Tuesday January 3 Christmas 1
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Psalm 68
A song of joy that God drives away evil and cares for the needy just as God rescued God’s people long ago from Egypt and drove out all the other kings so they could settle in the land God had promised. Can we cultivate the expectation that God will triumph over all the selfish international powers of our day?
The violent images part way through are a way of expressing how completely God’s goodness and justice will remove all evil and exploitative powers.
Genesis 28: 10-22 What’s Genesis about?
Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, is seeking a wife from his own people, and not from the ungodly Canaanites. On his journey to find a wife, Jacob receives a repetition of God’s promise of eternal commitment to Abraham’s descendants. God will ensure that Jacob finds a wife and the line will be carried on. Can we cultivate the awareness that God is offering us a glorious future on this planet if we are committed to God’s character of justice?
John 10.7-17 What’s John about?
In John’s account, Jesus now uses the images of a gate and a shepherd to present his relationship to us. He is the only gate, the only shepherd, through which full life is possible. Many other processes claim our loyalty, but all lead to dead ends. The only entrance to full life is through our loving—participating in God’s death and resurrection, in loving us.
This week’s collect:
Eternal Father,
we give thanks for your incarnate Son,
whose name is our salvation.
Plant in every heart, we pray,
the love of him who is the Saviour of the world,
our Lord Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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