A Daily Routine

In many ways, I am a creature of habit.

I get up in the morning about the same time every day, make a half pot of coffee, eat the same breakfast, read the paper and do the crossword. And it is very difficult for me to interrupt my habits. For instance, I have found it very difficult to get a regular exercise regimen added to my daily routine.

More than a year ago, I began to use The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle to work a rhythm of prayer into my day. I observe the "Morning Office" regularly and I am attempting to add "Compline" to my evening practices. Such daily prayer cycles were part of Israel's pattern and carried over to the early church. It is a way of habituating my prayer life.

Paul exhorts us to develop a ritual in our lives:
"Therefore, I urge you, brethren, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship" (Rom. 12: 1).

First, Paul points to the incredible mercy of God that he has taken 11 chapters to describe, ending in his wonderful doxology at the end of chapter 11. So, our ritual sacrifices are a response to God's goodness.

Second, he uses the metaphor of the temple sacrifices to paint a picture. Our sacrifice is very much like those performed at regular intervals for the community--daily, weekly and on Holy Days. Paul seems to have a particular sacrifice in mind--the whole burnt offering in which the entire animal was placed on the fire and consumed.

Third, the offering of our bodies is called a "spiritual act of worship." But the underlying Greek is unusual, not at all the wording you would expect. Why? Because Paul is reinforcing his metaphor.

The Greek word translated "spiritual" is logikos (based in the inner will or reason), not pneumatikos (based in the spirit). That is, Paul is contrasting the new Christian kind of worship to that of the Jewish priesthood. Theirs is physical, but ours is an act of the mind, will, emotions, reason, spirit--in other words, we are not physically laying our bodies on an altar. Instead, it is an act of our heart.

The Greek word translated "worship" is latreia (service of worship), not the usual proskuneo (worship). This word comes from the same root that we get the word "liturgy" from. The Jewish priests performed a service of worship--sacrificial rituals. We also have a priestly calling to perform regular sacrificial service to our God--daily, weekly and on special occasions.

My expanded paraphrase: "Therefore, in light of God's incredible display of mercy, I am exhorting all of you believers to offer yourselves entirely to God, just like the whole burnt offering that is holy and pleasing, a kind of heartfelt priestly service of worship."

How about adding that to your daily ritual?