# Down Day 3 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Lord, how great is our dilemma! In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak. Were we to hold our peace the stones would cry out; yet if we speak, what shall we say? Teach us to know that we cannot know, for the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe. In Jesus’ name. Amen. (Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 138 #### Give Thanks to the Lord Of David. *138 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.[a]3 On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.[b]* *4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, 5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.* *7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. 8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.* #### Scripture for the Day: John 21:15-19 #### Jesus and Peter *15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”* #### Reading for Reflection: *The world says, “When you were young you were dependent and could not go where you wanted, but when you grow old you will be able to make your own decisions, go your own way, and control your own destiny.” But Jesus has a different vision of maturity: it is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go. Immediately after Peter has been commissioned to be a leader of his sheep, Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant-leader is the leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable, and painful places. The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This may sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said “yes” to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world. (In the Name of Jesus by Henri J. M. Nouwen)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: How Great is Our God *The splendor of the King clothed in majesty* *Let all the earth rejoice, All the earth rejoice* *He wraps himself in Light and darkness tries to hide* *And trembles at His voice, trembles at His voice* *How great is our God, sing with me* *How great is our God and all will see* *How great, how great is our God* *Age to age He stands and time is in His hands* *Beginning and the end, beginning and the end* *The Godhead three in One, Father, Spirit, Son* *The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb* *How great is our God, sing with me* *How great is our God and all will see* *How great, how great is our God* *Name above all names* *Worthy of all praise* *My heart will sing* *How great is our God* ### Closing Prayer: *Lord Jesus, give us the grace and the strength and the courage to follow your invitation downward—to the place where there is only you and nothing else. In your name and for your sake we pray. Amen. (JLB)*