Jana Riess - Flunking Sainthood Every Day: A Daily Devotional for the Rest of Us

JANA RIESS

PARACLETE PRESS

BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS

2014 First Printing

Flunking Sainthood Every Day: A Daily Devotional for the Rest of Us

Copyright 2014 Jana Riess

ISBN 978-1-61261-409-0

Scripture references are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Paraclete Press name and logo (dove on cross) is a trademark of Paraclete Press, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Riess, Jana.

Flunking sainthood every day: a daily devotional for the rest of us / Jana Riess.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61261-409-0 (hc jacket)w

1. Devotional calendars. I. Title.

BV4811.R54 2014

242.2--dc23 2014025943

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press
Brewster, Massachusetts
www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

Success is the ability to move from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

Introduction

T he kind response to my memoir Flunking Sainthood floored me, to be honest. Its always uncomfortable to admit our disappointments and flaws in public, so to have that chronicle of repeated failure received with such grace has been a blessing. It seems there are a lot of us who are flunking sainthoodcomrades-in-arms who have the courage to laugh at our shortcomings as we pick ourselves up to try, once again, to inch just a little closer to God.

Two recurring comments Ive heard about Flunking Sainthood have prompted this companion devotional. The first is how much people loved the short quotations I sprinkled in the margins throughout the memoir. This delights me because I am a collector of quotations. I had been filling journals with them for years before I discovered that this is actually a long-standing devotional practice. (Who knew?) So the day-by-day compilation youre holding is a sort of commonplace book, a gathering of very short snippets by some of my favorite writers.

The second comment has been that people are enthusiastic to try many of the spiritual practices I undertook in Flunking Sainthood. To this end, each month in this book is organized in the same order that the practices occurred in the memoir. January is an opening month that addresses the spiritual journeyand, in particular, how we handle our failure to be perfect Christians. After that, there are twelve different spiritual practices, from fasting (Februaryhey, its a short month) to generosity (December, just in time for the holidays). Note that June has two spiritual practices because I was so deficient with centering prayer that I wound up substituting the Jesus Prayer in the middle of that month.

Each days devotion features a question for reflection, a prayer, or a short action item to help you integrate the monthly theme into your life. These action items are not intended to be guilt-inducing; please dont berate yourself if you only do some of them. This book is printed on flagellation-free paper. There may be entire months when youre not that interested in the assigned spiritual practice, and other months during which the practice feels totally natural and intuitive, like coming home. The hope behind this daily devotional for the rest of us is that you will discover some spiritual disciplines that speak to you, and find in the accompanying quotations additional resources where you can dive deeper into those practices.

God bless you on your journey.

JANUARY

The Spiritual Journey

January 1

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:19)

I am not so certain that we always enter into the new year with our focus on the whiteness, the freshness, the brand-new beginnings in our heart. I tend to believe that we let our glance rest a little too long on all those areas of our lives where we feel we have failed or not given our best. Why else would we still make resolutions based on what has gone before?

Close your eyes and just imagine the clean, white, fluffy snow softly falling, covering all the drab spots of deadness on the earth. See that same soft, clean whiteness fall into your heart. Feel it heal the wounds, making clean your dreams and hopes. Hear the God of new beginnings speak to you about the fresh start being offered.

Joyce Rupp, Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment

ACTION

Commit this year to deepening your knowledge of God through spiritual practices. Also commit yourself to accepting that you are going to fail somewhere along the road. You are on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, as Frederick Buechner puts it, and that is an acceptable place to be.

January 2

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded. (Ephesians 4:22)

I constantly remind myself that real and total conversion is impossible. What is possible is the single act before me right now; that frame of mind, this word, another held back. I pray the breviary and read a page or two from an inspirational book each morning, kneel by my bedside at night, and utter prayers during the day. Realistically, this takes about twenty minutes all told. I find that I pray for alertness, insight, patience, courageand, much of the time, help. I am not consciously aware of those prayers even moments later, but God knows that I have at least tried to put myself in his presence.

Only I will know that I have or have not tried and, at times, tried valiantly. After all, if any of us were truly converted, we would become saints. Most of us do not.

Paul Wilkes, Beyond the Walls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Life

PRAYER

Focus my attention and energy on you, Lord, and help me find you in every moment. Amen.

January 3

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

T oday we are caught in the tension between human nature and being children of God. To be perfect is not to add pressure to already overwhelmed lives; instead, it is to assure us that we are not alone in the world and that God continues to work in and through us. Perfection is less about getting things right and more about loving as God loves, and Jesus is Gods concrete example of that love.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lets us eavesdrop on his instructions to the disciples. We too are encouraged to live as sisters and brothers in Gods realm. Be perfect is not an indictment; it is a promise that carries the possibility that we may love the world as God has loved usfully, richly, abundantly, and completely.

Barbara Essex, Feasting on the Word

REFLECTION

What does the word perfection