# Naked day 6 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. > ### Opening Prayer: *O Lord my God, how I long to recapture the purity and joy of the Garden—when I was able to stand before you (and others) naked and unashamed. That, indeed, is what I was made for. But this side of heaven that is not my reality. My reality is filled with fear and shame; hiding and covering—terrified that I will be exposed, found out, not enough. How I genuinely long for true communion with you; total vulnerability; deep trust—to be fully known and fully loved. Have mercy on me! Amen. (JLB)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 30 #### Joy Comes with the Morning #### A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple. *30 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.* *3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.[a]4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.[b]5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.[c]Weeping may tarry for the night,but joy comes with the morning.* *6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,“I shall never be moved.”7 By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong;you hid your face; I was dismayed.8 To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:9 “What profit is there in my death,[d] if I go down to the pit?[e] Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!* #### Scripture for the Day: Hosea 2:1-23 #### Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished *2 [a] Say to your brothers, “You are my people,”[b] and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”[c]2 “Plead with your mother, plead—for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;3 lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born,* *and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst.4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.* *5 For their mother has played the whore;she who conceived them has acted shamefully.* *For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’6 Therefore I will hedge up her[d] way with thorns,and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them,and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’* *8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil,* *and who lavished on her silver and gold,which they used for Baal.9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season,and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.* *10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.11 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said,‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’* *I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them* *and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers* *and forgot me, declares the Lord.The Lord's Mercy on Israel* *14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,and bring her into the wilderness,and speak tenderly to her. 15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor[e] a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.* *16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish[f] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.* *21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens,and they shall answer the earth,22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and theyshall answer Jezreel,[g]23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.And I will have mercy on No Mercy,[h]and I will say to Not My People,[i] ‘You are my people’;and he shall say, ‘You are my God."* #### Reading for Reflection: *If there are a few contemplatives in our parishes it is because most are content to remain “conventional Christians.” Conventional Christians secretly assure themselves that if they attend to the prescribed externals, go regularly to church, and don’t go off the deep end, they are pleasing to God (although in fact they are pleasing mostly to themselves). Nonetheless, we are called to “go off the deep end” by abandoning ourselves to the Lord’s care and to risk everything by letting go of everything. We are invited (though never demanded) to hang over an interior abyss in dark trusting faith where our security blanket of control is stripped away and we stand naked and defenseless before our Creator. (Why Not Be a Mystic? By Frank X. Tuoti)* *She said, "I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water..."...She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them...So now I will expose her...no one will take her out of my hands...Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...I will betroth you to me forever. (Hosea 2:5, 7, 10, 14,19)* *Hosea 2 is such a challenging, convicting, and passionately tender chapter. It calls me to recognize the ways I have left the Lover of My Soul, and have chased after lovers that can never even begin to satisfy the deepest longings of my heart. It calls me to name them: affirmation, security, significance, recognition, esteem, etc., etc., etc., and to identify them as the cheap hookers that they really are. It calls me to repent, to turn, to stop chasing after these sorry substitutes and turn back to the One who knows me like no other and loves me like no other. It calls me to leave their flimsy, glittering arms and return the arms of Him who can hold me like no other, who made me uniquely and wonderfully for deep intimacy with Himself. It calls me to Him who continually asks me the question, "Are you chasing lovers, or are you chasing Me?"* *O Lord, my God, what false lovers do I continually chase after for my food and my water; for my security and my significance; for my value and my worth; for affirmation and identity? Help me to recognize that when I chase after these "lovers," I have left you, my One True Love. Allure me now, O Lover-God, betroth me to You, and You alone...forever. Ravish me with your passionate love and capture my heart completely. Make it wholly yours, that I may chase ever and always only after You.**~Jim Branch September 2012* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Just As I Am *Just as I am without one plea,* *But that Thy blood was shed for me* *And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,* *O Lamb of God, I come. I come.* *Just as I am, and waiting not* *To rid my soul of one dark blot.* *To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,* *O Lamb of God, I come. I come.* *Just as I am, tho’ tossed about,* *With many a conflict, many a doubt,* *Fightings within, and fears without,* *O Lamb of God, I come. I come.* *Just as I am poor, wretched, blind—* *Sight, riches, healings of the mind,* *Yea, all I need in Thee I find,* *O Lamb of God, I come. I come.* *Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,* *Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,* *O yes Thy promise I believe,* *O Lamb of God, I come. I come.* ### Closing Prayer: *Lord Jesus, give me the grace and the strength and the courage to take off that which I use to cover myself; and to clothe myself only and always in you alone. Amen. (JLB)*