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MEDITATION:

Written by Karen Ehman, a contempoWritten by Dallas Willard (1935-2013), an American philosopher and writer on Christian spiritual formation. This is an excerpt from his work “The Divine Conspiracy Continued: Fulfilling God’s Kingdom on Earth.”

A very small percentage of those in the church stand behind a pulpit or sport certain kinds of identifiable clothing. The actual leadership roster of the church includes disciples ministering in every arena of life, in business, law, medicine, education, the arts, sciences, government, and religion. The objective of Jesus’s church-growth strategy was not to build a single, behemoth social institution with a limited set of ordained authorities. Instead, his Spirit was to be poured out on all flesh to effect a widening, deepening base of influence within every nation, worldview, and social institution. Today, we as disciples of Christ have the same opportunity and responsibility to abide in, and then manifest, shalom as a blessing for others as well as for ourselves. This is a significant aspect of what being a “light” to the world entails. In everything we do and say, in word and deed, in worship and work, in politics and play, truly in all things—not just religious things—we are blessed to be a blessing to others around us, leading them toward shalom. And until this occurs, our world surely groans as it waits for just such a reality to be revealed. It is these leaders, representing and maintaining the wonderfully rich and robust examples of integrity of character in fulfilling honorable duties, who exemplify and testify to the truth and goodness of God in a way that promotes, establishes, and maintains shalom for the benefit of all. If there is to be a next stage to the so-called spiritual formation movement, this must be it.

PRAYER:

Today’s prayer is from The Mozarabic Rite, once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal. It was developed during Visigoth (Arian Christian) rule of the Iberian peninsula in the 500s AD.

Hear us, never-fading Light, Lord our God, our only Light, Fountain of light, Light of your angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and of all intelligent beings. You created the light of your saints. May our souls be your lamps, kindled and enlightened by you. May they shine and burn with the truth, and never go out in darkness and ashes. May we be your house, shining from you, shining in you. May we shine without fail. May we ever worship you. In you may we be kindled and not be extinguished. Being filled with the splendor of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, may we shine forth inwardly. May the gloom of sins be cleared away, and the light of constant faith abide within us.