Day 2
Meditation passage:
1 Peter 4:7-9
7
The end of all things is at hand;
therefore keep sane and sober for your
prayers. 8
Above all hold unfailing your love for one
another, since love covers a multitude of
sins. 9 Practice
hospitality ungrudgingly to one another.
Reflection:
God has put us here on earth for a purpose
– to glorify him and to build his kingdom
of love, righteousness, and peace. The
Lord Jesus has set us free from slavery to
sin and selfish desires so that we may
live as servants who fervently love and
bear one another’s burdens and weaknesses.
Each of us are called to be a pillar of
support, encouragement, and protection for
one another. Ask the Holy Spirit to show
you how you can better support and
encourage your brothers and sisters in
daily life and service. If you meet in a
regular sharing group, ask your brothers
and sisters how you can encourage and
support them, especially in their areas of
weakness and challenge or adversity.
Reading:
“Love covers a multitude of sins” –
commentary on 1 Peter 4:8, by Dan Keating
What is Peter getting at when he says that
“love covers a multitude of sins”? The
background to this statement is Prov 10:12
(“love covers all offenses”), which Peter
cites rather loosely. The primary meaning
is that our love “covers over,” that is,
“overlooks,” the “multitude” of daily sins
that people commit against us. In this
sense our love covers over the sins of
others. Rather than allowing grudges and
judgments to pile up, we are called to put
away these offenses through the merciful
love we extend to one another. Peter may
also mean that our practice of merciful
love toward one another will prompt God
himself to “cover” our offenses. In this
sense one’s love results in our own sins
being forgiven by God: “If you forgive
others their transgressions, your heavenly
Father will forgive you” (Matt 6:14). Both
meanings are true and Peter may have them
both in mind here.
Day 3
Meditation
passage: Romans 14:10-13,19
10
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or
you, why do you despise your brother? For we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of
God;
11
for it is written, “As I live, says the
Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall give praise to God.”
12
So each of us shall give
account of himself to God.
13
Then let us no
more pass judgment on one another, but
rather decide never to put a stumbling block
or hindrance in the way of a brother.
19
Let us then pursue what makes for peace and
for mutual up-building.
Reflection:
We are commanded by Scripture
to not pass judgment on our neighbor
because we, ourselves are under judgment.
We must each render an account of
ourselves before the judgment seat of God.
The way we think, speak, and treat one
another must always be guided by the
principle of love which strives to
maintain peace, harmony, and unity with
our brothers and sisters in Christ. Take a
few moments today to examine how you have
been thinking and viewing the people you
live and work with? Are there any critical
or judgmental thoughts and attitudes which
need to be corrected and brought into the
light of Christ’s truth and merciful love?
Reading:
from Discipleship,
Chapter 6, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
When we judge, we encounter other people
from the distance of observation and
reflection. But love does not allot time
and space to do that. For those who love,
other people can never become an object
for spectators to observe. Instead, they
are always a living claim on my love and
my service.
…Judging is the forbidden evaluation of
other persons. It corrodes simple love.
Love does not prohibit my having my own
thoughts about others or my perceiving
their sin, but both thoughts and
perceptions are liberated from evaluating
them. They thereby become only an occasion
for that forgiveness and unconditional
love Jesus gives me. My refraining from
judgment of others does not validate tout
comprendre c’est tout pardonner
(understanding everything means pardoning
everything), it does not concede that the
other person is somehow right after all.
Neither I nor the other person is right.
God alone, God’s grace and judgment is
proclaimed to be right.
Day 4
Meditation
passage: 1 Peter 5:5-6, 14
5
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility
toward one another, for “God opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty
hand of God, that in due time he may exalt
you.
14
Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you that are in Christ.
Reflection:
[Commentary on 1 Peter 5:5-6,
by Dan Keating]
Humility is the great leveler. Though
there are different roles and
relationships of subordination in the
Church, the fundamental posture for all of
us to adopt is humility before our
brothers and sisters. Paul offers the same
counsel: “Do nothing out of selfishness or
out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard
others as more important than yourselves”
(Phil 2:3; see also Eph 4:2; Col 3:12)…
Because the blessing of God is upon those
who humble themselves, Peter calls us to
embrace it: So humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time.
The reference to the “mighty hand of God”
recalls the deliverance of Israel from
Egypt (Deut 6:21 NRSV; see also Exodus
3:19; Ezek 20:34). Just as the Lord
delivered his people of old, so he will
continue to deliver those who humble
themselves before him. “In due time” is
the appointed time of God’s action; the
term can apply to any season of
deliverance in the life of the Christian,
but Peter probably has the final return of
Christ especially in mind. No matter what
may happen in this life, Christians can be
confident that God will deliver them when
Christ returns, just as he delivered his
Son (1:21; 3:22).
Reading:
Life Together, Chapter
on Service, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Those who would learn to serve must first
learn to think little of themselves. “[You
should] not … think of yourself more
highly than you ought to think” (Romans
12:3). “The highest and most useful lesson
is to truly know yourself and to think
humbly of yourself. Making nothing of
yourself and always having a good opinion
of others is great wisdom and perfection”
(Thomas à Kempis). “Do not claim to be
wiser than you are” (Rom. 12:17). Only
those who live by the forgiveness of their
sin in Jesus Christ will think little of
themselves in the right way. They will
know that their own wisdom completely came
to an end when Christ forgave them.
The desire for one’s own honor hinders
faith. Those who seek their own honor are
no longer seeking God and their neighbor.
What does it matter if I suffer injustice?
Would I not have deserved even more severe
punishment from God if God had not treated
me with mercy? Is not justice done to me a
thousand times over even in injustice?
Must it not be beneficial and conducive to
humility for me to learn to bear such
petty ills silently and patiently?
“Patience is better than pride”
(Ecclesiastes 7:8).
Those who live by justification by grace
are prepared to accept even insults and
slights without protest, taking them as
from God’s chastising and gracious hand.
It is not a good sign when we can no
longer stand to hear such things without
immediately recalling that even Paul
insisted on his rights as a Roman citizen
and that Jesus replied to the man who
struck him, “Why do you strike me?” In any
case, none of us will really act as Jesus
and Paul did if we have not first learned
like them to keep silent amidst insults
and humiliations. The sin of irritability
that blossoms so quickly in the community
shows again and again how much inordinate
ambition, and thus how much unbelief,
still exists in the community.
Day 5
Meditation
passage: 1 Corinthians
13:1–6
1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of
angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2
And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver
my body to be burned, but have not love, I
gain nothing.
4
Love is patient and kind; love is not
jealous or boastful;
5
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable
or resentful;
6
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices
in the right.
Reflection: [from
Jean Vanier,
Growth in Community,
‘Living Every Day’]
We are all called to do, not
extraordinary things, but very ordinary
things, with an extraordinary love that
flows from the heart of God. Love is
communion, communion with God and with our
brothers and sisters. Love is manifested
in all the little things of life that
build community, not in heroic acts… Many
believe that community is made up of a
series of problems to be solved. And
consciously or unconsciously, they are
waiting for the day when all the tensions,
conflicts, and problems brought by
marginal people and structures will be
resolved and there will be no more
problems left. But the more we live
community life, the more we discover that
it is not so much a question of resolving
problems as of learning to live with them
patiently. Most problems are not resolved.
With time, and a certain insight and
fidelity in listening, they clear up when
we least expect them to. But there will
always be others to take their place!
Reading:
Life Together, Chapter
on Service, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The first service one owes to others in
the community involves listening to them.
Just as our love for God begins with
listening to God’s Word, the beginning of
love for other Christians is learning to
listen to them. God’s love for us is shown
by the fact that God not only gives us
God’s Word, but also lends us God’s ear.
We do God’s work for our brothers and
sisters when we learn to listen to them.
So often Christians, especially
preachers, think that their only service
is always to have to “offer” something
when they are together with other people.
They forget that listening can be a
greater service than speaking. Many people
seek a sympathetic ear and do not find it
among Christians, because these Christians
are talking even when they should be
listening. But Christians who can no
longer listen to one another will soon no
longer be listening to God either; they
will always be talking even in the
presence of God. The death of the
spiritual life starts here, and in the end
there is nothing left but empty spiritual
chatter and clerical condescension which
chokes on pious words.
Those who cannot listen long and
patiently will always be talking past
others, and finally no longer will even
notice it. Those who think their time is
too precious to spend listening will never
really have time for God and others, but
only for themselves and for their own
words and plans.
Day 6
Meditation passage:
1 Peter 1:22 and 2:1
1:22
Having purified your souls by your obedience
to the truth for a sincere love of the
brethren, love one another earnestly from
the heart.
2:1
So put away all malice and all guile and
insincerity and envy and all slander.
Reflection: [Commentary
on 1 Peter, by Dan Keating]
When Christians commit themselves to
Christ through faith, repentance, and
baptism, they are purifying themselves by
their obedience to the truth of the
gospel. What have they purified themselves
for? For sincere mutual love.
“Sincere” is literally “unhypocritical”;
our love for one another must be genuine
and unfeigned. The NJB translation, “the
genuine love of brothers,” displays an
important term, for “mutual love” is
literally “brotherly love.” … Peter calls
them to love one another intensely from a
[pure] heart. Just as they have come to
love Jesus himself (v. 8), they are now
called to love their brothers and sisters
in the Church. They must love “from a pure
heart” and “intensely” [earnestly in RSV
and deeply in NIV].
[In 1 Peter 2:1] Peter opens by naming
five things that Christians need to remove
from their lives: Rid yourselves of
all malice and all deceit, insincerity,
envy, and all slander. All are
related to practical life among the people
of God and largely concern matters of
speech. The threefold repetition of “all”
underlines how zealous we must be in
ridding ourselves of these traits. There
is no room for compromise. The five traits
stand as opposites to the qualities of
“truth” and “brotherly love” that Peter
has just commended in 1:22. “Deceit” and
“insincerity” are opposed to truth;
“malice,” “envy,” and “slander” are
opposed to brotherly love. If obedience to
the truth and earnest brotherly love are
going to mark our lives in the household
of God, all of these sinful patterns of
conduct must be put away.
Reading:
Life Together, Chapter
on Service, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The other service one should perform for
another person in a Christian community is
active helpfulness. To begin with, we have
in mind simple assistance in minor,
external matters. There are many such
things wherever people live together.
Nobody is too good for the lowest service.
Those who worry about the loss of time
entailed by such small, external acts of
helpfulness are usually taking their own
work too seriously. We must be ready to
allow ourselves to be interrupted by God,
who will thwart our plans and frustrate
our ways time and again, even daily, by
sending people across our path with their
demands and requests. We can, then, pass
them by, preoccupied with our more
important daily tasks, just as the priest
– perhaps reading the Bible – passed by
the man who had fallen among robbers. When
we do that, we pass by the visible sign of
the cross raised in our lives to show us
that God’s way, and not our own, is what
counts.
It is a strange fact that, of all people,
Christians and theologians often consider
their work so important and urgent that
they do not want to let anything interrupt
it. They think they are doing God a favor,
but actually they are despising God’s
“crooked yet straight path” (Gottfried
Arnold). They want to know nothing about
how human plans are thwarted. But it is
part of the school of humility that we
must not spare our hand where it can
perform a service. We do not manage our
time ourselves but allow it to be occupied
by God. In the monastery, the monk’s vow
of obedience to the abbot takes away his
right to do what he likes with his time.
In Protestant community life, voluntary
service to one another takes the place of
the vow. One can joyfully and
authentically proclaim the Word of God’s
love and mercy with one’s mouth only where
one’s hands are not considered too good
for deeds of love and mercy in everyday
helpfulness.
Day 7
Meditation
passage: Ephesians 4:29-32
29 Let no evil
talk come out of your mouths, but only such
as is good for edifying, as fits the
occasion, that it may impart grace to those
who hear.
30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in
whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
clamor and slander be put away from you,
with all malice,
32
and be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave you.
Reflection:
Paul ends this section of his letter with a
litany (an extended list) of the qualities
which Christ wants us to possess. The focus
throughout is on guarding against anger,
malice, and sinful speech, and instead we
are to treat one another with kindness,
tender love, and forgiveness. Do not
grieve the Holy Spirit: Paul reminds us that
we have been sealed with the blood of Jesus
and the indwelling presence of the Holy
Spirit. If we go back to our old ways of
sinning and rejecting God’s truth, we grieve
the Holy Spirit whose sole aim is to draw us
close to the Father and the Son and to renew
our minds and hearts in the love of God.
Reading:
Life Together, Chapter
on Service, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Third, we speak of the service involved
in bearing with others. “Bear one
another’s burdens, and in this way you
will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians
6:2). Thus the law of Christ is a law of
forbearance. Forbearance means enduring
and suffering… Christians must bear the
burden of one another… All that we mean by
human nature, individuality, and talent is
part of the other person’s freedom – as
are the other’s weaknesses and
peculiarities that so sorely try our
patience, and everything that produces the
plethora of clashes, differences, and
arguments between me and the other. Here,
bearing the burden of the other means
tolerating the reality of the other’s
creation by God – affirming it, and in
bearing with it, breaking through to
delight in it.
This will be especially difficult where
both the strong and the weak in faith are
bound together in one community. The weak
must not judge the strong; the strong must
not despise the weak. The weak must guard
against pride, the strong against
indifference. Neither must seek their own
rights. If the strong persons fall, the
weak ones must keep their hearts from
gloating over the misfortune. If the weak
fall, the strong must help them up again
in a friendly manner. The one needs as
much patience as the other. “Woe to the
one who is alone and falls and does not
have another to help!” (Ecclesiastes
4:10).
