As I re-read the resurrection accounts, I am fascinated by them – how they are all similar and yet all different. They all involve women being the first witnesses, which for me has always lent to their authenticity as no one making up a story in the 1st century would ever choose women to be the 1st witnesses as women were seen to be unreliable. The number of angels and when and how they appear all seem to be different, but this doesn’t surprise me as it seems anytime humans encounter angels they are almost always told to not be afraid. So these heavenly hosts must be quite intimidating, and when we are intimidated or fearful we tend to not recollect things perfectly because we are in shock.

But I have always been drawn to the Resurrection account in the book of John (John 20:1-23) especially the scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. I partly love it because it is the perfect conclusion to the Gospel of John that has been showing us Jesus’s true identity through the 7 “I Am” statements, 7 miraculous signs, and through meetings with individuals. John is very different that Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Seven is the number of perfect completion, and John uses this number to tell us that Jesus is completely Yahweh.

The seventh miraculous sign is not Jesus’ own resurrection however - but Lazarus’s. So what are we to make of Jesus’s resurrection? How does it fit in? It is the first miracle of a new order – of a new kingdom – a new beginning that begins on the first day of the week. And at this new beginning John ties it to the first beginning in the Garden of Eden (similar to the beginning of his Gospel). We are told that Mary Magdalene mistakes Jesus for the gardener, and that’s who Adam was - he was the first gardener. Adam was meant to be the keeper of God’s holy place, but he failed. However, God did not abandon his good creation, and Jesus as the second Adam succeeded though he suffered greatly to redeem God’s creation.  

As amazing as all this is, it’s not why I love John’s Resurrection account. I love it because it is when Jesus speaks Mary’s name that she can recognize who he truly is. Before this she has been crying and confused and let’s face it - just a mess! But Jesus comes along and turns her darkness into morning with just one word, “Mary.” That’s our Yahweh – not someone who came with chariots and weapons - instruments of war and death, but someone who willing dies and defeats death and walks in a garden and knows our names. Right now in isolation - even if you can’t meet with anyone else – you can meet with Jesus. Jesus knows your name, and he can handle your tears and confusion. Take a walk in a garden. Maybe you will find him there calling your name.

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The image above is from a “Salt of the Earth” Christian season calendar.

Reading 1 – Psalm 120

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 I took my troubles to the Lord;
    I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.
2 Rescue me, O Lord, from liars
    and from all deceitful people.
3 O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?
    How will he increase your punishment?
4 You will be pierced with sharp arrows
    and burned with glowing coals.
5 How I suffer in far-off Meshech.
    It pains me to live in distant Kedar.
6 I am tired of living
    among people who hate peace.
7 I search for peace;
    but when I speak of peace, they want war!

We long for your peace.


Reading 2 – Psalm 123

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 I lift my eyes to you,
    O God, enthroned in heaven.
2 We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy,
    just as servants keep their eyes on their master,
    as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy,
    for we have had our fill of contempt.
4 We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud
    and the contempt of the arrogant.
 
We long for your mercy.


Reading 3 – Psalm 130

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 From the depths of despair, O Lord,
    I call for your help.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord.
    Pay attention to my prayer.
3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
4 But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.
5 I am counting on the Lord;
    yes, I am counting on him.
    I have put my hope in his word.
6 I long for the Lord
    more than sentries long for the dawn,
    yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
    for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
    His redemption overflows.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
    from every kind of sin.

We long for your redemption.

Reading 4 - Mark 14:1-11

It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him. 2 “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

3 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. 5 “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.

6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? 7 You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9 I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

Jesus – You are our unexpected king.

Reading 5 - Mark 14:12-26

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”

19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”

20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”

22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”

23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many. 25 I tell you the truth, I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus – We thank you for your body and blood poured out for us.


Reading 6 - Mark 14:27-31

27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,
‘God will strike the Shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered.’

28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

30 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

31 “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

Jesus – Forgive us when we have deserted you.


Reading 7 - Mark 14:32-52

32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36 “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 40 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

Jesus - May we choose God’s will like you did.


Reading 8 - Mark 14:53-65

53 They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. 54 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the high priest’s courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.

55 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn’t find any. 56 Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. 57 Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony: 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.’” 59 But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!

60 Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? 64 You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they all cried. “He deserves to die!”

65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. “Prophesy to us,” they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away.

Jesus – We remember the injustice done to you.


Reading 9 - Mark 14:66-72

66 Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by 67 and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.”

68 But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.

69 When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!” 70 But Peter denied it again.
A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!” 72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.
Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.

Jesus – Forgive us when we deny you.

Reading 11 - Mark 15:16-20

16 The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment. 17 They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head. 18 Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 19 And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

Jesus – We remember how you were mocked and beaten.

Reading 12 - Mark 15:21-32

21 A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) 22 And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 23 They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.
24 Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. 25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

29 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. 30 Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31 The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! 32 Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

Jesus – We remember how you were ridiculed and shamed.

Reading 13 - Mark 15:33-47

33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

40 Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. 41 They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.

42 This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.) 44 Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet. 45 The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46 Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

Jesus – We remember your execution and burial.

Let us go forward from here remembering you, Jesus - the life you lived and how you faced death and darkness for us. Let us go forward from here choosing to do your will over and above our own, and affirming you with how we live our lives. And let us go forward from here thanking you, Jesus, for making a way for God’s peace, mercy and redemption. Our soul longs to see them come to fruition. Come Lord Jesus Come.

Reclaiming the Christian Calendar

The Christian calendar is one that has at its core a re-telling of the Jesus story year after year. The Christian calendar begins with the first day of Advent, which is always the forth Sunday before Christmas day. Originally Advent was a time of awaiting the coming of Christ at Christmas; this waiting held a somber tone with fasting and prayers.

In our household, it is more of a joyful awaiting. Every morning during Advent, we do three additional things with our children: they get to open a new book (not actually ‘new,’ but books in storage except during this time of year and books from the library), take a felt figurine out of their advent calendar and place it in the nativity scene, and take a number off of our string of numbers, each of which has a special activity that they get to do that day written on the back. Some of the activities are just fun things like getting to have hot chocolate with marshmallows or build a gingerbread house, but some are focused on peace and on giving to others – like making MCC relief kits for refuges (towels, shampoo, toothbrushes, etc.), or choosing which animal to buy for a family in the developing world, or taking cookies to our neighbours. On the Sundays in Advent, we “light” an LED candle that is part of a candle display on our table, and we say a little script (liturgy) about what that candle represents, whether it be joy, peace, hope or love. We also try to do something a bit bigger on the Sundays in Advent to celebrate.

Every evening of Advent, we read a poem or song from a collection we have that is illustrated my Mary Engelbreit; the illustrations capture the attention of our young children as we read from the book. We also have the Advent Storybook that follows the travels of a little bear who is trying to get to Bethlehem to worship baby Jesus; every day there is a little lesson about what one might encounter upon the road of life as we draw closer to Jesus. Lastly, our children have a play nativity set; it is a wonderful way for them to get to act out the story with the little figurines. It makes it more real for them.

After Advent is the 12 days of Christmas then the season of Epiphany, which goes until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday launches the 40 days of Lent, concluding with Holy Week. Lent is typically the season of giving up on earthly pleasures in order to more fully come to know and enjoy heavenly pleasures. Some traditions give up eating meat (except on Sundays) during this season, other people choose to give up things like chocolate or social media. A few years back I gave up watching shows, and instead I would read or listen to audio books; it was a wonderful experience of being untethered from something that had subtly wrapped itself around me. There are not as many resources out there for how to do Lent with children as there are for Advent. One of the things we have done is to cover a portrait of Jesus with 40 little numbered squares, each with a passage from the Gospel of Luke referenced on the back. So every morning we would take that day’s square down and read the passage from Luke, and so every day more of Jesus was revealed in the portrait as well as from Luke’s account of Jesus. This was also a good way to actually introduce the real Bible (as opposed to Children’s Bibles) to our young children and get them used to hearing from it.

After Lent and Holy Week, is what I like to call Resurrection Day! In our family, Resurrection Day is like a second Christmas with the children getting presents. One of the things I have tried to do during this season of Lent/Holy Week/Resurrection Day, is getting a caterpillar to keep in our house that would turn into a butterfly, but I haven’t been able to procure one yet; I think this could be a beautiful metaphor from nature of transformation – both of Jesus’ resurrection and our future resurrection, but also how through discipleship we are being transformed into a new creation. Later, one of the things I hope to be able to do when my children are older is go on a pilgrimage on Holy Saturday, where we would stop and read an account from a Gospel of Jesus’ last days or some sort of adapted version of the stations of the cross. We live near the monastery in Mission, BC and using that as the destination of our pilgrimage would seem fitting.

Resurrection Day ushers in the 50 days until Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’s first followers. This season is followed by what is often called Ordinary Time or the Season After Pentecost. This season continues until the first Sunday of Advent, which is the mark of the new-year in the Christian calendar. One of the most simple ways I have found of remembering the Christian calendar is through a physical calendar called “Salt of the Earth,” put together every year by the University Hill Congregation in Vancouver; the calendar features beautiful artwork that corresponds to the different seasons, as well as descriptions of the season, other important dates within each season, scripture readings, and that season’s featured colours.

These practices help us to remember Jesus’s story as we go about our years - for His story to inform and form our story. We also hope that reaching for these “higher times” will in fact help us to create skylights for our children that will open them up to the God who is among us.
 
Reclaiming Sabbath

Besides reclaiming the larger picture of how we might order our years through the Christian calendar, we should be reclaiming the idea of Sabbath – a 24-hour period each week in which we cease from work/toil and instead choose celebration and delight. The reason most Christian churches worship on Sunday mornings is because Jesus was resurrected on a Sunday morning, and each Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of the resurrection – a time to celebrate the new creation we see blooming as we follow Jesus and remember our future resurrection – the day when all will be completely redeemed and made whole again.

I find it interesting that in the Ten Commandments, which are our original basis for Sabbath, the reason for Sabbath-keeping is different in the two versions. In the Exodus version of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20), the reason for keeping the Sabbath is connected to the creation account in Genesis 1-2, and God’s own resting after the labour of creation. In the restatement of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy (Deut. 5), Sabbath is connected with the Israelites’ former slavery in Egypt and God mightily redeeming them from their captors. None of the other commandments differ like this between the two accounts, and yet, both reasons for Sabbath-keeping are helpful. The first reminds us that we are God’s image bearers in this world and encourages us to rest like our God rested, and the second version of the commandment reminds us that we are not slaves and of God’s work to redeem us to a free and fuller life.

In a world that wants to capture and constrain us again, that views us as primarily consumers or workers, the need to stop and remember that we are more than that is essential. We are created in the image of God to be in relationship with him and others and all of creation. This weekly rhythm of rest opens us up to remember our place in God’s world and story – one where we can be free from the slavery of our age – to consume, to be busy, to do – and to rest in the freedom that God offers through Christ Jesus. To remember that God is ultimately in control and we need not fear or be anxious for if he cares for the birds and the flowers how much more will he care for us.

Many of you may be thinking that Jesus spoke against the Sabbath, but I would argue that what he is speaking against is the legalism that the religious leaders had built around Sabbath-keeping in his day - laws and rules that actually kept them from experiencing God or being God’s image bearers to their neighbours. Jesus claims to be Lord of the Sabbath. So let us use Sabbath as a time to reconnect with Him, to remember that we are not slaves and instead to intentionally choose delight and beauty, and to image Him on those days. Maybe we stop shopping on a Sunday because that makes people work and the people who often have to work on Sunday are those of lower socio-economic status – those with the least options for work. Or if we go to a restaurant, choosing to generously tip the wait staff as a way to bless them for their service to us.

For our family, Sundays are special. Every Sunday we begin the day with eating cinnamon rolls, eggs and bacon prepared by my wonderful husband. We don’t have to hurry to get out the door, so we play and do puzzles together. For lunch, I usually start a loaf of bread in the bread-maker before we go to church, and it’s ready for when we get home and we have a light meal of deli meat, cheese, and olives, which is easy to invite friends to last minute after church. In the afternoons, we watch a movie all together and have popcorn, and then a simple dinner. I am trying not to do laundry on Sundays too! Or course this doesn’t always work out, but it does enough that our kids have come to expect our Sundays to be shaped like this.

I know for many people, it is not possible to really take Sundays off, and I think it is okay to find a 24 hour period that works for you – time when you aren’t running around trying to do errands or have lots of commitments. A time to remember that you are created in the image of God and that you are not a slave. A time to delight in the good gifts that God has given.
 
Reclaiming Daily Prayers

So we have explored rhythms of grace for our year and for our week, and now we will look at the need for daily prayers. In recent years there has been a movement within Christianity called “New Monasticism.” This movement among other things has sought to reclaim ancient monastic practices, especially that of prayer. Current monasteries take time to pray 5+ times a day – using the Psalms as a basis for their prayers; they therefore pray through the book of Psalms every month.

For most of us, it is not feasible to set aside 5 times a day for focused prayer, but what would it look like to begin and end our days in prayer, scripture and reflection? There are tools that can be used. The one I am most familiar with is that of the Common Book of Prayer for the Ordinary Radical. This book has a different morning liturgy (set of prayers, songs, scripture readings, and reflections) for every day of the year as well as a set nightly liturgy of prayers. There are other similar books of prayer like the Anglican Book of Common Prayer or the Celtic Book of Prayer.

For me in my current life stage of caring for very small children, I tried the Common Book of Prayer for the Ordinary Radical and found that it was too much. Instead, I have begun doing a “Write the Word Journal;” it is a journal with a place to write what day it is, what I am grateful for, then a few verses of scripture that is meant to be written out in the journal, a place for prayers, and for a word of the day. This simple practice of daily doing this journal, which takes less than 10 minutes, has become a breath of fresh air as I go about my day. I usually do it once I am home from dropping off one of the kids at preschool and the baby is sleeping. I try to do it before I start doing all the other things – the laundry, the lunches, the cleaning. If I don’t do it first then it doesn’t tend to happen, and I definitely notice the days and weeks when I have taken the time to do it and the times when I haven’t.

It serves as a daily way that I can connect with God – to remember my place in the bigger story that He is writing – my part in His symphony. It also gives me a space to cast my cares upon the God who cares for me (1 Peter 5:7). To be able to write my prayers to God in a limited way has been incredibly life giving; the space to write out prayers is only the back of the page of a small journal, and this has helped me to be concise and direct and frees me from the worry of taking too much time to “journal.” And yet, the act of actually writing out my prayers makes them more real somehow like I have really handed this burden to God and now it is in His hands and not in mine. This simple practice has become my daily bread; the spiritual food I need to help me through the day.

With the children, we have also established daily rhythms. We begin by reading, The Daily Devotional for Children. The kids love the illustrations in it, and I love the way it asks questions, has a verse, and a simple rhyming prayer – all that tie together and get us thinking about what it might mean for us to live out our faith in the world. Even though it’s for preschoolers, I often find I am encouraged or convicted by it. We sing prayers before dinner together, and we also read a Bible story from one of the many children’s Bibles we own at the end of story time, just before bed. For babies, I really like the Little Lamb Bible or Little Lion Bible that Zondervan does. It has only about 10 Bible stories all told in about 8 lines of rhyming verse with an illustration on the opposite side. For toddlers, we have really enjoyed The Big Picture Bible. It uses the lens of God’s true kingship to tell the stories of the Bible, and it primarily follows the Gospel of John when it looks at the life of Jesus, which is different than many children’s Bibles. Once in their bedrooms, we pray over them and then we sing the doxology. One of the sweetest things is hearing my 3-year old son singing, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow…” We have intentionally chosen that song because it points us beyond the immanent frame, locates us as among his creation, and is Trinitarian.

There is a necessary repetition to our years, weeks, and days. In a world that is always pursuing what’s new, these acts of repetition might feel boring. In response to this criticism, I offer up some of Soren Kierkegaard’s ideas summarized by Stephen Backhouse:
 
      The idea of ‘repetition’ is crucial for personhood. Without repeated events, there can be no persistent reality, no
      continuity of a self. Without repetition, life would be one fleeting and unconnected experience after another.
      Repetition happens when a self commits, and recommits, its new self with the ideals and choices of the past self.
      By repeatedly choosing oneself, a person unites their past and future selves in the present. Without repetition
      there can be no meaning—‘all life dissolves into an empty, meaningless noise.’[1]
 
So instead of being monotonous, acts of repetition and recommitments lead us to be more fully alive and present.

So in light of the secular age in which we find ourselves, which wants to box out the transcendent through the flattening of time, buffered self, and immanent frame. Let us intentionally choose to tune our hearts, souls, and minds to the rhythms of grace that truly are all around us through intentionally reclaiming the practices of the Christian calendar, Sabbath, and daily prayers. In conclusion, let me end with another Rain for Roots song, one called “Open Our Eyes.”

[1] Stephen Backhouse, Kierkegaard: A Single Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 223.

These are the lyrics that I often begin my mornings with. Well not exactly begin my mornings with. My mornings begin with nursing a baby, making sure my “big kids” (ages 3 and 4) are dressed, and making sure I am somewhat presentable. Then at 8:30am, we begin our journey to preschool, which starts at 9 and is only a 5-minute drive away, but it takes us that long to all get in the car and get there on time. When we are all finally in the car, I put on a playlist, which I have entitled “Christian Kids.” It includes this song, “Come to Me” by Rain for Roots; sometimes, I intentionally make sure it is the first song we listen to as we pull out of the drive-way because I need reminding - reminding of Jesus’s call for the children to come to Him. I may be a Mom, but first and foremost I am a child of the Living God. I need reminding that His burden is easy and His yoke is light. I need to be lifted out of the metronome ticking of chronos time into the symphony that has been going on since before the dawn of time – the symphony of God’s love and benevolent care for His creation. I need to be drawn into the rhythms of His grace.

What do I mean by rhythms of grace? I mean God’s own presence breaking through into the here-and-now to comfort, guide and bring joy. I don’t just mean getting good things that I don’t deserve; although I am thankful for those gifts, for we know that “every good and perfect gift comes from above – from the Father of the Heavenly Lights” (James 1:17), but what I mean is bigger than that; it is God’s Spirit manifesting Himself unto us and ministering to us. In this article, I would like to explore what some of these rhythms of grace might be. How can we intentionally seek to encounter God – to set ourselves up to experience God’s in-breaking grace? However, before we can talk about these rhythms of grace, we need to address why it is so important for us to tune ourselves to these rhythms. We need to talk about the age in which we find ourselves.

There are many ways or lenses through which we could speak about our present time in history: they include such labels as post-industrial, post-colonial, post-Christendom, the age of anxiety, and so on, but the label or lens I prefer to use in this article is that of ‘secular.’ In the most basic sense, secular is the opposite of sacred; it refers to places or things or professions with no inherently sacred purpose. However the word has come to take on other meanings including this one proposed by James K. Smith in How (Not) to be Secular: secular as “areligious – neutral, un-biased, ‘objective’ – as in a ‘secular’ public square.”[1] This in turn has lead to secularism, “A doctrine …. that pushes for public institutions (schools, government, etc.) to be areligious.”[2] There are many who are skeptical of how “neutral” secularism is; as Stuart Murray says in his book Post-Christendom, secularism can be imperialistic, “imposing its views as powerfully as any religious tradition and intolerant towards any who challenge its assumptions.”[3]

So what has been lost as society has become increasingly secular? And what are some of the philosophical and cultural assumptions that might make courageously practicing rhythms of grace so important in our day and age? We will briefly look at three philosophical/worldview shifts:
     1) the shift from “higher” times to flat time in how we regulate our years;
     2) the shift from the porous to the buffered self in our view of how we relate to our world;and
     3) the shift from a cosmos charged with the grandeur of God to life within the immanent frame.
After this more philosophical section we will return to the theme of rhythms of grace, and I will be giving some very specific examples of how families with young children (ages 0-4) might implement some of these rhythms along with resource suggestions to help them do so.
 
From Higher Times to Flat Chronos

In the medieval worldview, time was felt and regulated by the 4 seasons and by the Christian calendar. The Christian calendar, sometimes called the liturgical calendar, was filled with feast days as well as times of discipleship, fasting, and waiting (such as Advent and Lent). These rhythms of life gave meaning to the year. Smith, following Charles Taylor’s work, says,

     In the premodern understanding, because ‘mundane’ or secular time is transcended by ‘higher’ time, there is an
     accounting of time that is not merely linear or chronological.  Higher times ‘introduce “warps” and seeming
     inconsistencies in profane time-ordering. Events that were far apart in profane time could nevertheless be closely
     linked … Good   Friday 1998 is closer in a way to the original day of the Crucifixion than mid-summer’s  day 1997.’”[4]

In our modern context, however, we have flattened time. Smith again says, “Our ‘encasing’ in secular time has changed this, and so we take our experience of time to be ‘natural’ (i.e., not a construal)… So nothing ‘higher’ impinges upon our calendars – only the tick-tock of chronos, and the self-imposed burdens of our ‘projects.’”[5] Our projects become the main driver of our time – a time that seems to be always ticking away, and there seems to never be enough time to get all the projects done. I know for me it is so easy to get swept away in the tyranny of the urgent and my to-do list, and there is very little in modern society that impinges upon my own chosen tyranny; most holidays are not the communal events they once were and there is not even pressure anymore to attend church on Sunday. We can all decide what we want to do and when we want to do it; there are very few culturally imposed constraints.

It seems, though, that humans cannot stand time to be completely flat and so we create our own new “higher times” in things like birthdays, black-Friday, and national holidays, and our lives predominately revolve around the academic calendar. We have to order our time somehow beyond just the ticking of a clock and the deadlines of our projects. It should be of no surprise that so many young adults struggle in their first “real jobs” because up until that point in their lives, their days and years have been marked by the academic calendar and rhythm of doing life, and then all of a sudden they are thrown into a different way of doing life; it is no wonder it is so unsettling for so many. Nevertheless, the academic calendar and our celebration of birthdays and national holidays hardly seem sufficient to satisfy our longing for purpose and meaning to be given to our years.
 
From Porous to Buffered

Besides flattening our time, another philosophical shift that impacts all of us is the shift from the porous self to the buffered self. In the medieval worldview, the “human agent was seen as porous … self is essentially vulnerable (and hence also ‘healable’). To be human is to be essentially open to an outside (whether benevolent or malevolent), open to blessing or curse, possession or grace.”[6] So, people used to see themselves as open. This led them to feel and behave as people connected to others, creation, and the Creator.

However, in contrast, the modern self “is a buffered self, insulated and isolated in its interiority, ‘giving its own autonomous order to its life.’”[7] Now we view ourselves as completely independent and freely able to do what we want, limited only by physical restraints and our own vision or talent. This buffered self is safe from spiritual forces (evil or good) and from accountability to a community, and they are above the rest of creation that is viewed as an economic resource to be used for human flourishing, which often translates into the rich getting richer.

This goes along with a shift from finding meaning in the world (the medieval worldview) to finding meaning in our minds. Although John Donne said, “No man is an island,” it seems we are pushed to act as if we are. The buffered self frames us as autonomous minds, who should no longer need to connect to creation, others or to God; we should be self-sufficient thinkers. And yet, it seems this social construct is not true to the reality of what it means to be human. We are embodied beings who are constantly searching for connections to others, to creation, to meaning, and yet, we do not want to admit our needs because there is so much pressure to be a buffered self. In order to participate in the rhythms of grace, we will have to become more porous again, which means leaving the safety and restraints of our autonomy. 

From Charged with the Grandeur of God to the Immanent Frame

Lastly, in the medieval world, there were systems and connections that placed a person and gave meaning and purpose. There was the cosmos that reflected the order, glory, and mystery of God. To borrow a phrase from Gerard Manley Hopkins, the universe was “charged with the grandeur of God.”[8] Now we live in what is called the “Immanent Frame: A constructed social space that frames our lives entirely within a natural (rather than supernatural) order.”[9] The broader culture is choosing to focus only on what can be seen, touched, tasted, heard, felt, tested and registered; it is focused on the material.

Things are not completely hopeless, though. Smith aptly states the following:
            We now inhabit this self-sufficient immanent order, even if we believe in transcendence.  Indeed, [Charles]
           Taylor emphasizes the ubiquity of the immanent frame: it is ‘common to all of us in the modern West.’ So
           the question isn’t whether we inhabit the immanent frame, but how. Some inhabit it as a closed frame with a
           brass ceiling; others inhabit it as   an open frame with skylights open to transcendence.[10]
 
This shift in worldview is illustrated well by looking at the contrasting ideas of cosmos verses space or universe. Smith summarizes this shift as “the move of spontaneously imagining our cosmic environment as an ordered, layered, hierarchical, shepherded place to spontaneously imagining our cosmic environment as an infinite, cavernous, anonymous space.”[11] This illustrates the larger philosophical shift that led us away from a world in which a good God is ordering and over all to a purely scientific view of the world.

Sometimes just having words or phrases to define our present age can help us to know if that reality is in line with a Biblical worldview or not. It is easy to be swept up in cultural presumptions; one must take a step outside of them in order to reflect upon them. In looking at the flattening of time, buffered self, and immanent frame, it is clear that in our present age there is little room for the transcendent or Transcendent. These are just some examples of what Taylor labels “Closed World Structures,”[12] and why faith in the modern age can be so difficult. Besides these cultural forces as work, we are also limited to our minds or put another way, we are stuck in reflection. Many Christians I know think that it is enough to think the right things about God, Jesus, and other theological issues, but Jesus did not call people to think the right things, but rather to follow Him. Faith is not so much a work of the mind, but of the action and experience. Soren Keirkegaard called our present age the age of reflection, and he says this about it, “The single individual (however well-intentioned many of them are, however much energy they might have if they could ever come to use it) has not fomented enough passion in himself to tear himself out of the web of reflection and the seductive ambiguity of reflection.”[13]

If we are to live into a Biblical transformative worldview and teach our children the same, then we must tear ourselves away from the web of mere reflection and be intentional about putting in skylights, otherwise we will again and again lose grasp of what is or could be outside the frame. This is why setting our hearts to the rhythms of grace is so important – even vital to faithful existence for Jesus followers today. Rhythms of grace open us up to experience God in the here-and-now. These rhythms include a recovery of the Christian calendar, Sabbath, and daily prayers. Examples of how to implement these practices, especially for families with young children, will be given. (Click here to go to part 2).


[1] James K. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 142.
[2] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 142.
[3] Stuart Murray, Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World, Second Edition, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018), 173.
[4] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 34.
[5] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 34.
[6] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 29.
[7] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 29.
[8] Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur,” accessed December 5, 2019. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeur.
[9] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 141.
[10]Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 93.
[11] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 70.
[12] Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, 140.
[13] Soren Kierkegaard, Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age - A Literary Review, edited and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton: PUP, 1978), 69.