Daily Office Readings for Friday of Proper 16: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 16 and 17; Evening, Psalm 22;
1st Kings 5:1 to 6:1 and 6:7; Acts 28:1 to 16; Mark 14:27 to 42:
“My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope” (Psalm 16:9)
As we enter the eve of our God-given Sabbath Day, I look for words in our readings that suggest rest. Our Sabbath (Saturday), is our gift from God.
In our Gospel reading from Mark our Lord Jesus reprimands Peter, James and John for sleeping and taking their rest while he, (Jesus), was praying. However, I believe prayer can, and should be done while at rest, especially on the Sabbath. Of course, the day that Jesus was arrested was by all accounts, a Thursday.
Maybe the Sabbath should not be for public worship. A worship service requires work. I believe the original worship services conducted on the Sabbath were a way for the clergy leadership to ensure people were not at their normal avocations or occupations. God did not give us the Sabbath as a day of worship; but rather, a day of rest. So, shouldn’t we all hold Saturdays aside as a day to remember the Goodness of God, and be thankful? I realize that not everybody can. First responders, medical staff, the military, police, detention staff and others must have a way of rotating a Sabbath observance. But that does not mean we should just ignore it altogether. We need to take time weekly to just ponder about our relationship with God and one another.
To get a fuller understanding of the Sabbath, I have again attached my favorite YouTube website about the Sabbath: What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube. This YouTube video will explain the importance of Sabbath. It is God’s gift to humanity. God loves us and wants the best for us. This is why God wants us to rest on the seventh day.
My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; my body also shall rest in hope, and more especially for me on the Sabbath Day.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom.
Let us live to love, serve and teach, listening to what the Spirit is saying through the saints, and to us, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 