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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 26
Read Matthew 6:16-18 and do the exercises below:
- What is your experience with fasting? Have you had positive or negative experiences with this spiritual practice?
- What things in your life tend to distract you most from giving time and attention to your relationship with God? Food, entertainment, shopping, alcohol, gossip? What things do you tend to reach for first when you’re looking for comfort?
- Take some time to prayerfully consider fasting from something other than food. Pick something that tends to be an idol, an obsession, or an unhealthy escape from reality. Then, pick a length of time to abstain from that thing (1 day, 5 days, 10 days, etc.) and replace it with prayer time, either alone or with someone else.
By Henry Darger
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 25
Read The Lord’s Prayer again (Matt 6:9-13) and do the exercises below:
In The Cotton Patch Version, Clarence Jordan translates the Lord’s prayer like this:
Father of us, O Spiritual One
Your name be truly honored.
Your kingdom spread, your will prevail
Through earth, as through the heavens.
Sustaining bread grant us each day.
Forgive our debts as we forgive
The debts of all who cannot pay.
And from confusion keep us clear;
Deliver us from evil’s sway.Jordan translates the Lord’s prayer as a poem because that is how it appears in the original Greek. As a poem, it took advantage of the ability to communicate deeper meaning through structure, rhythm, and rhyme.
- Take time to write out your own version of the Lord’s prayer in your own way.
By Henry Darger
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 24
Read Matthew 6:9-15 and do the exercises below:
- The first lines of the Lord’s prayer begin with “O Father in heaven, we revere your name.” By doing this Jesus characterizes God as both more accessible (“O Father”) and more holy (“we revere your name”) at the same time. What does the concept of fatherhood, at its very best, mean to you? Who do you know that embodies good fatherhood?
- What does it mean to revere or honor someone?
- Take time to pray through this first line of the Lord’s Prayer: pray to God, imagining him as a great and good father and bring him your honor, reverence, and praise in whatever way seems fitting. Consider reading Psalm 145 out loud as a prayer.
- Heavier lifting: Click here to learn about the significance of God’s name in ancient Judaism.
By Henry Darger
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 23
Read Matthew 6:5-8 and do the exercises below:
- How is your private prayer different from your public prayer?
- Jesus says “do not keep babbling” (v7). In Jesus’ day a common pagan belief was that the gods could be worn down or overcome by incessant words in prayer. At the heart of this belief is the idea that we can gain control over God by praying the right way. What other approaches to prayer have you heard that basically teach this same idea (that if we’ll only learn to pray the right way God will do what we want)?
- What do you think Jesus means by, “I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full” (v5)? What is the “reward” he’s referring to? What does this teach us about God and the spiritual life?
- Try this kind of prayer today. How would you pray differently if what you were seeking was merely more of Him? Find a time and place where you’ll be undisturbed and spend at least 20 minutes in prayer with God Himself as your only request. You can use scripture (preferably Psalms, Proverbs, or the end of Job), nature, music, or art as a catalyst of meditation. Or, you can just dig in and start pouring out your heart’s desire for God, asking Him to draw close to you in a discernible way. Pay close attention to the thoughts, images, and feelings that run through your mind. How is God communicating to you? Come back here and tell us about your experience.
By Henry Darger
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 22
Read Matthew 6:1-4 and do the exercises below.
- Read through this passage several times and circle (or note) the words that are repeated. What are they?
- The NIV Disciple’s Study Bible contains the following comment on this passage: “God will ultimately reward those who meet the needs of others without thought of personal gain.” However, if Jesus wants us to give selflessly, why does he induce us to do so with the promise of a “reward?” Isn’t that, by definition, a motivation for personal gain?
- What is the reward? Is it selfish to pursue it or not?
- Take a few minutes to write down at least 3 people outside your household that you’ll do something nice for this week in secret. Be creative. Try not to spend money if at all possible: make something; write a note of encouragement; cook dinner and drop it off through someone else, etc. At the end of the week be prepared to share your experiences.
Post script: To compliment our theme of secrecy, all the art featured in this week’s posts will be from an artist named Henry Darger, who was an example of “Outsider Art.” Henry, and artists like him over the years, stand outside the bounds of official art culture, typically never having any formal training and often working in intentional anonymity their whole lives. The entire picture can be viewed by clicking the thumbnail below:
By Henry Darger
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Sermon on the Mount 4: Portraits of the Kingdom Heart, Pt. 2
Sermon audio from Christ Church’s worship gathering on October 25, 2009. The fourth in the Sermon on the Mount series. The text was Matthew 5:31-48.
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 21
Today is our day to practice worship together. Christ Church gathers at 5pm on Sunday evenings, and tonight we’ll read Matthew 5:31-48 in the context of worship together. If you’re not part of Christ Church, get together with a group of friends and practice the following exercises:
- Eat together
- Receive communion together (choose a reading from John 6:43-58, or 2 Cor 11:23-26, or a liturgical book like the Book of Common Prayer)
- Read Matthew 5:31-48 together and share your experiences from your exercises this week
- Pray for anyone in need
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 20
Reflection day. Take time today to consider what you’ve been reading and studying all week.
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The Sermon on the Mount, Day 19
Read Matthew 5:43-48 and do the following exercises:
- Someone suggested once that an “enemy” is anyone who doesn’t do what you want them to. Who are your “enemies” and how can you love them?
- Take time right now to pray for those who have angered you, rejected you, scorned you, stolen from you, and abused you.
- Record your experiences and thoughts in a journal.
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Sermon on the Mount, Day 16
Read Matthew 5:33-37 and the story below, and then do the exercises at the bottom:
A friend told me this story:
One day, a few years ago, three daughters were jumping up and down in excited anticipation, asking if we could get ice-cream later that night after dinner.
In typical fashion I didn’t say “yes” or “no.” I looked them up and down with a poker face and said, “we’ll see.” Immediately my oldest daughter Savannah pumped her fist and exclaimed, “Yes! We’re getting ice-cream tonight!” I quickly protested: “Hold on, I didn’t say ‘yes,’ I said ‘We’ll see!’” To which she dismissively responded, “Whenever you say ‘maybe’ it always means ‘no,’ but whenever you say ‘we’ll see’ it always means ‘yes.’”
Stunned and speechless, I realized she was right. I had fallen into the unconscious habit of using language to hedge my bets and buy a little wiggle-room to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ without really appearing to. Worst of all, my 12 year-old could see right through me.
- When you agree to do something, do you tend to think of it as a rock-solid promise or more of a “maybe” a “probably” or a “we’ll see?”
- How could Christ’s simple straightforward words here be twisted into just another pointless law?
- The issue of wiggling out of commitments in business – as well as personal relationships – is such a serious issue that we often make contracts or elaborate promises to solve it. But how can contract-making and promise-keeping actually become a way to break our commitments?
