Liturgy 048: Make Me a Mystic, Not an Expert
🕊️ A Prayer and a Blessing to Opine Less and Rejoice More
☕️ Lectio Divina
My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 131
🙏 Prayer
Someone asked me
the other day
for my thoughts
on Beyonce’s country album
It wasn’t urgent
Just a lull
in conversation
A harmless
inconsequential
question and response
involving my capacity
to listen and
judge
the quality
of what I hear
But what happens to my soul
if day after day after day after day
after day after day after day after day
I so easily assume the seat
of adjudication on all things?
Must I have an opinion about everything?
Celebrity decisions
Consistent geopolitical inconsistencies
A local grocer’s commitment to hiring teenage workers
A stranger’s attire and corresponding tax bracket
A neighbor’s peculiar front yard aesthetic
Must I have an opinion about everything?
No wonder my soul is so exhausted
Passing judgment on everything
I become too weak to consider
what is good and beautiful
LORD
make me a mystic
not an expert
Instead of determining
whether or not I like
Mrs Carter’s genre bending record
I want to find You within it
Instead of determining
whether or not I like
the person or the conditions
in front of me
I want to find You within them
With every breath
I am the recipient of grace
Teach me to withhold
judgment and opinion
Teach me to seek
goodness and Gift
in all things
And like a weaned child
I will rest content
knowing my little opinions
count for as much
🕊️ Blessing
May you catch yourself engaging in the spiritual act of passing judgment
May you resist the temptation of casting yourself as Judge
May you find the calming place of God’s arms
May you be glad to not know all things
In the Name of the One
Whose Kingdom is Found
by Children
Amen