Part 1 of 2
Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 26: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 72; Evening, Psalm 119:73 to 96;
Nehemiah 13:4 to 22; Revelation 12:1 to 12; Matthew 13:53 to 58:
“He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ (Matthew 13: 54 to 56)
Every time I read this passage it reminds me to not leave God out of the equation. His hometown folk did know who Jesus was as he grew up among them, but they, and often I, fail to craft the question correctly. It is not “Where” did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? The correct question is, “From whom” did this man get this wisdom and these great deeds of power?
God can, and often does use any one of us to do great deeds of power. The sooner we accept that all great deeds of power come from God, and that God is always using someone among us to do or speak great deeds, we will then stop being critical of one another and appreciate God working through us, for us. When this acceptance happens, hopefully we will stop being critical of people we have known only because we have known them. We must always ask, “What is God doing now?”
Part 2 of 2
Today we remember Richard Hooker (Priest and Theologian November 3, 1600)
Readings for the Remembrance of Richard Hooker
Psalm 37:1 to 9; 1st Corinthians 2:6 to16; John 17:18 to 23
“Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.” (1st Corinthians 2:6)
Throughout my blogging year I mention Richard Hooker several times. I often refer to his three legged stool, his metaphor of our Anglican faith that is fed by Scripture, Tradition and Reason.” He was a spiritually mature person who sought after divine wisdom. To borrow the lesson from part 1 of today’s blog, Richard Hooker is such a one whom God gifted with understanding beyond his own studies. It is from such people as Richard Hooker that we are able to ponder the deeper meaning of our faith walk.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 