Thursday October 28 Pentecost 22
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Psalm 59
People all around hunt me down, like dogs attacking, but I insist that God is on the side of the innocent.
We can apply the dramatic imagery not only to people, but to the policies and global forces that are destructive to societies and to the planet, and yet we insist that God’s goodness and justice is always present.
Psalm 60
God seems to have abandoned us, and we are being defeated even though God claimed for us the territory of all our tribes. We pray that God will turn things around and do great deeds through us.
This psalm can easily be applied to the threat of destruction of the planet in our day, but we will continue to insist that God’s goodness and care is supreme over all the forces of evil.
Nehemiah 1: 1-11 What’s Nehemiah about?
For the next two weeks we read about the restoration of Jerusalem as recounted by Nehemiah and and Ezra.
Nehemiah is a senior official to the king of Babylon. When he hears how the people of Jerusalem are suffering he is devastated and asks God for forgiveness for all he and the people have done to abandon the God of justice. He goes to the king who appoints him as governor of Jerusalem. Nehemiah understands this to be God’s generous faithfulness in making the rebuilding of the temple possible.
Matthew 13: 18-23 What’s Matthew about?
This is an interpretation of the parable about the sower and the seeds. Originally Jesus probably meant to use an obvious common experience (wonderful harvests happen even though most of the seeds which were planted never grow) to say that no matter how much opposition his followers, or the kingdom, encounters, God’s generous plenty always wins in the end. It is a very effective image. The explanation that each example has a special meaning was probably added later by an early Christian who thought Jesus had been explaining why some people followed him, and others didn’t. Matthew’s concern is that Christians be aware of the ways in which they may not be faithful.
This week’s collect:
Lord God our redeemer,
who heard the cry of your people
and sent your servant Moses
to lead them out of slavery,
free us from the tyranny of sin and death,
and by the leading of your Spirit
bring us to our promised land;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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