Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 4th Week in Lent: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 95 and 102; Evening, Psalm 107:1-32 ;
Jeremiah 23:1 to 8; Romans 8:28 to 39; John 6:52 to 59:
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.” (Romans 8:29)
Just when I said Romans 8 was special, (yesterday), this happens today. I don’t buy the idea of predestination. I know Paul does, but I think it’s all Paul. And of course Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin and even some Christian denominations today have adopted this predestination theology. But not me, and I don’t think the Anglican Episcopal Church does either. Praise Jesus.
We have free will and an invitation to join our Lord Jesus in living the life of love and righteousness. But we are all free to accept it or reject it. I don’t believe all who do not accept Christianity are bad people. But then, I have seen some pretty bad people who profess to be Christian. God will sort us out. Christianity is a path to God. Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Christian path within the God believers. We tend to be who we choose to be for ourselves. God is watching. Our Lord Jesus, through whom all things came into the world, will judge us by our hearts and deeds like the sheep and goats beginning at Matthew 25:31. Note that it was the loving deeds of the sheep in the Matthew writing that saved them, not their professed faith. While I believe that Christianity is a dedicated life of loving service, I don’t believe God has predestined any of us to be such. But I think God would like us all to choose to be such.
Today we remember Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Leader (April 4, 1968), and his information may be found at: Martin Luther King
“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.
What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube
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: (For Guidance BCP p.832)
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
onewhoponders 