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"These Things I Pray" 3/8/09 Phil. 4:4-9

Our theme for this year's Lenten journey is "Commitment". Last week we began my looking at our relationship with God as it is reflected in our prayer life. As we begin the day in communion with God, as we nurture that relationship in prayer throughout the day, and as we end each day in God's presence we begin to make God the center of our lives. We talked about the importance of ourprayer life as one of the ways we keep our relationship with God alive. The importance of our commitment to live a life of prayer is vital to our spiritual journey.

Tonight we are going to take a look at commitment through the words of the song Day by Day from Godspell. The words go like this:

DAY BY DAY - DAY BY DAY

DEAR LORD -THREE THINGS I PRAY

TO SEE THEE MORE CLEARLY

LOVE THEE MORE DEARLY

FOLLOW THEE MORE NEARLY

DAY BY DAY

The first thing that stood out to me in these lyrics were the words "day by day". Our commitment to make God the center of our lives happens a day at a time, some times an hour at a time, or a moment at a time. I can remember the summer I was at church camp. We had spent the week studying, living in nature, and sharing our journeys with one another. At sunset the evening before we were to go home we gather one last time in the outdoor chapel for vespers. This was an evening like all the other evenings that week, but something was to happen that would direct the rest of my life. We listened to scripture, we prayed together, and sang hymns together. At some point the leader invited all those who wanted to commit their lives to God, as Lord and Savior, to come forward. In the midst of the music, tears began to flow down by cheeks uncontrollably and before I knew it my legs were taking me to the front altar. It was in that moment, in that hour, of that day that my life would be directed to follow God and I would make the commitment to do that day by day. I didn't know then that the commitment would be renewed in some very big decisions in my life and in the smaller day to day activities of living. I didn't know then that my life's vocations would be directed by that commitment. I didn't know then that when I discovered my sexuality that commitment would lead me to be my true self in spite of what others might think. That commitment would help me to make decisions about partners and friends. Little did I know then that commitment would take me half way around the world some thirty years later to a little child who needed a way out of oppression and into freedom. That commitment is lived out day by day as I offer my life to do God's will.

That commitment is lived out daily in little details that we do pretty routinely and it is lived out in the major decisions and directions of our lives. Today for instance we each made the decision whether to come to church and nurture our spiritual lives or to do something else that would seem important. We each make the decision in our dealings with other people to help someone or to walk away, to speak kindly or let anger lead the way. We can fill our minds with good thoughts or let resentment, bitterness, or jealousy occupy our minds. Each day opportunity after opportunity presents itself for us to show our commitment to live in the Christ way.

Day by day is about progress not perfection. Some days we do really well in keeping our commitment to God and on other days we must admit that we make mistakes, seek God's grace, and start again. As we grow in our daily walk with God, sometimes we take two steps forward and one step back but as long as we stay on the road we are making progress.

Our commitment to God is reflected in all aspects of our life. We can't leave one part out and say that ours. Commitment is about giving all of our life - time, talents, relationships, finances, thoughts, words, and deeds into God's trust as we seek to follow God all the days of our lives.

I would invite you this week to walk day by day with your God. Before you make decisions seek God's will. Before you decide what you'll do today with your time, consider that it is God's time entrusted to you. When you're getting ready to talk or act, ask yourself what would God say or do in this situation. Day by Day, hour by hour, moment by moment we have the opportunity to be commitment to God's presence in our life.

DAY BY DAY - DAY BY DAY

DEAR LORD -THREE THINGS I PRAY

TO SEE THEE MORE CLEARLY

LOVE THEE MORE DEARLY

FOLLOW THEE MORE NEARLY

DAY BY DAY

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

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