Collect for the Day:
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Reflections: Prayer as the door to wisdom.
It’s not our crammed courses or frenzied activities that bring us God’s wisdom—regardless
of what society tells us, or however hard we strive. We develop wisdom through
prayer—especially the kind where we’re not doing all the talking. May God grant
this prayer.
First Lesson: Amos 7:7-15
This is what the Lord God showed
me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb
line in his hand. And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"
And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said,
See, I am setting a plumb line in
the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by;
the high places of Isaac shall be
made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall
be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house
of Jeroboam with the sword.
Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,
sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the
very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to
bear all his words. For thus Amos has said,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.
And Amaziah said to Amos, "O
seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy
there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and
it is a temple of the kingdom."
Then Amos
answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a
herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the LORD took me from following
the flock, and the LORD said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"
Reflections: Amos didn’t pretend to
be a professional prophet—a mouthpiece of the power structure in Israel. In
fact, he was foreigner, being from the southern kingdom of Judah. Amos was an
ordinary person who responded to God’s call. God gave him eyes to see and
courage to speak.
What can outsiders know about a situation? Sometimes more
than an insider can. For all their cheeky meddling, an outsider can see through
to the truth when we insiders are blinded by our assumptions and half-conscious
agendas. How do we respond to the unwelcome observations of a stranger? What
are we protecting?
Psalm 24 Domini est terra
The earth is the LORD'S and all that is in it, * the world and all
who dwell therein.
For it is he who founded it upon
the seas * and
made it firm upon the rivers of the deep.
Who can ascend the hill of the LORD? * and who can stand in his
holy place?
Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, * who have not pledged themselves to
falsehood, nor sworn by what is a fraud.
They shall receive a blessing from the LORD * and
a just reward from the God of their salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him, * of
those who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors;
* and
the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? * The LORD, strong and mighty, the
LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors;
* and the
King of glory shall come in.
Who is he, this King of glory? * The LORD of hosts, he is the King
of glory.
Epistle: Ephesians
1:3-14
Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He
destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he
lavished on us.
With all
wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of
time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In
Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to
the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and
will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for
the praise of his glory.
In him you
also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to
the praise of his glory.
Reflections: The content of this
letter rather, which makes for difficult reading. And typical of Paul’s work,
the long winding sentences don’t make it any easier to follow. For this reason,
I’m reproducing the outline of his message below:
Blessed be
the God and Father has blessed to be holy and blameless
before him. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our trespasses.
He has made
known to us his will, (which is) to gather up all things in heaven and on
earth.
We have
also obtained an inheritance so that we might live
for his glory. When you had heard and believed, (you) were marked with the
promised Holy Spirit; the pledge of our
inheritance (which is) redemption as God's own people.
Gospel: Mark 6:14-29
King Herod heard of the demons cast
out and the many who were anointed and cured, for Jesus' name had become known.
Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and
for this reason these powers are at work in him." But others said,
"It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of
the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John,
whom I beheaded, has been raised."
For Herod
himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on
account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her.
For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your
brother's wife." And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill
him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous
and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly
perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
But an
opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers
and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in
and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl,
"Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." And he solemnly
swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my
kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask
for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer." Immediately
she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once
the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
The king
was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did
not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with
orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought
his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her
mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and
laid it in a tomb.
Reflections:
Although John’s prophetic voice was disturbing to Herod, something about it
that was compelling. It seemed to reach down inside.
It’s difficult to discern the value of the voices that swarm around and
within us, and to disentangle them from popular opinion and our self-image. How
do we figure out what really matters? And what is violated if we ignore it?
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