Devotion for Friday and Saturday Before Proper 18, Year C (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:   Creek in Desert

Image in the Public Domain

A Faithful Response

SEPTEMBER 2 and 3, 2022

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The Collect:

Direct us, O Lord God, in all our doings by your continual help,

that all our works, begun, continued, and ended in you,

may glorify your holy name; and finally, by your mercy,

bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 47

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The Assigned Readings:

Deuteronomy 7:12-26 (Friday)

Deuteronomy 29:2-20 (Saturday)

Psalm 1 (Both Days)

Colossians 4:7-17 (Friday)

Matthew 10:34-42 (Saturday)

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Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,

nor lingered in the seat of sinners,

nor sat in the seats of the scornful.

–Psalm 1:1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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As I indicated in the previous post, Psalm 1 is overly optimistic.  It is also in the company of many passages of the Hebrew Bible, such as our reading from Deuteronomy 7.  “Obey God and prosper,” they say.  Deuteronomy 29 is correct to remind people of God’s mighty acts.  Such grace requires a faithful response, does it not?  And, in the long view, the good prosper and the wicked perish in the end.  In the meantime, however, we still read of the righteous Job suffering (Job 1 and 2), the persecution of the righteous (Matthew 10:16ff), and the query of the martyrs in heaven, who want to know how long until God avenges them (Revelation 6:10).

If St. Paul the Apostle wrote or dictated the Letter to the Colossians, he produced the document in prison.  Regardless of the reality of the question of authorship, the advice for Archippus applies to all of us:

See that you carry out the duty entrusted to you in the Lord’s service.

–Colossians 4:17b, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Grace does, after all, require a faithful response.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 18, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN I, BISHOP OF ROME

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/a-faithful-response/

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