Thursday September 12 Pentecost 16
Click here for simplified daily office prayers
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.
Job 29.1, 31.1-23 What’s Job about?
In a surprisingly modern-sounding statement of justice, Job insists he has lived his life in deep respect and care for the vulnerable—women and the needy. He has never exploited anyone. So God has no right to bring this disaster upon him.
John 11.17-29 What’s John about?
Jesus has deliberately delayed his trip to the dying Lazarus so that Lazarus’ rising cannot be attributed to his just getting better. Jesus speaks of himself as the resurrection in the same words he used with the foreign woman of Samaria. Here Jesus is saying the same thing to observant Jews. Martha understands that the resurrection will happen in the distant future, but Jesus corrects her—his resurrection happens right now. John (the writer) understands that Jesus is our new life and that transformation is available to us regardless of external circumstances.
This week’s collect:
Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people,
that richly bearing the fruit of good works,
we may by you be richly rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Click here to share your thoughts on the web site.