I try to follow the daily lectionary---daily reading---even
though I don’t always mention it. I find
the lectionary to be an available, designated group of readings that help me
focus for some time. I know how
important discipline is in a variety of aspects of life. Discipline is part of my spiritual regimen,
although I don’t do as well as I want to do.
Clearly, discipline plays a role in other areas, such as physical
exercise, eating, etc.
The lectionary makes it a little easier for me to engage
some practice. The lectionary I follow
is the one from the Benedictine monastic tradition. I like the fact that monks around the world
are doing the same readings from the Psalms that I am doing. And they are also hearing the same passages
from the Old and New Testament that I read.
It is not the same thing as being there with them, but when I can’t be
with them, I like knowing I am doing what they are doing.
The lectionary is broken down into seven or eight worship or
devotional times during each day. I
usually am trying to do the early morning ones or the evening or night
ones. Yesterday I managed to do
Compline, which is the last one of the day.
The monk uses this one, and then heads back to his or her own room
without talking and is done for the night.
Often the focus for Compline has a sense of finishing the day. I like that way of finishing the day.
The end of one of the Psalms in the Compline reading caught
my attention. Psalm 86 is one of
supplication. The Psalmist asks God to
be present and protective. The Psalmist
begins to wrap up the Psalm by petitioning God.
“Teach me your
way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.” Another translation has the request to be
taught the “path.” I like to read a
short phrase like this and then lean back and ponder or meditate on it.
I
like the fact the Psalmist uses the verb, “teach.” “Teach me,” he requests. This simple request suggests two things. In the first place the Psalmist is portraying
God as a teacher or, perhaps, mentor. We
know it was common to think about Jesus as Teacher, but we don’t always think
about the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) talking about God or Yahweh as
Teacher. But for me, it fits. God appropriately requires many images or
metaphors to describe the Divine Being and Activity. God is creator, nurturer and teacher, among
others.
Secondly,
the request to be taught suggests that the Psalmist can actually be
taught! The writer is assuming that he
can learn. I want to share that
assumption for myself and for all of us.
If God is a teacher, then we can all be learners. We can all be students
of the Divinity. God the Teacher can
teach us, according to the Psalmist, the path or the way. Obviously, this is very general and somewhat
opaque. What is the path or the way?
The
way or path is probably itself general.
The path is the path to God. It
is the way to God’s heart and the means to be within the care of the Holy One. The path is the way we come into relationship
with God and the means by which we stay in and sustain that relationship. Let me suggest this way or path is related to
us being students. In the classical
languages of the Bible, a student is nothing more than a disciple. So the way is the way of discipleship. Literally, it is following the path God lays
out for us.
We
are ready now to look more closely at the second part of the quotation from the
Psalm. The Psalmist asks to be taught
the way “that I may walk in your truth.”
Notice how nicely the word used here, “walk,” fits the idea of way or
path. We need to be taught the path in
order that we may walk in truth.
Clearly, this means the path or way is one of truth. In effect, the Psalmist is asking to receive
from God the appropriate way to live a life of purity and love. Let me live in truth and not falsely.
Let
my life be a witness and not a weakness.
Let us bear witness to the verity (truth) of our calling and connection
to the God who created us and has high hopes for us. To live up to the hope God has for me is to
live truthfully. The Psalmist rightly
knows God needs to help us all be able to pull off this kind of life in
truth. We need to be taught the path
and, then, we need continued guidance to walk the path.
Although
the Psalmist does not go this far, I would argue this is precisely the place
for community. The pilgrimage down the
path God teaches us is not a lonely pilgrimage.
It is with others who have also been taught the path and are walking in
the truth. There may be times I am
alone, but on this pilgrimage I should never be lonely.
Maybe
a simple way to get at this is to ask, “Where are you heading in life?” The answer the Psalmist offers is my
choice. We are heading down the path of
truth, which the Holy One has taught us. And we are traveling with a band of
pilgrims into the very Presence of that Teacher of Truth. My daily simple prayer is to continue to walk
and invite others along the way.
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