office. And it has nothing to do with a creepy boss wearing suspenders peering over my shoulder, holding a coffee mug, "Hey Peter, what's happening?"

Rubbing shoulders with the good folks at VBCC last fall, I was exposed to the Liturgy of the Hours, also sometimes called the daily office.

I find myself echoing Kyle's sentiments:
In praying the Office, I'm being trained to quit trying to "get something out of" my reading of Scripture. It is a regular, daily practice, to be engaged in whether I feel like it or not. The Scripture reads me, and I sit with it, (often with my friends as well) whether I'm in the mood for it or not. When it's done, I can trust that this is indeed part of being transformed by the renewing of my mind, whether I "feel" transformed or not.


I like the rhythm. I like the reminder that prayer and God's Word are bigger than me and what I'm feeling today. The Psalms are so rich in language and emotion and theology. But I can't seem to find a rhythm. I'll pray the morning and forget the evening. I'll pray the evening and forget the morning. I'll do three mornings in a row and my book will get buried under a stack of things and I'll forget for weeks at a time. Then I have to humbly ask what week we're on.

I like the idea of submitting to a spiritual rhythm. I really do. I like the idea of a lot of things. Doing is quite something else, though. Really submitting, ah, there's the rub. If a discipline were easy, though, I'm sure it wouldn't be worth it in the end. And at the end of the day, it's not about reading the perfect script. I think it's more about being on the road towards perfection. I think that's what those Christians mean by "sanctification."

Bryan has many excellent resources for the Office.

Lord make haste to help me.

And I'm in class all this week. Exegesis of Romans. Lectures from 8 am to 5 pm.

Lord make haste to help me with that, too.

posted by Peter at 11:36 PM
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