Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the First Week of Lent: Year 1
Morning Psalm; 55; Evening Psalms; 138 and 139:1 to17;
Deuteronomy 11:18 to 28; Hebrews 5:1 to 10; John 4:1 to 26
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
For me, this verse is the most profound in all Scripture, and that is, that God is Spirit, not male or female. God is not only beyond any human identifier, God is beyond anything we can begin to understand. Anselm, (Archbishop of Canterbury 1109), rightly proclaimed, “God is that than which nothing greater can be thought.” Anselm is so correct. I think we are so proud of God’s creation of us, that we began to think God was looking in a mirror in creating us. I don’t think so.
I believe the Spirit of God was patient enough to see how the God-Spirit host would evolve and then, in the fullness of time, God would come among us regardless of what we look like, or how many variations we are. It’s weird I know. And while none of us can capture the concept of God, as Anselm informs us, that also means none of us can be refuted. First and foremost, “God is Spirit, and those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth,” to the very best of our ability.
Today we also remember George Herbert, Priest 1633.
“Herbert, served faithfully as a parish priest, diligently visiting his parishioners and bringing them the sacraments when they were ill, and food and clothing when they were in want. He read Morning and Evening Prayer daily in the church, encouraging the congregation to join him when possible, and ringing the church bell before each service so that those who could not come might hear it and pause in their work to join their prayers with his. It is said even those tilling the soil would stop and attend o prayer.” (Great Cloud of Witnesses for February 27)
George Herbert is one of my Anglican heroes. I follow his pattern of Morning and Evening Prayer in our Book of Common Prayer, albeit at home. I do encourage others to do so as well. I want people to know that I am praying for them and for their loved ones on a daily basis. Thomas Bray, Anselm, George Herbert and a few others are my spiritual guides and are the saints to whom I give ear for good spiritual counsel regularly. Who do you read regularly, beyond the Bible, for guidance and support? Such people are the saints of God.
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 