Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the Last Week of Epiphany: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 26 and 28; Evening, Psalms 36 and 39:
Deuteronomy 6:16-25; Hebrews 2:1-10; John 1:19-28:
“Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1)
Hearing the Word is so important to living faithful lives. We are blessed in our Church to weekly hear lessons from the Hebrew Testament, a Psalm or part of a Psalm, a New Testament reading and Words from the Gospel of Jesus. We also hear a reflection on the words heard in a homily.
But our hearing is more than just this opening of our service. We hear each other together as we pronounce what we believe in the words of the Creed. In the same way we hear our collective selves pray to God for the welfare of our families, our church and clergy, our nation, for the sick and those who have passed. We hear all of our voices coming together and going to God in hope.
We also hear ourselves confess that we have done some wrong things and left some good works undone. All of us have done this, or not done this. We say it together, and we hear it together.
It is important to remember what the writer to the Hebrews says, “we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” And while not everyone can hear, the deaf, who can’t hear, live with us who can hear. They benefit and learn from us who can hear as we behave accordingly. What we hear in our church service must be practiced in our everyday lives, at home and away, Monday back to Sunday again. Weekly listening leads to loving lives. To drift away is to lose the hope of holding on to the life God wants for us.
God speaks to us through us. God has one mouth, Jesus, we have two ears so that we can double hear what God is saying as the Psalmist says, “Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God, and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.” (Psalm 62:11 NRSV)
So Lent is the time in the Church year for people who have fallen away from the sound of the Word to come back within earshot of the Word. But like the Hebrews preacher says, for those of us who have been regular listeners to not just let what we’ve been hearing to become mundane but rather, “we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Almighty God, our eternal heavenly Father, You have been made known to us in mouth-to-ear by words of faith and hope and love. Continue to us Your life giving words in all of our various languages in order that the whole human race, being attentive listeners, may be truly be one in You and You in us. Amen.
onewhoponders 