Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and 48;
Wisdom 3:1 to 9; Colossians 1:15 to 23; Luke 6:12 to 26:
“They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.” (Luke 6:18)
Hearing the Word of God in Christ Jesus is still healing today. Sometimes the little things we do to hear the word can be overlooked. The first three words we read is, “They had come.” It required them to walk to the place where the word was spoken, where Jesus was.
So many people today have stopped coming to Church. Maybe the practice of not going to Church was started during the Covid pandemic. But whatever the reason, high-tech face time through computer websites; or plain laziness, many people who believe in God in Christ Jesus, have not come to hear his words and be cured of their unclean spirits. As with every healing or miracle that Jesus performed, it required some effort on the part of the one receiving it. We need to realize and appreciate the value of Church and go.
A long time ago, in the desert of Saudi Arabia, a few of us Marines would gather together while waiting for our Baptist Chaplain to come and hold a service. And while I was, and am, an Episcopalian, any service will do in a Desert Storm. On one such occasion one of my junior Marines asks me, “Gunny, why do you come to Church?” I answered, “Because it’s Sunday.” It was no time to give a theological explanation, and I was probably not equipped to do so back then. I just wanted the young man to know that attending a Church service was one of the many good habits that made me successful in the Marine Corps and in life. Maybe hearing my words was healing for him.
We are people of the Word. We were made to hear and believe and follow. We were also made to be physically with each other.
Today we remember Frances Perkins, Public Servant and Prophetic Witness, 1965, and her information may be found at: Frances Perkins
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 the Church (BCP p. 816)
Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen.
onewhoponders 