Collect for the Day
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church;
and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern
it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Reflections: Just like little children who
want to do things on their own, we don’t always recognize that we need protection.
Sometimes we underestimate difficulties; other times we’re just willfully blind
or in denial. God’s protection may not mean we’ll be saved by a miracle, but at
the very least it means we haven’t been abandoned to chaos and meaninglessness.
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
The whole congregation of the
Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites
said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of
Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have
brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger."
Then the
LORD said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and
each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I
will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not."
Then Moses
said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, `Draw
near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.'" And as Aaron spoke
to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness,
and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. The LORD spoke to Moses and
said, "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, `At
twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of
bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"
In the
evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a
layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the
surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the
ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is
it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is
the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.”
Reflections: How different is the
picture of God in this story from the one in our prayerbook. It’s easy to
imagine the Israelites suffering, griping, and grousing, and it must have seemed
like forever before God did something about it. If God’s so powerful and
loving, why does it sometimes take so long? Why God doesn’t just give us what we
need when we need it (or before!).
Of course I don’t know, but I do know this about myself: Desperation
drives me to God. When my need and pain have become so acute that I can’t
depend on anything or anybody (especially myself), I rediscover God. Now I’m not saying that God sets up terrible situations
to increase my faith. (How abusive would that be?) In fact, I’m not saying
anything about God at all. But I am saying something about myself: I am fickle,
and as long as I am comfortable and entertained, I am complacent. My soul goes
into automatic; I am oblivious of my burning need for God.
When God finally sends relief to the Israelites, imagine
their jubilation, their sense of restoration, healing, blessing! Still, I can’t
help but wonder: how long before manna and quail become expected, old hat,
boring? How long before the Israelites lose their wonder and adjust to a new
status quo. It doesn’t take me all that long. What about you?
Psalm 78:23-29
So he commanded the clouds above * and opened the doors of heaven.He rained down manna upon them to eat * and gave them grain from heaven.
So mortals ate the bread of angels; * he provided for them food enough.
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens * and led out the south wind by his might.
He rained down flesh upon them like dust * and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
He let it fall in the midst of their camp * and round about their dwellings.
So they ate and were well filled, * for he gave them what they craved.
Epistle: Ephesians 4:1-16
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one
body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of
Christ's gift. Therefore it is said,
When he ascended on high he made
captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.
(When
it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also
descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one
who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)
The
gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of
ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the
measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to
and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by
their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must
grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole
body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as
each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up
in love.
Reflections: Differences. They’re
real. That’s a fact that anybody who’s ever lived in a family discovers again
and again. Differences are both exciting and disconcerting. Difference awakens
us, stretches and challenges us; on the other hand, it also annoys and angers
us.
At our best, we delight to complement each other. At our
worst, your way of being drives me crazy. In the middle, well, we bear with
each other—with some degree of grace.
St. Paul would have us
believe that God has a purpose for differences, has in fact designed difference
into humanity from the start. And what is that purpose for our varied gifts and
very real differences? It seems that without the other, each of the others
whose gifts (and foibles?) are so different from ours, each of us is
incomplete.
So what would holiness
look like? Would it blanket and muffle our differences? Or would it make them sparkle
like dewdrops in the sunlight?
Gospel: John 6:24-35
The next day, when the people who
remained after the feeding of the five thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his
disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum
looking for Jesus.
When they
found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did
you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are
looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the
loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures
for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God
the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do
to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work
of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him,
"What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and
believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the
wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who
gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this
bread always."
Jesus said
to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be
hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
Reflections:
Jesus knows that the people have followed him because he gives them what they
want. He hands out free food! But he also knows something they don’t: it isn’t
only their stomachs that were hungry; their true hunger is soul-deep. And food (or
clothes, or electronics, or whatever fascinates us at the moment) will never,
ever satisfy the soul.
* * * * *
Mtr Karen told a story about a little
boy who habitually came home late for dinner. Everyone waited, and the food got
cold . . . night after night. Scolding didn’t help.
Now what do you
think would be a good lesson for the little boy? Here’s what the family finally
did: One evening, he came home to find everyone already seated, their plates
piled high. But at his place there was only a slice of bread and a glass of
water. Imagine his dismay!
“How clever,” I thought! “The boy needed to
learn that behavior has consequences. I’ll bet he never forgot that lesson!”
Well, he never did forget that lesson, because
this is what happened next: The father took the boy’s plate—and gave him his
own.
The little boy may have ended up with a full
belly, but what really fed him was an
act of grace.
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