# Naked day 7 > 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: Romans 13:8-14 #### Fulfilling the Law Through Love *8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.* *11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.* #### Reading for Reflection: The Naked Seed by C. S. Lewis *My heart is empty. All the fountains that should run With longing, are in me* *Dried up. In all my countryside there is not one That drips to find the sea.* *I have no care for anything thy love can grant Except the moment’s vain* *And hardly noticed filling of the moment’s want And to be free from pain.* *Oh, thou that art wearying, that dost neither sleep Nor slumber, who dist take* *All care of Lazarus in the careless tomb, oh keep Watch for me till I wake.* *If thou think for me what I cannot think, if thou Desire for me what I* *Cannot desire, my soul’s interior Form, though now Deep-buried, will not die,* *--No more than the insensible dropp’d seed that grows Through winter ripe for birth* *Because, while it forgets, the heaven remembering throws Sweet influence still on earth,* *--Because the heaven, moved moth-like by thy beauty, goes Still turning round the earth.* *(from Pilgrim’s Regress by C. S. Lewis)* *But our moment of solitude is precisely a moment in which we want to be in the presence of our Lord with empty hands, naked, vulnerable, useless, without much to show, prove, or defend. That is how we learn to listen to God’s small voice. (Making All Things New by Henri J. M. Nouwen)* #### 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)*