Monday, the beginning of a new week. A clean slate. A clean plate — & already it is full.
I am developing a productive morning routine. It starts like this:
- 7:30 a.m., wake & walk to The Wesley Foundation on Washington and University Ave. for group prayer.
- 7:45 a.m., begin prayer session in the prayer room. We are reading through the liturgy "Common Prayer."
- 8:30 a.m., make tea or coffee or both. Read a Psalm & something from the New Testament (currently Galatians or Ephesians).
- (9:00 a.m. GO TO CLASS ON TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS)
- 9:00 a.m., write for 30 minutes in sketchbook to get my brain thinking creatively.
- 9:30 a.m., read through a few sections of C. S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters."
- 10 a.m., plan day & begin writing blog post for "faith & fiction from a green house."
- 11 a.m., finish my writing and post to blog; eat breakfast if I haven't already; go about my day feeling production and with a purpose.
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FAITH:
Today the liturgy from "Common Prayer" talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. The passage described him as a "flawed hero."
I believe Dr. King was no more flawed than I am, or anyone else for that matter. The difference between us is that he was a public figure, so his person life — with all his mistakes & contradictions; all his humanness — was magnified in the media as everyone turned their eyes on him. There was little about himself that he could hide. It is the same way with anyone coming out of Hollywood.
Again, the difference between, say, Marilyn Monroe and Dr. King, is their purposes. Movie star sex symbol vs. baptist preacher and nation civil rights advocate. So news about who Ms. Monroe would be sleeping around with would only go to reinforce her purpose, and indeed the expectation, as a sex symbol. Not much is at stake for her. But news about who Dr. King is sleeping around with does hurt his purpose as a preacher, as a symbol of faith and devotion. Maybe this is a bad example...
When I hear all the scandalous news about like Tiger Woods or Charlie Sheen (or anyone else of considerable fame who falls from grace in the media), it is so easy and automatic for me to be spiteful toward that person, to want to hate that person for their obvious and atrocious deeds. Especially when that is the main news story on the television, on the websites, on the radio, in the newspaper — look! listen! hear! what this North American god has done now...
But when I look at my life, with all my selfishness & shortcomings, what can I expect of others? Especially the rich and famous? Jesus said that it would be easier for a rich man to enter through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of heaven. All the more reason to be poor and content.
I am neither poor nor content. Praise God I am not famous!
Thank you Dr. King for being human, and acknowledging Christ as your savior — your hero.
peace,
Jordonious
— Lord, teach me to be humble today, to see the needs of the people around me, and to be willing to help how I can. Thank you for all the wealth you have given me, and for my health, and for a new day. All I have is yours. Be glorified in me today. Amen.
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