9.27.13

Allow your soul to be flooded with the light of God's presence.

Psalm 146
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
   I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
   in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
   on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
   who executes justice for the oppressed;
   who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
   the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
   the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
   he upholds the orphan and the widow,
   but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign for ever,
   your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Proverbs 28:3-10
A ruler who oppresses the poor
   is a beating rain that leaves no food.
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
   but those who keep the law struggle against them.
The evil do not understand justice,
   but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
Better to be poor and walk in integrity
   than to be crooked in one’s ways even though rich.
Those who keep the law are wise children,
   but companions of gluttons shame their parents.
One who augments wealth by exorbitant interest
   gathers it for another who is kind to the poor.
When one will not listen to the law,
   even one’s prayers are an abomination.
Those who mislead the upright into evil ways
   will fall into pits of their own making,
   but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.

Silence

Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Silence

Collect
Saving God, you recognized in us the poverty of our souls and offered to us the richness of your mercy and grace.  Allow us to offer ourselves and our gifts as readily as you have, that more people would be touched and changed for your Kingdom.  In the name of Jesus Christ, who became the bridge to your new world in his self-sacrifice.  Amen.

Daily Activity:  Logical
Ponder this excerpt from Paul Tillich's The Shaking of the Foundations:
"And in the light of this grace we perceive the power of grace in our relation to ourselves. We experience moments in which we accept ourselves, because we feel that we have been accepted by that which is greater than we. If only more such moments were given to us! For it is such moments that make us love our life, that make us accept ourselves, not in our goodness and self-complacency, but in our certainty of the eternal meaning of our life. We cannot force ourselves to accept ourselves. We cannot compel anyone to accept himself. But sometimes it happens that we receive the power to say "yes" to ourselves, that peace enters into us and makes us whole, that self-hate and self-contempt disappear, and that our self is reunited with itself. Then we can say that grace has come upon us.

"Sin" and "grace" are strange words; but they are not strange things. We find them whenever we look into ourselves with searching eyes and longing hearts. They determine our life. They abound within us and in all of life. May grace more abound within us!"