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Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God, One day tells its tale to another, Although they have no words or language, Their sound has gone out into all lands, In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; 8The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever; More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, By them also is your servant enlightened, Who can tell how often he offends? Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, |
What’s on your mind?
This Lent, I’ve been reflecting on the Litany of Penitence, which gets read once a year on Ash Wednesday (p. 267 in the Book of Common Prayer, if you want to have a look). I confess that in the past, I’ve not paid a whole lot of attention to it. This year, it has become a way to focus my Lenten intentions.
One of the phrases that has caught my eye is a confession that we have not had the mind of Christ. I’ve been thinking about what it means to have the mind of Christ, and how we might get there.
On a related note, you’ll often hear a preacher begin a sermon with the last verse from the psalm printed above, a glorious psalm heard yesterday in church. The psalm begins with the recognition that all of nature points to the glory of God. It goes on to talk about the power of God’s teaching (the law of the Lord) to renew our spirit. It ends with prayers for the health of our inner life, one of the important themes of Lent.
In its final verse, the psalmist prayers that the words of our mouth and meditations of the heart be acceptable in God’s sight. I want to focus on the meditations of the heart, because I suspect that they have something to do with the mind of Christ. I’ve become fairly adept at watching what I say, filtering, screening. But if some of the things that go through my head were projected on a screen, I’d be in trouble.
So we join the psalmist in praying that we be kept from presumptuous (or willful) sins, that the secrets of our heart be cleansed. We pray that those things won’t get dominion over us. We pray that our meditations be acceptable in God’s sight.
Jesus had this to say about our inner life: What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile. (Matthew 15:18-20) Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells disciples: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (another bit read on Ash Wednesday). It seems that for Jesus, it’s a matter of the heart, the inner life.
St. Paul wrote about the discipline of attending to the inner life in his letter to the Philippians: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4.8) Apparently, we are granted agency in what goes through our head.
In the second chapter of that letter, Paul tells us what the mind of Christ is all about. He says: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)
If you’ve got a monkey mind like me, with all kinds of random (and unsavory) thoughts flashing through all the time, join me in praying this Lent for the mind of Christ. Join in confession that it is not fully realized yet in our experience. And when monkey mind seems to have dominion over us, choose to turn your thoughts to the wisdom of St. Paul, who invites us to have the mind of Christ.
-Jay Sidebotham
