Above: Martin Luther
Image in the Public Domain
The Surprises and Faithfulness of God
AUGUST 3-5, 2023
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The Collect:
Glorious God, your generosity waters the world with goodness,
and you cover creation with abundance.
Awaken in us a hunger for the food that satisfies both body and spirit,
and with this food fill all the starving world,
through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 43
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The Assigned Readings:
Proverbs 10:1-5 (Thursday)
Isaiah 51:17-23 (Friday)
Isaiah 44:1-5 (Saturday)
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 (All Days)
Philippians 4:10-15 (Thursday)
Romans 9:6-13 (Friday)
Matthew 7:7-11 (Saturday)
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The LORD is faithful in all his words
and merciful in his deeds.
–Psalm 145:14, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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The faithfulness of God was among the theological emphases of Martin Luther. That point, an excellent one, unifies the assigned readings for these days.
God is full of surprises from human perspectives. God works outside of human traditions–such as primogeniture–much of the time. Even repentant prostitutes and collaborators with the Roman Empire preceded certain respectable religious people into Heaven, according to Jesus. We desire cheap grace, that forgives our sins yet requires nothing of us. Yet we receive free grace, that which we cannot buy yet which requires much of us. It is therefore free yet costly. It cost St. Paul the Apostle a life of comfort inside the religious establishment then cost him his life. This grace, which does not remove the temporal consequences of sin, waits for us nevertheless at the end of punishment.
Sometimes we mere mortals are God’s chosen channels and vehicles of grace. May we be the best and most faithful such channels and vehicles possible, by grace. (Everything seems to come back to grace.) If we fail in this function, the consequences to others can be severe. Proverbs 10:4 (The New Revised Standard Version, 1989) reads:
A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
This is not always true. Had the author of that verse not heard of the working poor and the idle rich? Most people in Palestine in antiquity were peasants, but not lazy individuals. The masses were poor, the upper class constituted a minority, and the middle class was scarce or absent. Structural barriers to upward mobility remain in our world. They are, fortunately, not as intense in some places as in others, but their continued existence is sinful.
How will God surprise us next? The divine call to all of us will differ in details. Some of us ought to oppose social structures of injustice as our primary vocation, functioning as thorns in the sides of powerful and dangerous people. St. Paul thought that Jesus would return within his lifetime, so he left reforming society to God. That was about two thousand years ago, so I propose that this work is a legitimate calling from God. Others of us will have different assignments to complete. There is plenty to do. May each of us listen attentively for our instructions then obey them. When we do that, what potential might God unlock in us and in those around us, those to whom God sends us, and those whom God sends to us? May we discover the answer to that question, by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 14, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BASIL THE GREAT, FATHER OF EASTERN MONASTICISM
THE FEAST OF DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD GURNEY, ENGLISH POET AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT METHODIUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCH
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This is Post #600 of ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS.
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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