Daniel and Benedict

Daniel

I have always found it odd when people who read the Daily Office talk about how God provides them with Scriptures through the DO that speak to what they are going through.  Not that I don't think that God can do this.  Obviously God can use anything to bring about some revelation in our lives.  What has seemed odd is the fact that, and maybe I'm just reading into comments too much as a cynic, people seem to imply that God gives them special Scripture because they are using the Daily Office.  Again, not that God can't give us Scriptures if we aren't, but there seems implied a specialness to the DO.

I am no longer that cynic.  I am planning on going through 1 John with our youth this summer, so I need to start reading through the book to get planning.  I tend to procrastinate.  I've been planning on reading through the book for a while, but haven't.  This week, starting on Monday, I'll give you one guess as to the book that the DO gives as the Epistle reading.

The OT reading that started this week is Daniel.  A story, or parts of it, that any of us who have grown up in Sunday school and Vacation Bible School know.  However, now that I am reading the Rule of St. Benedict and thinking about what it means to live as a modern day, non-Monk Rule follower, this story becomes more alive.  Daniel was an exile of Judah, a Hebrew, living in Babylon after they took over.  He and some of his friends are chosen to be a part of the kings counsel.  He is offered food and wine from the kings table and asks for vegetables and water instead.  Why?  He wants to live differently than those around him, he wants to center himself on the provision of God, not the king.  (Yes, I too would say that God can provide through the king's table, but apparently Daniel would disagree.  There is something to living differently, like not eating pork and shellfish...)

Abiding

If you haven't gotten the chance, take the time to go back to my post on John 14-16 and read the first comment, by my father-in-law.  He gives some very interesting and provocative ideas as to what abiding would mean based on the concept of 'name' for the Hebrews.  To ask in Jesus' name is not just to say, 'In Jesus name', but to be living totally saturated with the person, nature, teachings, and life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Like being willing to give up the tasty steak and cabernet of the King's table, not because it is evil in and of itself, but because it will distract us from the lessons and life God has to teach us so we can later go to the king and advise him on what God is doing.

Question: What/where is the King's table in American society?  What would a contextualized Daniel Fast look like today?  If we follow the Rule of Benedict as 21st American Christians, in what ways must we life differently to be able to ground and center ourselves on Christ?

Peace,