Weekly
Devotions
Easter
6 2006 Week of May 21 EWD
Every
spring, as we recall with great pleasure the beauties
of creation as the trees and flowers begin to bloom,
we continue an ancient of thanking God for these
blessings and acknowledging God to be the source
of this bounteous life. The Christian observance
of Rogation Days, on which prayers are offered for
favorable harvests, includes the singing of psalms
such as Psalm 104a powerful expression of confidence
in God’s creative power:
104
Benedic, anima mea
1
Bless the Lord, O my soul; *
O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.
2
You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak *
and spread out the heavens like a curtain.
3
You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters
above; *
you make the clouds your chariot;
you ride on the wings of the wind.
4
You make the winds your messengers *
and flames of fire your servants.
5
You have set the earth upon its foundations, *
so that it never shall move at any time.
6
You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; *
the waters stood higher than the mountains.
7
At your rebuke they fled; *
at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
8
They went up into the hills and down to the valleys
beneath, *
to the places you had appointed for them.
9
You set the limits that they should not pass; *
they shall not again cover the earth.
10
You send the springs into the valleys; *
they flow between the mountains.
11
All the beasts of the field drink their fill from
them, *
and the wild asses quench their thirst.
12
Beside them the birds of the air make their nests
*
and sing among the branches.
13
You water the mountains from your dwelling on high;
*
the earth is fully satisfied by the fruit of your
works.
14
You make grass grow for flocks and herds *
and plants to serve mankind;
15
That they may bring forth food from the earth, *
and wine to gladden our hearts,
16
Oil to make a cheerful countenance, *
and bread to strengthen the heart.
17
The trees of the Lord are full of sap, *
the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,
18
In which the birds build their nests, *
and in whose tops the stork makes his dwelling.
19
The high hills are a refuge for the mountain goats,
*
and the stony cliffs for the rock badgers.
20
You appointed the moon to mark the seasons, *
and the sun knows the time of its setting.
21
You make darkness that it may be night, *
in which all the beasts of the forest prowl.
22
The lions roar after their prey *
and seek their food from God.
23
The sun rises, and they slip away *
and lay themselves down in their dens.
24
Man goes forth to his work *
and to his labor until the evening.
25
O Lord, how manifold are your works! *
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
26
Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number, *
creatures both small and great.
27
There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan, *
which you have made for the sport of it.
28
All of them look to you *
to give them their food in due season.
29
You give it to them; they gather it; *
you open your hand, and they are filled with good
things.
30
You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
31
You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
*
and so you renew the face of the earth.
32
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *
may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
33
He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
he touches the mountains and they smoke.
34
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *
I will praise my God while I have my being.
35
May these words of mine please him; *
I will rejoice in the Lord.
36
Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, *
and the wicked be no more.
37
Bless the Lord, O my soul. *
Hallelujah!
April
9, 2006
Between
the time of Jesus’ arrest and his trial, Jesus had
to endure a long night of waiting. He asked his
disciples to wait with him but he found that they
were unable to stay awake through that long and
anxious night. Their falling asleep is both symptom
of their physical weakness and their spiritual weakness.
At the moment when Jesus most needed their support,
they were physically and emotionally unavailable
to him.
This
part of the passion narrative has inspired Christians
throughout the centuries to devote time each Holy
Week to nighttime prayer. Many churches encourage
members of their congregations to participate in
a prayer vigil that lasts from the evening of Maundy
Thursday until the morning of Good Friday. At St.
Andrew’s our Flower Guild transforms the Transept
Chapel into a sacred space that represents the Garden
of Gethsemane, and members of the parish come there
throughout the night to pray. Even those who cannot
come to the church can set aside time for prayer
in their own homes in response to Jesus’ request
for his friends to wait with him.
The
nineteenth-century poet Jones Very wrote this poem
as an encouragement to try to respond to Jesus’
request, even if we sometimes find it beyond our
capacity:
Take
Ye Heed, Watch and Pray
Come
suddenly, O Lord, or slowly come,
I wait Thy will, Thy servant ready is;
Thou hast prepared Thy follower a home,
The heaven in which Thou dwellest, too, is his.
Come
in the morn, at noon, or midnight deep,
Come, for Thy servant still doth watch and pray
E’en when the world around is sunk in sleep,
I wake, and long to see Thy glorious day.
I
would not fix the time, the day, the hour,
When Thou with all Thine angels shalt appear;
When in Thy kingdom Thou shalt come with power,
E’en now, perhaps, the promised day is near!
For
though, in slumber deep, the world may lie,
And e’en Thy church forget Thy great command;
Still year by year Thy coming draweth nigh,
And in its power Thy kingdom is at hand.
Not
in some future world alone 't will be,
Beyond the grave, beyond the bounds of Time;
But on earth Thy glory we shall see,
And share Thy triumph, peaceful, pure, sublime.
Lord!
help me that I faint not, weary grow,
Nor at Thy coming slumber too, and sleep;
For Thou has promised, and full well I know;
Thou wilt to us Thy word of promise keep.
From
Chapters into Verse: Poetry Inspired by the Bible,
Volume II, eds. Robert Atwan and Laurance Wieder,
New York: Oxford University Press (1993), pp. 165-66.
March
19, 2006
Here
is what Lesser Feasts and Fasts (Church Hymnal Corporation,
1991, pp. 170-71) has to say about St. Patick, whose
feast day we celebrated last week:
Patrick
was born into a Christian family somewhere on the
northeast coast of Britain in about 390. His grandfather
had been a Christian priest and his father, Calpornius,
a deacon. Calpornius was an important official in
the late Roman imperial government of Britain. It
was not unusual in this post-Constantian period
for such state officials to be in holy orders. When
Patrick was about sixteen, he was captured by a
band of Irish slave-raiders. He was carried off
to Ireland and forced to serve as a shepherd. When
he was about twenty-one, he escaped and returned
to Britain, where he was educated as a Christian.
He tells us that he took holy orders both as a presbyter
and bishop, although no particular see is known
as his at this time. A vision then called him to
return to Ireland. This he did about the year 432.
Tradition
holds that Patrick landed not far from the place
of his earlier captivity, near what is now knon
as Downpatrick (a "down" or "dun"
is a fortified hill, the stronghold of a local Irish
king). He then began a remarkable process of missionary
conversion throughout the country that continued
until his death, probably in 461. He made his appeal
to the local kings and through them to their tribes.
Christianizing the old pagan religion as he went,
Patrick erected Christian churches over sites already
regarded as sacred, had crosses carved on old druidic
pillars, and put sacred wells and springs under
the protection of Christian saints.
Many
legends of Patrick's Irish missionary travels possess
substrata of truth, especially those telling of
his conversion of the three major Irish High Kings.
At Armagh, he is said to have established his principal
church. To this day, Armagh is regarded as the primatial
see of all Ireland.
Two
works are attributed to Patrick: an autobiographical
Confession, in which he tells us, among other things,
that he was criticized by his contemporaries for
lack of learning, and a Letter to Coroticus, a British
chieftain. The Lorica or St. Patrick's Breastplate
(I bind unto myself today") is probably not
his, but it expresses his faith and zeal."
The
collect for the feast of St. Patrick is this: "Almighty
God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring
those who were wandering in darkness and error to
the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so
to walk in that light that we may come at last to
the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
March
5, 2006
Last
Friday the group Church Women United observed their
annual World Day of Prayer at St. Andrew's. The
Christian women of South Africa designed the service.
Its theme was "signs of the times," an
invitation to see God at work in the everyday occurrences
of life, from the pleasure of seeing God's beautiful
creation to the unrelenting suffering caused by
the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Here are three
prayers of thanksgiving from this liturgy:
Gracious
and Almighty God, we are in awe of who You are!
We thank you for being the Creator of life. You
have chosen us to enjoy fellowship with You and
created us to do the good works which You prepared
in advance for us to do. We thank You for being
a Parent-God, loving, caring, sustaining, nurturing,
feeding and protecting your creation. We thank You
for having journeyed with your children throughout
the ages--both in times of abundance and joy as
well as in times of danger, temptation and despair.
We
thank You for offering each one of us salvation.
We are grateful that Jesus brought to our notice
the signs of the time. We thank You for His resurrection
from the grave that brought new hope to life. We
thank You for sending your Helper, the Holy Spirit--our
Comforter, Teacher and Guide--who empowers us each
day to do your will and who calls us to be transformed
into the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Creator
God, we thank You for the challenge of our times,
for giving us ears to hear You beyond the clamour
of the world, and eyes to see You through the glitter
of temptation. Despite persecution, trials and disaster,
we thank You for calling us to be signs of hope;
to be prophetic women and men as Ezekiel was and
to stand firm and shine our light into the darkness
of the hour, knowing that God reigns and if we trust,
God can revitalize our whole community.
February
19, 2006
In
her meditation for the Monday in the fifth Sunday
after the Epiphany, Mother Teresa compares our spiritual
life to the current passing through a wire: “The
wire is you and me. The current is God.”
Her
meditation for the following Tuesday continues the
energy metaphor with a more “low-tech” analogy:
Drops
of oil in the lamp
Do
not imagine that love to be true must be extraordinary.
No, what we need in our love is the continuity to
love the One we love. See how a lamp burns, by the
continual consumption of little drops of oil. If
there are no more of these drops in the lamp, there
will be no light, and the Bridegroom has a right
to say: “I do not know you.”
My
children, what are these drops of oil in our lamps?
They are the little things of everyday life: fidelity,
punctuality, little words of kindness, just a little
thought for others, those little acts of silence,
of look and thought, of word and deed. These are
the very drops of love that make our religious life
burn with so much light.
Do
not search for Jesus in far off lands; He is not
there. He is in you. Just keep the lamp burning
and you will always see Him.
From
Love, a Fruit always in Season: Daily Meditations
by Mother Teresa, ed. Dorothy S. Hunt (San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1987), p. 67.
February
5, 2006
Mother
Teresa’s excellent meditation for Monday in the
fifth week after the Epiphany:
The
current is God
Often
you see small and big wires, new and old, cheap
and expensive cables upthey alone are useless and
until the current passes through them there will
be no light. The wire is you and me. The current
is God. We have the power to let the current pass
through us and use us to produce the light of the
world or we can refuse to be used and allow the
darkness to spread. My prayer is with each of you
and I pray that each one of you will be holy, and
so spread God’s love, everywhere you go. Let His
light of truth be in every person’s life so that
God can continue loving the world through you and
me. Put your heart into being a bright light.
From
Love, a Fruit always in Season: Daily Meditations
by Mother Teresa, ed. Dorothy S. Hunt (San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1987), pp. 66-7.
January
29, 2006
During
the season of Epiphany we hear stories in which
Jesus manifests God’s glory through extraordinary
acts, many of which are stories of miraculous healings.
Jesus’ healing ministry gives us hope that we too
can have access to God’s power to restore our bodies
and minds to health.
This
prayer from A Companion of Prayer for Daily Living
by Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. (Morehouse: 1978, p.
50) gives us words to pray in Jesus’ name for anyone
(including ourselves) who may be suffering from
an illness:
“Almighty
God, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ went about doing
good, and healing all manner of sickness and disease
among the people: Continue, we beseech thee, this
his gracious work among us, [especially in NN].
Cheer, heal, and sanctify the sick. Grant to the
physicians, surgeons, and nurses wisdom and skill,
sympathy and patience; and send down thy blessing
on all who labour to prevent suffering and to forward
thy purposes of love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
January
15, 2006
The
celebration this week the prophetic witness of Martin
Luther King, Jr. gives us an opportunity to reflect
both on the advances in racial equality he helped
to accomplish in his own time, and also the considerable
unfinished work that remains for us to do. In the
Episcopal lectionary, the feast day for Martin Luther
King, Jr. is April 4 because he was assassinated
on April 4, 1968. Below are two elements from the
propers for this feast day: the collect, which places
Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Exodus tradition
of leading God’s people out of bondage; and the
Gospel passage from Luke, which encourages all of
us to speak and act boldly on behalf of all those
who are oppressed, as we have promised to do in
our baptismal covenant.
Almighty
God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your
people out of slavery, and made them free at last:
Grant that your Church, following the example of
your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression
in the name of your love, and may secure for all
your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Luke
6:27-36 Jesus said: “But I say to you that listen,
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse
you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the
other also; and from anyone who takes away your
coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone
who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your
goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as
you would have them do to you. If you love those
who love you, what credit is that to you? For even
sinners love those who love them. If you do good
to those who do good to you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend
to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit
is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to
receive as much again. But love your enemies, do
good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your
reward will be great, and you will be children of
the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful
and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father
is merciful.”
