Verbs

What are the verbs that characterize your spiritual life? I find that if I want to be reminded of what a service is all about, whether it’s a baptism or eucharist, a wedding or a funeral, I can look at the verbs in the liturgy, especially the verbs in the prayers. With that in mind, this Monday morning I’d like to reflect on the first verse of the first psalm, reprinted above. It’s a psalm, heard in church yesterday, that provides an introduction, maybe an overture, to the 149 psalms that follow, which makes it worth our attention.

Psalm 1 presents two ways of living. I’m particularly interested in the progression described in the verbs of that first verse. It speaks of those who walk, who linger, who sit. It goes from movement to stasis. I wonder if that’s how our lives unfold. We begin by walking in an environment that may or may not bring health. Pretty soon we’re slowing down and loitering. Kind of hanging around. Finally, we plunk our selves down and sit in the mess we’ve chosen. Maybe that’s what people mean when they describe themselves as being stuck.

Because I’ve come to believe that spiritual growth is the priority in the life of faith, I’m interested in the way this growth happens, how it progresses. I often ask people to think about when they experienced spiritual growth and what caused that to happen. I follow up and ask if they’ve experienced a time when they were spiritually stuck or stalled. What made that happen?

When people describe being stalled in the spiritual life, the most common reason I hear is that they experienced crisis or challenge. (Interestingly enough, that’s also the thing that seems to help people grow.) Others say that the busy pace of contemporary life has kept them from growing spiritually. Way too many people have bad experiences with the church. Imagine! People say things like: “The church is just full of hypocrites,” to which I can only reply “Guilty as charged.”

But let's get back to Psalm 1. It suggests that spiritual inertia has something to do with the company we keep/the environment in which we place ourselves. That can be the people we hang out with. It can be the entertainment (movies, music, sports) to which we devote time. A recent Atlantic article on the epidemic of loneliness in our culture noted that young people spend more than 30% of their waking life on screens, increasingly isolated and digesting input that may or may not be spiritually nourishing.

Think on this Monday morning about how you are being shaped by the environment in which you place yourself. What do your calendar and your checkbook/credit card statement indicate about what you value? Annie Dillard noted that the way we spend our days is of course the way we live our lives. Each day offers opportunity to think about these questions: With whom are we walking? Where have we chosen to linger? Where have we popped a squat and settled in? Do those choices, do those experiences help us grow in love of God and neighbor, or do they get in the way? Are we planted by a living stream?

That’s where the life of the church comes in, the church with all its shortcomings. I don’t simply mean the hour or so we might give to worship each week, though regular worship is key to keeping us on track. I mean as well the spiritual practices we make part of our life, maybe how we wake each day and ask God to bless the day and guide us in it, mindful that our lives unfold in God’s presence. I mean as well service. I mean as well work for justice and peace.

Each day presents us with a choice. I love the Prayer for the Day (From the Service for Healing in the Book of Common Prayer). Like the first verse of Psalm 1, note the importance of the verbs. Here’s the prayer, which I invite you to say this morning, and maybe in mornings to come:

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.

-Jay Sidebotham

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