Transforming Daily Life into Acts of Worship

minute um we put them into practice in all our Affairs now what does that leave out well it leaves out nothing and once again we have here simply an echo of the New Testament invitation to as Paul says in Colossians 3:17 whatever you do in word or deed do everything now that's all your Affairs in the name of Jesus in his character that's precisely what uh W and the steps are about so this is just echoing what Paul understood 2000 years ago and in the little book 12 steps and 12 traditions it describes it this way including stuff like change in a diaper can we practice these principles in all our Affairs can we find find a new Joy of living and trying to do something about all these things how should we come to terms with seeming failure or success can we now accept and adjust to either without despair or Pride H can we accept poverty sickness loneliness and bereavement with courage and serenity [00:02:13]

this very fresh and poignant for me answer I just found out this morning about the death of a good friend uh uh the spouse of a very dear friend of Nance and how do you walk through life when there's grief and bereavement and it will come to all of us can we steadfastly content ourselves with the humbler yet more durable satisfaction when the brighter more glittering achievements are denied us the answer to these questions is yes all these things are possible we know this because we see monotony pain even Calamity turned to good use by those who are trying to practice the 12 steps of course we all fall far short uh our troubles often begin this is so interesting with indifference [00:03:21]

now uh indifference is an ancient human problem it's one of the seven deadly SS there is sometimes called sloth it's much deeper than what we think of as laziness the old monks who went in the desert called it the Noonday demon it's the temptation to think that nothing matters in my life is meaningless this is quite fascinating to me there was an article in a journal Communications Psychology by an author named Katie tan uh and the title of it is people are increasingly bored in our digital age boredom is defined as an aversive state of wanting to but being unable to engage in satisfying activity it's triggered by a gap between how engaged you want to be and how engaged you actually are [00:04:12]

author goes on to say it actually serves an important function it can inform people that their current situation lacks meaning and fulfillment the philosopher might hi distinguished between situational boredom you're at a dinner sitting next to an introvert that's just boring that would be me but you know that's temporary as opposed to a sense that life is meaningless that it's just imploding and one of the great paradoxical gifts of the 12 steps and of wrestling with an addiction with personal inadequacy is that when I discover God and God delivers me from what my life would have otherwise been my days my time is already in the pawn shop of lost souls and when I find there is God and there is forgiveness and there is the possibility of freedom and newness of life then I am also given a purpose [00:05:05]

that's the 12th step to carry the message to others that's why so often people that have an addiction and discover the 12 steps are grateful they have an addiction because they find a meaning and purpose that if they weren't quote unquote addicted they never would have found that's why my friend Bob said to me I predict before long as you're studying the 12 steps you would be jealous that you don't have an addiction so now is it possible for you this day to do everything in word or deed whatever you do all of it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ what about what looks like drudgery what looks routine insignificant the small things [00:05:52]

that journal article in communication psychology notes the Paradox it's never been easier for us to stimulate our attention you just pick up a screen but that very fact has caused us to wrestle with boredom more deeply than any age before Eugene Peterson writes about how in the ancient world ancient Greeks did not actually have a word for boredom and uh engagement in social media tends to there's exceptions but overall increased usage tends to produce more bored people it's a study that showed that from 2009 to 2020 boredom is increasing and what happens is our capacity to mobilize to focus attention gets weakened when we Outsource it we experience divided attention and our sense of the meaningful of Life the task from one moment to the next actually goes down [00:06:30]

because we see these pictures or hear messages of people doing things that seem to be way more exciting or way more meaningful than us and then there grows this gap between the excitement stimulation that I want to experience and what I actually do in real incarnate life so how do you change a diaper in Jesus name um somebody I don't know who it was my been you sent me a little book called every moment holy and it's uh by a very gifted writer by the name of Douglas Cain mckelvie and it's got a lot of liturgies and this particular one is a liturgy for changing diapers and uh there's wonderful artwork in it you might be able to see it there now no baby ever lays that still when they're having their diaper changed [00:07:20]

I used to change diapers then for quite a few years I wasn't now I'm back still changing diapers uh but I know that that will end soon how do you do that and of course it's not just about changing diapers you understand this is as you approach whatever you think is monotonous and meaningless and small and beneath you and you're tempted to think what does it matter and why should I give this my best no no no no no in Jesus name in Jesus name our our time is in the pawn chop of lost souls and we miss the kingdom and its presence in this moment right here when I'm talking to you heavenly father in such menial moments as this the changing of a diaper I would remember this truth my unseen labors are not lost [00:08:04]

for it is these repeated acts of small sacrifice that like bright ragged patches are slowly being sewn into a quilt of loving kindness that swaddles this child I am not just changing a diaper not just writing an email not just fixing a meal not just leading a meeting Whatever It Is by love and service I am tending a budding heart that rooted in such Grace fill devotion might one day be more readily inclined to bow to your compassionate conviction knowing itself then as both a receptacle and a reservoir of heavenly Grace so so this little Act of diapering though in sometimes felt as base drudgery might be better described as one of 10,000 acts by which I am actively creating a culture of compassionate service and Selfless Love [00:09:12]

to shape the life of this family and this beloved child you are a culture shaper whether you want to be or Not For Better or For Worse and so am I sought to put this into practice in all our Bears whatever you do in word or deed so take this unremarkable Act of necessary service o Christ and in your economy let it be multiplied into that greater outworking of worship and of Faith a true investment in the incremental advance of your kingdom across Generations open my eyes that I might see this act for what it is from the fixed Vantage of Eternity O Lord how the changing of a diaper might sit Upstream of the changing of a heart how the changing of a heart might sit Upstream of the changing of the world [00:10:20]