Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 3rd Week of Epiphany: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalms 8 and 84;
Genesis 16:15 to 17:14; Hebrews 10:1 to 10; John 5:30 to 47:
“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram,but your name shall be Abraham;for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 17: 4 to 5)
This is our spiritual heritage. We, yes even we Christians, are spiritual descendents of Abraham. The importance of who we are is not what our biology or ethnicity is. None of that transcends this earthly life. Only our spiritual selves ascend to greater glory.
Given this information how does that impact how we should live while still in our physical selves? For me it means a life of trying to establish and maintain a connection with the spiritual world while still in this one. It means often thinking about relatives and loved ones who have gone on but are perhaps, in some way, still aware of us as they are in their heavenly new world. It is the spirit and faith of Abraham that God treasures. And we are descendants of that same spirit – we are truly kindred spirits to Abraham. We have a prayer in our Book of Common Prayer in the Easter Vigil that really speaks to this.
“Let us pray.
O God, whose wonderful deeds of old shine forth even to our own day, you once delivered by the power of your mighty arm your chosen people from slavery under Pharaoh, to be a sign for us of the salvation of all nations by the water of Baptism: Grant that all the peoples of the earth may be numbered among the offspring of Abraham, and rejoice in the inheritance of Israel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (BCP 289)
We Christians are among the offspring of Abraham, and the inheritance of Israel through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank You Lord Jesus.
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
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