How I Have My Daily Devotions

I’m a faithful listener to Russell Moore’s Signposts podcast, and I enjoyed the one he did last spring about how he has his daily devotions. 

Discussions like these are a lot like parenting discussions: hearing how someone else did it isn’t necessarily going to dictate exactly how YOU should do it, but it’s always helpful to get ideas from someone else in the trenches.

And in that spirit, I offer this post: here’s how I have my daily devotions.

Part One: Prayer

I’ll admit my bias from the beginning: I think I have an advantage here as an Anglican. The Book of Common Prayer is just such a rich resource when it comes to devotional instruction. It’s actually what first drew me to the Anglican church: when I first read the words of the General Confession, I thought, Here are the words I’ve been trying to say to God for my whole life.

I knew I’d found my home then.

And so, in my daily devotions, I use the structure of the BCP. When I have a lot of time, I’ll read the entire Morning Prayer service. But, happily for those of us who aren’t cloistered religious, there are shorter services in the BCP, too. I usually use the one-page “Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families.” This leads me through an opening few prayers, gives me the space to sing a hymn, gives me a place to ask my own individual requests, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and a collect.

Moving parts: 

-I work my way through the hymnal, singing one a day, and only using the ones whose melodies I can work out with my very poor skills on the recorder. :)  I just work my way from front to back of the hymnal during Ordinary Time, and then I switch to seasonal hymns (Advent, Christmas, Lent) when appropriate.

-I say the collect of the week right after the closing collect. This is a nice link to our Sunday services, since I hear the weekly collect first at Sunday worship.

-Personal petitions: I keep track of who I want to pray for using a simple notebook. I pray for my immediate family and my parents and siblings (and their spouses and children) every day. I also pray for my extended family on Mondays, my husband’s extended family on Tuesdays, our church and church stuff on Wednesdays, ministries and missionaries on Thursdays, and specific requests from friends and family on Fridays.


I used to be overwhelmed by the number of things I meant to remember to talk to God about, and the idea of getting to them all at once was so daunting that I didn’t even start. I still have this forlorn idea that it might be perfect if I COULD remember everyone before the Lord every day of the week, but I’ve learned that it’s better to start somewhere than to let myself get so intimidated by the perfect that I lose the good. And so I divide things up.

This isn’t a strict rule, by the way: when I feel moved to pray for someone on Tuesday’s list, I don’t say, “Oh no, it’s Monday, I can’t do that yet!”  The list just gives a normal structure for normal days.

Part Two: Bible-reading

So here’s where I’m sort of untraditional: I listen to the Bible much, MUCH more than I actually read it. And I need to be honest: I’m not sure this is the IDEAL way to get the scripture into my heart and mind.

BUT, it is the way that has SUCCESSFULLY gotten the scripture into my heart and mind and so, again, it’s better than the Not Doing It At All Because I Cannot Do It Perfectly.

So here’s how I do it. I use two tools: the St. James Daily Devotional and Alexander Scourby’s complete reading of the King James Bible. (Note: I’m not a KJV-only reader. I just really like Scourby’s reading voice. He does a great job of reading the words like they actually MEAN something.)

Every weekend, I take the St. James devotional, and I make myself a playlist in iTunes of the week's readings. (I also read Fr. Reardon's commentary on the readings, because it inevitably gives helpful and illuminating context.) The devotional takes you through the OT once every two years, the NT every year, and the Psalms every month. I put the chapters for the week on a playlist, and I add in the Proverbs for the week. (As Proverbs has 31 chapters, it’s pretty easy to read it through every month, just matching the chapter number to the date.)

This playlist is usually about 2 hours long. I spend some time on the weekend listening to the OT chapters and Psalms, and deleting almost all of them as I go. If a chapter or Psalm really stands out, I’ll leave it on, and eventually I have a half hour playlist of mostly gospels and epistles (and a Proverb a day) that I can commit to listening to each weekday morning.

Then, on each weekday morning, after I’ve prayed, I spend a half hour knitting and listening to the Bible. I do this because I find that having something rhythmic for my hands to do leaves my mind free to concentrate on the words I’m hearing. It can't be anything complicated--no counting!--or else it becomes a distraction rather than a help.

I find that listening instead of reading slows me down enough to really pay attention to what’s going on in the lesson (I’m a fast reader, and skimming is a bad habit when it comes to scripture). Sometimes, I’ll stop the playback and look up something on Bible Gateway, so that I can slow down even more, and really see what the author of the book is getting at.


I can’t tell you how much this has changed my life: I’ve become a different person in the last six years or so that I’ve been doing this. Having the scripture running through my head this way…you can’t spend that much time in God’s word and NOT have it change you, I don’t think.

I have pieces of the Psalms floating though my head every day now. It’s so good.

Never, never, never give up

If there were one thing I could encourage every Christian to do, it would be to spend more time in the Word. And I know that’s probably something you hear everywhere, and maybe it’s something that makes you feel guilty, and all I can say is: keep trying. Don’t give up. Beg God for help. Ask Him to help you find whatever method is going to work for you. Try it a million different ways until you find one that sticks, and don’t forget to pray the whole way through, because you have an Enemy who will fight you every step of the way.

It took me to my thirties to make this a regular habit, and I have been a Christian since I was two. (Really. I remember.)

And admitting that it took so long makes me feel so silly. It shouldn't take a grown-up Christian decades to figure out a regular devotional habit, right? But I offer it in case it encourages someone else to keep going. PLEASE, keep going. And when you fall down, get up, and keep going again. We all stumble in many ways…

But He who is with you is greater. Ask Him for help here, and He will give it to you. He gave you this great deposit of faith already; He WANTS you to listen to Him. He wants His law to form your heart and your mind.



I’m hoping to follow this post up next week with a post about how we have devotions with our kids, because it’s really something that’s grown out of our (my husband’s and my) personal devotional practices.

Meanwhile: read the Bible any way you can. Pray for yourself and those you love. Keep going. Don’t give up. I can’t tell you how often it feels like I’m struggling through the La Brea tar pits in order to get to my prayer time, as if there were gooey stiff black ooze sucking at every movement of my legs. It can really suck sometimes, trying to fight towards that oasis of light and refreshment. And there are even times when I finish and think, “That was completely rote. I don’t feel anything but stupid and frustrated and dry. I don’t feel like I was even talking to myself, let alone to GOD.”

That’s okay. It’s like that sometimes. Keep going. Just like it matters that you kiss your children goodnight, even when you’re tired and sore and grumpy, because you LOVE them, and OF COURSE you’re going to show them so, no matter how you’re feeling; it matters that you spend time with your Lord, talking to Him and listening to His word.  You are not bad or unfaithful or rotten for having it be hard. You are a normal Christian, living in a fallen, whiny world.

It’s okay. Keep going.

Remember that, as a mother loves the least little wonderful efforts her children make towards goodness, so your Heavenly Father loves your stumbling steps towards Him.

He is good. Spending time in His presence is worth it. Keep going. Because He is good.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


The links to the Scourby recording and the BCP are Amazon affiliate links, because why not? Read full disclosure about Amazon affiliate links on the sidebar of this blog.  Other links are just normal links.

"Why Celebrate Epiphany?"

why baptize? in Jesus' words, "to fulfill all righteousness".

Happy Epiphany!

My friend, Anna Gissing, has a good article over at The Bethlehem about why we celebrate this day.  She has ideas for celebrating it in the home, too - of course she does, because she authored the "Epiphany" chapter in this great little book! :D


Epiphany celebrates three distinct events in the gospels, which are all about Jesus' glory being shown forth to the whole world - Jew and Gentile alike! His glory was to be declared to every person, regardless of race or culture. After you've had a chance to read Anna's words over at the link, you might also take some time on this holiday to read the gospel passages about the three "showings-forth":

-The adoration of the Magi - Where Gentile wise men found God's Messiah.
-The baptism of Jesus - Where the Father declared his pleasure in his Son.
-The miracle at Cana - His first miracle, where he "manifested his glory" and "his disciples believed in him."


God bless you on this good day!



Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell



This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through these links, I'll receive a small percentage of the purchase price - for my own shopping! :) (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Advent as an Anglican: the things for which I am grateful

I believe that Advent is a fruitful season for any Christian.

But I've been thinking in particular this year of how I am grateful for it as an Anglican.

Anglicanism is (among other things) a product of the Reformation. And so our focus during Advent is, as it is in other seasons, on the Scripture.


And how do we find those Scriptures?  Through our lectionary. Through our daily readings. The collects are suffused with them. The hymns? You can't get away from the prophets and the gospel and the epistles when you sing the hymns.

I am glad to be in a season that reminds me always of the Lord's goodness. That reminds me how He once came, and made us new, and how He will come again and make all things new.

Thanks be to God.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

submission & Christ & wives

This is a very short thought. I'm sorry; I'm sure there should be much more to this thought. I hope I'll finish thinking it in the days to come.

(Also, I'm sure - very, very sure - that this is not an original thought. At all. But now is the time I'm thinking it, so now is the time I'm writing about it!)


Here it is:

Christ submitted to the Father. In fact, His whole mission on earth was marked by submission. It's all through the gospels.

So it seems like the call for women to submit to their husbands must be, in some way, about following in the footsteps of Christ.


Men are worse than God the Father, of course. Much, much, much worse. (As are women. But that's not the point here.)

Still, I think there's something to this insight: if Jesus - God incarnate - submitted, than submission (in and of itself) must not be a degrading call.



I need to keep thinking about it some more.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

the last verse of Psalm 119

I have gone astray like a lost sheep
Seek thy servant: for I do not forget thy commandments.


Parts 1 and 2

I'm going astray
but please come and get me.

I left,
but please come after me.

I am lost and afraid
and it is my fault
I went out and sought the places of fear and horror.

But I am afraid
And I am horrified.

I do not forget your law.
I do not forget the light.

Bring me back,
oh God of my salvation.

Notes on 1 Timothy

~ before getting into this entry, I wanted to remind you there's giveaway here for free books.  Enter to win! It's free! Okay, onto the good stuff! ~




Notes from 1 Timothy. (These are not doctrine or anything close. They're just notes from my devotional reading. But I love this stuff! And I thought it'd be fun to share.  

Oh, and all questions are real questions. Not rhetorical.) 

-Paul wants Timothy to keep on as he’s been doing; the first instruction of the letter is just confirming Timothy’s vocation and mission.

-Everyone sins, and if Paul can be redeemed, anyone can. Paul points out that the law isn’t for good people, it’s for people who break it. Good people don’t need the law. (And there aren’t any good people.)

-It’s good to pray for those in authority, that we might have peace and, in that peace, the freedom to share the gospel.

-Women are supposed to learn (yay! Not necessarily typical in those times), but not to exercise authority over men or to teach them. And Paul cites creation reasons for this. So it’s something truly in our nature?

-“preserved through bearing of children” – okay, I’m still working on that one – but only if we “continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint”.  And that makes me think that what he’s saying is that our normal works as women – bearing & raising children  - are acceptable to God, if done in obedience and love. I.e., the “good works” we do by nature – becoming mothers and wives – aren’t unacceptable. We’re included too, and our daily work can also be done to the glory of God.

            This is actually good news.

            (Also, not that “good works” save us . . . I’m assuming here the normal theology that we can only do good through the regeneration given us in Christ, and that fruit is proof of his saving love in us, etc. Not going for heresy here!)

-Faith, love, sanctity, and self-restraint. I’ll have to remember those and meditate on them more.

-more for the women – this time the deaconesses or deacons’ wives – they are to be “dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things”.  (Yes, I kind of want to make a list of all these things I should be aspiring to be. Because, well, I do want to be a mature Christian woman. I really do!)

-Paul is writing all these things so that Timothy has a guide to how the church should run. It really is a handbook of sorts! Paul would say all these things in person, but he’s not sure how soon he’ll be able to visit.

-beginning of ch. 4: no Gnosticism!  Marry and have babies!  Eat meat with thanksgiving to God!  “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

            (Y’know, this makes me think that I should NOT partake of anything that I can’t, in good conscience, thank God for. Not a bad litmus test for what I ought and ought not to do, y’know? A good check for the conscience . . .)

-Teach these things, Timothy, teach these things. This is Paul’s constant repetition.

-Fellow Christians ought to be treated as family members.

-a woman who is deserving, who has done “good works”, is someone who has been a good wife and mother, who has practiced hospitality and helped those who needed help.

-so, in 5:11-12, it sounds like young widows who were helped by the church had promised not to get married again? Maybe? I really want a commentary here . . .

-also, in vs. 13, it sounds like one of the big problems is that young widows have nothing to do. In these times, no family (for a woman) equaled no work. So . . . so it’s really not okay to be idle. It’s really not okay to have no work. Huh.

Weekly Links

"Guy in your MFA":

 Guy In Your MFA (Guy) was born out of a big stack of pieces I needed to critique for the next day and my frustration with this whole culture of pseudo-pretentious literary works, both in myself and in my colleagues.

"Five Things Every Christian Should be Doing with God’s Word"

. . . Psalm 119 is one of the best examples of Scripture speaking about Scripture.  It is the Word about the Word.
And in it, we find David interacting with the Word of God in five ways that should be paradigmatic for all believers . . .

"The Most Qualified By Far: On Clinton and Qualifications":

Mrs. Clinton is one times more qualified than Mr. Bush . . . at best.

"A Composed Salad Is a Meal Unto Itself":

 . . . it can contain almost anything the cook wants to arrange, roll, roast, poach, bake or grill, from thin shavings of fennel and whole kernels of local corn to dollops of ricotta and shards of country ham. Tossed together, the result would be sloppy and monotonous. A bit of order makes it satisfying and elegant.

Being kind to your own family members

We're so good in public. So polite, so understanding, so kind.

But what about at home?

One of the best things my parents modeled for me was being kind to your own family members. These are the people who matter most to you in the whole world. Why would you not be the most courteous to them?


I was reminded of this idea as I read Titus.

Grace and peace to you, wrote St. Paul.

Grace and peace.

This is what we owe to those we live with. The ones we know best, the ones who see us at our worst.

Grace and peace.

Only through the Lord Jesus Christ, who supplies our lack.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

scripture memorization as a type of copywork

Recently, in one of her blog posts, Melissa Wiley talked about the idea of daily doodling being "just another kind of copywork"

And aside from making me pull out my sketchbook again (no, really), it made me think about why people - artists, speakers, etc. - have classically trained by copying the greats. It's not an unusual idea, historically, to learn your craft by aping your betters. Now we might call it plagiarism - and it would be if you didn't give the person you were copying from credit - but it's not such a bad idea to learn what you want to learn by scrupulously copying folks who are really, really good at it. Yes, eventually you strike out on your own, and find your own new ideas and your own new ways, but you learn the method by copying the greats.

Think about it; it makes sense:

If you copy good writing, your brain and your hands get to experience what it feels like to write great words.

If you copy good painting, your brain and your hands get to experience what it's like to paint great work

And . . . if you memorize scripture, your brain and your heart get to experience what it is like to think like the great men of God who were directly inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Think about that. It's amazing! But anyone who has taken the time to sit and memorize scripture can tell you that it's true: if you memorize God's word, you will think in the patterns dictated by the Holy Spirit.

Read the Psalms through monthly, like monks do, and you will find yourself thinking along those lines whenever you hit a time of anxiety or stress or joy. "Blessed be the Lord!" you will hear yourself think, "who has not given us as a prey to their teeth!"

It will astonish you when it begins to happen. "Where did that come from?" you will wonder. But there it will be: the words of God, echoing in your own sinful head.

It's absolutely amazing. It's such a gift.

It's why we memorize scripture.

Because these rhythms of grace don't come naturally. But the lovely, stupid, pattern-loving structures of our very human brains thrive on memorization. They love repetition.

Like Chesterton says, it's that very childlike joy of "Do it again! Oh, do it again!" that lives down deep in our human brains.

And if your brain yells "do it again! say it again!" to the rhythms of scripture? Then you're that much further ahead when the Holy Spirit has something for you to hear.

The patterns of His own speech, His words, will already be there in your head.



It's just good training. It's just following the basic principles of good training.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekly Scripture Reflections (Daniel, Luke, and Revelations)

These are my notes on the week's readings. I'm posting them here just because I realized I wanted to start keeping track of my notes! The bolded quotations are just phrases that really stood out to me. 

Notes on the end of Daniel:
-Daniel sounds so different than the other Old Testament prophets. His diction and word choice - even in translation - sound foreign when compared to, say, Isaiah. I think it must be the influence of his Babylonian education.*
And here's the thing: how cool is that? When Daniel heard the Lord, he described the experience in his own voice. Yet it's recognizably the word of the Lord. The message rings true with the rest of the Scripture. You can hear the formational experience of the prophet in the diction, and apparently the Lord was willing to let that abide, and yet it doesn't - in the least - obscure the strength and goodness of the Lord's word to His people.
So cool.

-is Daniel 9 related to Solomon's temple dedication prayer? < --This was my question as I listened to it this time through.
In Daniel 9, Daniel prays:

O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on the account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.

O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your Name. (vs. 18-19)

Now, doesn't that sound like Solomon's prayer here, when he dedicated the temple?

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. (I Kings 8:33-34) 

Daniel was doing what Solomon had asked the Lord to let his people do: turn towards the Lord and repent and beg for restoration.

-Dan. 10: "the thing was true, but the time appointed was long"

-Dan. 10 - he saw the vision; the men with him didn't, but trembled . . . like Paul on the road to Damascus.

-"oh Daniel, a man greatly beloved, stand upright, for unto thee I am now sent"

-there is still really a lot in Daniel that I just do not understand . . .

Notes on Luke 1:
-I love Luke's introduction. "In order". Hear, hear! "that you may be sure of the things wherein you have been instructed . . ." Luke speaks my language!

-"blessed is she who believed! for . . ." (like Abraham - Mary believed (and it was counted to her as righteousness? seems so . . .))

-"that we, being delivered from our enemies, might serve Him without fear . . ."

-Luke 1 is just such a dear, dear chapter. It's so familiar - if you pray any of the daily offices in the BCP, you know the Magnificat and Zechariah's song - and the more I hear it and read it, the more I love it . . . it feels like family history, you know? but better, and greater, and more glorious . . .

Notes on the end of Revelation:
-Rev 21: "behold, the tabernacle of the Lord shall be with man . . ." Seriously. This whole passage. Where we're heading. Where we've been (it's the Old Testament promise, finally come really, really true).
"I will give to him that is athirst . . ."

-Rev. 21 - the measuring of the holy Jerusalem - this is like undoing what was done in Ezekiel, when the temple was measured and the glory of the Lord departed . . . and now the Lord is the temple and the Lamb the light . . .

-in Rev. 21, the list of those who will not be there sounds so harsh, until you stop to think that if you let adulterers and whoremongers and sorcerers in . . . then you have to live with adultery and prostitution and horrors . . . and how is that heaven? those are all those things that make this earth such a terror and a burden to live in. And that will all be gone. Thank God.

-"seal not the words of this book . . ." this isn't a secret. Let them know what's coming. "and he who is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still . . ."




*To be totally honest, listening to Daniel - at least in the KJV version - reminds me of the style of the Tarkheena's storytelling in Lewis' The Horse and His Boy.

Weekly Scripture Reflections

These are my notes on the week's readings. I'm posting them here just because I realized I wanted to start keeping track of my notes! And I'd to hear your insights from your weekly devotions, too!


Luke 22:
-in this gospel, the argument about who will be greatest comes right after the argument about who will betray Jesus. Were they talking about both at the same time? Did talking about who was going to be the awfullest disciple prompt boasting about who was the best?

That sounds very, very terrible . . . but very, very human at the same time.

-when the disciples could not stay awake with Jesus in Gethsemane . . . it says they slept for sorrow. Somehow I had never noticed that detail before.

-after the angel strengthened Jesus, He prayed more. Was that what he needed strength for? The prayer? If so, then so must we . . .

Psalm 101:
-"I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked-doers from the city of the LORD."  Doesn't that sound like a clarion call to early morning prayer and confession?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Knitted FO's, and listening to the Bible

A few projects I've finished lately . . .

Have I mentioned that knitting while listening to scripture is pretty much my favorite thing ever? If I have a quiet hour, any time of the week, that's the most relaxing way to use it that I can think of. (Short of actually taking a nap.) Something about the rhythm of the knitting, and the beauty and meaning of the words . . . they just go together so well. The knitting calms my body so that my heart and mind can listen.

I think this bunch of objects is a testimony to how much I love knitting-and: knitting-and-scripture, knitting-and-TV, knitting-and-podcasts . . . knitting-and-waiting-for-the-kids . . . and on and on.

But knitting and listening to scripture? that's the best.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

p.s. I highly recommend Alexander Scourby's reading of the KJV; he so clearly understands the meaning of what he's reading, and that helps me grasp the meaning better as I listen. Plus, he has a great voice.

Links: Lament, either/or, and more!

"The Language of Lament":

After many years of reading and study, I have yet to find a single word in scripture that is trite. Not one. Yet I see such words, I hear them, I cringe at them in so many parts of the larger Christian community. I choose to believe that the motives behind such words are good ones, that perhaps those who use truisms, clichés, and bromides have not yet been introduced to the lovely language we’re given, the words and questions that comprise over half of the ancient psalter, language that speaks for us when we cannot find our voice.

"The Lure of Either/Or":

Yeah, it’s a little more complicated than teaching people, “Just do X, and there will be no problem.” It really would be easier if we could just tell girls, “Cover up, missy. The end” or if we could just tell boys, “Do right, sonny. The end.” But we can’t do that. The world doesn’t work that way.

"Yes, God Will Give You More Than You Can Handle":

A few months ago, I sat with a good friend who had just learned of his son’s terminal diagnosis. He wept and said, “I’d do anything to give my life for him.” It was one of the most powerless feelings I have ever experienced. All we could do was sit together and weep.

"Faith Outside the Bubble":

"The riddles of God," said G. K. Chesterton, "are more satisfying than the answers of man." This sparkling one-liner from the 20th century's best theological journalist could serve as a motto for Matthew Lee Anderson's new work, The End of Our Exploring: A Book About Questioning and the Confidence of Faith (Moody Publishers). Like C. S. Lewis before him, Anderson sets out to explore a middle way between free-floating skepticism and dogmatic certainty. The first perspective sees any form of commitment as betraying integrity, holding that the wise are characterized by permanent questioning. The other refuses to think about questions, seeing them as a slippery slope leading slowly but surely to unbelief. 

"That’s not autism: It’s simply a brainy, introverted boy":

In our extroverted culture, where being a “team player” and a “people person” are seen as linchpins of normalcy, the notion that a brainy, introverted boy might legitimately prefer the world of ideas over the world of people is hard for most people to accept. Parents of such boys may feel terribly uneasy about their tendency to want to be alone and try to push their sons to be sociable and to make more friends. But if you get to know such boys, they would much rather be alone reading, writing, or pursuing projects that stimulate their intellect than be socializing with peers who are not their intellectual equals. However, once they come into contact with a kindred spirit, someone who is a true intellectual equal with whom they can share the fullness of their ideas, that person just might become a lifelong friend. Around such kindred spirits, brainy, introverted boys can perk up and appear more extroverted and outgoing, wanting to talk as well as to listen. With people who share their interests, especially people who possess equal or greater knowledge in these areas, brainy, introverted boys can display quite normal social skills.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

7 Quick Takes

1.
I really like this new music from Gray Havens, and right now it's free! I especially like the Narnia-inspired "Silver" and the sweet, upbeat "Let's Get Married". "Where They Go" is good, too.

2.
I've been trying the Couch-to-5K program. I'll probably write a longer blog about it sometime, but right now I have to say that it's the most sensible start-running program I've ever encountered. I'm beginning to hope I might be able to become a runner without injuring myself! (Injuring myself is what I normally do when I think, "hey, I should go for a run!" I start out too fast and my body says, "hey, idiot, knock it off!")

3.
Something else I want to write a blog post on sometime is the difference between reading scripture and hearing scripture. I've become fonder and fonder of listening to the Bible. It seems to seep into my heart in a different way when it comes through my ears (sorry, that's a terrible mix of the metaphorical and the literal).

But reading it engages my attention, too. Just differently. I've been trying to figure out what the difference is. Anyone have any thoughts?

4.
You've probably seen the beautiful animated short "Paperman", but what you might not have seen is this sharp analysis by Lars Walker. I had the same problem he did with "Paperman"'s narrative arc, and I like his solution to the difficulty.

5. Lent starts next week! I'm just saying.

6. Actually, my preparations for Lent this year feel really different, because this is the first year I'm preparing for Lent as an Altar Guild director. Yes, I'm figuring out what I'm going to take on personally for Lent, what sort of fast I'm doing . . . but I'm also collecting last year's palm crosses to burn for Ash Wednesday and making sure our priest's Lenten chausible is ironed and that we have people signed up to serve at the various Lenten services . . . it's a really different perspective on the season.

7. I really like being a part of our church's volunteer staff. Talk about work worth doing! All of our lives are part of the life of the church, but getting to participate in the actual church-service-related work makes it all feel so much more literal than it usually does.

I'm not expressing that well, I don't think. I guess that means I need to think about it more; muddled expression usually means muddled thought. But there is something so good and sweet about liturgical work, and I'm sure there's some connection between that work and my day-to-day life as a Christian. Some connection between washing the chalice after communion and washing the dishes after my family has supper.

I just need to ponder it a bit more, I think.


More Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

How God Answers Our Prayers

Numerous ways, of course, but I was reminded this week of one of the ordinary ways: by the Sunday liturgy.

Asking and Answering
There's a problem I've been praying through that was especially burdensome this past week. And in mass on Sunday morning, the hymns, the Scripture readings, and the sermon all had the same theme.

It wasn't anything new: the hymn I've sung countless times, and the passage from Ephesians that's not just familiar, but memorized.

But sometimes you don't just hear with your ears, but the Lord is kind enough to help you hear with your heart, and that's what happened to me on Sunday. It's as if He said, "See? This. I've told you, and I'm telling you. Listen."

The Right Place at the Right Time
And I did listen. Why? Because I was at church and that's what I was there to do anyway.


I don't know if I'm saying this well; what I'm trying to say is: God can speak to us any way He pleases. But I think many times it pleases Him to speak to us in the ordinary ways, in the established modes: in church, in scripture, in "hymns and spiritual songs".

My husband can call me on the phone in the middle of the work day if there's something urgent to communicate. But more often, we talk at the normal, established times: when we wake up, when we have dinner, in that quiet hour after the kids are in bed.

And our prayer life is like that to. If we're doing what we're supposed to be doing - praying regularly, attending church regularly - then we're holding open times and spaces when God can easily speak to us, because our attention is already turned towards Him. Sometimes those times and spaces won't be full of divine revelation, sure. Sometimes family dinners don't hold any profound communication either.

But the space is there for it when its needed. That's the point.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links: Pro-Life Questions, Poetry, Language, and more

"Questions for Our Pro-Abortion Friends, Church Leaders, and Politicians":

Shall we say size matters? Is the unborn child too small to deserve our protection? Are big people more valuable than little people? Are men more human than woman? Do offensive linemen have more rights than jockeys? Is the life in the womb of no account because you can't hold him in our arms, or put him in your hands, or only see her on a screen?

"I'm Not Into Poetry":

When it comes to the Psalms and other prayers, they are best read not for our own pleasure - not for “what we get out of them” - but because they are God-given prayer language that God enjoys. It’s like God gave us his favorite song list and asked us to play it over and over again.

 "A Linguist's Serious Take On 'The A-Word'":

"The Internet is extraordinary. All of a sudden, if you want to pick a political fight, or a fight over chess games, or a fight over language, or a fight over bird-watching, really, you can go out there and see all these discussion groups and people making comments on blogs and freely using this language to one another. It's an opportunity to behave like a jerk if you wake up at 3 in the morning and you feel like it."

"Doctor Feelbad":

Doctor Who’s most enduring obsession is with time and the ways its passage makes us all mad, sad, and lonely—in other words, the anxieties that plague us in midlife. The Doctor teaches us how to grow old.

There's my list of interesting links for the past few days. What have you been intrigued by 'round the Web this week?

-Jessica Snell

Scripture that Sings: Genesis 17:1

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

"I am God Almighty;

Walk before Me, and be blameless." -Genesis 17:1

Wow. Look at that last bit - and that's the bit that starts the covenant. "Walk before me, and be blameless." It's the impossible command.

Except it's not, because the Lord had the end in mind from the beginning. Abram was the one whose progeny was going to be a blessing for all the nations. And the seed of Abraham was Jesus. And Jesus makes it possible to walk before God and be blameless.

All the way back in Genesis, it's there. So cool.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Scripture that Sings: Psalm 119:100

"I understand more than the aged,
Because I have observed Your precepts" -Psalm 119:100

Or, as George MacDonald put it: obedience leads to understanding.

When I was a kid, Psalm 119 was this incomprehensible monolith to me. It was scripture, so I revered it, but I didn't get it, and just the idea of reading it through exhausted me.

But I've slowly come to love it. It's a love song to God's law, and the more I read it, the more of it comes alive to me, the more of it sings. It's like a rich mosaic: beautiful and wisely patterned when you take it in all at once and see the grand plan of praise, but also each individual part - every verse - is its own rich and polished jewel, shining and twinkling and reflecting back the light. It feels like the more I read it, the more verses light up for me.

And verse 100 is one of them. Here I read that the psalmist is wise because he observes the law. He learned wisdom through his obedient actions. This just rings so true to me. How many things have I learned by doing? Experience isn't everything, but no one will tell you that experiential knowledge isn't a different beast than theoretical.

Obedience to God's law enlightens. Amen!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Yarnalong: a cowl for Adam and Ephesians for Lent

Some plain good knitting and plain good reading: it seemed appropriate for Ash Wednesday.

My husband has been wanting a warm cowl for his walks, something to keep his head and neck warm. I'm using yarn that I reclaimed from a thrift store sweater and I'm using this easy pattern, only I twisted the first round to make it into a Möbius loop, because, to quote my husband, "Möbius loops are cool".

And Ephesians is going to be my Lenten reading this year. I'm hoping to read it once a day during Lent. It starts with all the cosmos as its context (that long sentence full of "blessed be"'s at the beginning) and then comes down to tell us what that means, and how we ought to live . . . and then it ends again on the grand scale, with the "stand firm then . . ." I really love it, but I don't know it half so well as I ought. I'm looking forward to letting it sink in this Lent.

More yarn and literary goodness can be found here, at Ginny's blog.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

beginning to think about Lent

It's going to be Lent soon, and I'm beginning to think about how I'm going to observe it this year.

Books:
I'm thinking about reading through St. Augustine's The City of God. I've been wanting to for awhile, and Lent seems like a good time.


Bread:
I'm thinking about fasting. It always feels weird to blog about fasting (blowing trumpets, and all that), so I'll probably let it suffice to say: I'm thinking about how to fast this year.


The Book & the Bread:
I'd like to keep working on memorizing John 14-17. I started last Lent and didn't finish. It's tempting, when you don't hit a goal, to give up. But I think it's better to just try again, if the goal is worth the getting. I think I might try this method of reading the passage out loud every day during Lent, and seeing what sticks.


Anyone else getting ready for the great fast that proceeds the Queen of Feasts?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell