Friday October 18 Pentecost 21
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Psalm 16
I have been loyal to the God of justice, save me from the grave and I will have joy.
Psalm 17
I am innocent, but the evil people surround me-save me and I will be fulfilled.
Both these psalms are appropriate for Fridays, the weekly mini-anniversary of the crucifixion and both conclude with hope for new life.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 1.1-10, 18-27 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
The book consists mostly of a series of short wise admonitions about how to live well, and is the longest book of this type to survive from the ancient world. It was written about 200 years before Jesus while the Greek empire controlled Israel and reflects the discovery by Jews outside Israel that other cultures, such as the Greek, had traditions of knowing God which were worthy of respect. This created a problem: How could it be that non-Jews, who did not know the true God, had deep experiences of how to live a life with integrity? The answer they devised was that God has a semi-divine female partner, whom they called “Wisdom”. Wisdom (or “Sophia” in Greek) participated in the creation of the universe and so is available to guide all people regardless of their faith.
This image, of Wisdom as a semi-divine being, influenced early Christian thinking about Jesus being present at creation (as the Logos-the fundamental organizing principle of the cosmos) as well as providing ideas which were developed into the Holy Spirit.
Luke 9.28-36 What’s Luke about?
Immediately after speaking unequivocally about the necessity of his being executed by torture, Jesus appears to three of his disciples in the transfiguration. This may be an anticipation of a resurrection experience, but in the middle of this gospel assures us that God’s kingdom is indeed emerging. “On the eighth day…” may indicate the early Christian association of the day of resurrection with the first day of the week.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
in our baptism you adopted us for your own.
Quicken, we pray, your Spirit within us,
that we, being renewed both in body and mind,
may worship you in sincerity and truth;
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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