Verse for the week: For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— Ephesians 5.8
Prayer for the week: “Lord God, whose strength is sufficient for all who lay hold on it, grant us in you to comfort our hearts and be strong. Humility, meekness, temperance, purity, largeheartedness, sympathy, zeal – grant us these evidences of faith, servants of hope, fruits of love; for the sake of Jesus Christ, our strength, our righteousness, and our hope of glory. Amen. (Christina Rossetti, quoted in Fox, A Chain of Prayer, p.161).
Bible reading for the day: Romans 10.21-11.36 (The heart of Paul’s letter is the doctrine of election. We read here an excerpt from Paul’s larger, compassionate argument for God’s grace… grace even though some of his own beloved people are disobedient and reject the very grace that saves.)
21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have
held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
11.1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I
myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of
Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom
he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he
appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have
killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left,
and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply
to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the
knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there
is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is
by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no
longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect
obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as
it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means!
Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to
make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means
riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how
much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle
to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order
somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For
if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their
acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the
dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is
holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a
wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the
nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not
be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support
the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then
you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That
is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand
fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.21 For
if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note
then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have
fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.
Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even
they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God
has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you
were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to
nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural
branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of
this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon
Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And
in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election,
they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For
the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For
just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received
mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too
have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may
now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned
all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him
be glory forever. Amen.
Prayer (based on TRIP* method): Gracious and almighty Father thank you for your vast, eternal yet timely, particular plan for the salvation of those whom you have chosen. Thank you! Repent me and my brothers and sisters of our prideful myopia, of only considering ourselves and our present reality, of only reading part of your book… these only make us wise in our own sight. Oh the rich depths of your wisdom and knowledge Lord, oh your inscrutable judgments and way. Prune and graft away Lord… for the fullness of your kingdom; to you be the glory forever in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hymn: here’s one of those beloved hymns that no longer makes “the cut.” It’s too hard to sing and in a minor key no less… but it sings the mystery of God’s love for us: “O Lord, how deep, how broad, how high your love for us; how passing, fleeting are our thought and fantasy…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMgjUwl_Oig&ab_channel=TrinityChurchSwarthmore
“Thy kingdom come…”
What does this mean? The kingdom of God comes indeed by itself, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may also come to us.
How is this done? God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy Word and live a godly life now and in eternity. (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther ©Reclaim Resources, Sola Publishing, 2011)
Benediction: And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you this day. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. (I Pet 5:10)
T: thanksgiving
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