Daily Office Readings for Monday of Proper 8: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 106:1-18; Evening, Psalm 106:19-48:
1 Samuel 10:17-27; Acts 7:44-8:1a; Luke 22:52-62
“Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!” (Luke 22 52 – 53)
Jesus has done no criminal offence and yet the religious authorities come to arrest him. Many God centered people since this time have been killed because of their beliefs, especially when such beliefs undermine and threaten the comfort and power of those in charge, the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders.
I am very glad to be able to live in a country that insists on religious freedom including the right to be non religious if we so choose. We are not a theocracy. However, we still have a ways to go in not persecuting people whose beliefs differ from main stream religious persecutors. Many such beliefs have to do with sexual orientation and issues around the subject of abortion. Also there are concerns around the death penalty and war itself.
I continue to follow a path that asks the question “how is love and compassion informing me.” It’s not always what you might think. Love asks questions like “who needs protection?” Love asks questions like “what is the likely outcome if I do nothing?” What’s at stake? As I look around the table at my children and myself, who are the ones in need but perhaps say nothing? I am old enough now to say that all people in their fifties and below are my children (and grandchildren) as well as (hopefully) my friends. It doesn’t matter if they don’t get along with each other or with me. It doesn’t matter if they speak my language or if they can speak at all, they are my children and my friends. I may be called into a conflict with them, or forgive them for some mistaken deed, or just accept them the way God made them. They are my child-friends.
We should not come out after our child-friends with hate like the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders as if they were bandits. They should be in the temple of our hearts. How does love and compassion inform us about how we should treat those with whom we do not agree? Let us not let the power of darkness gain control of our actions but rather let us follow what love and compassion asks us to do. Find someone twenty or more years younger than you and adopt them as your child-friend, the more different they are from you, the better.
Today we remember Saints Peter and Paul (Transferred from June 29) and their information may be found at: St. Peter and St. Paul.
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: (Remembering Saint Peter and Saint Paul June 29: BCP p. 241)
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
onewhoponders 