Remember the sabbath day...

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:  Isaiah 56.1-8 (note: Our forebears’ neglect of the Sabbath and thus of their neighbor landed them in nearly 50 years of exile in Babylon, 587-539 BC. Now the Lord is restoring them and giving them a fresh start.)

¹ Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my righteousness be revealed.
² Blessed is the man who does this,
    and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³ Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
⁴ For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
⁵ I will give in my house and within my walls
    a monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.

 

⁶ “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
⁸ The Lord God,
    who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”

Prayer (based on TRIP* method):  Gracious and almighty Father thank you for putting yourself, your living Word at the heart of our lives. Repent me and your church of the deadly, deadly trap of forsaking you, forsaking the Sabbath.  Each day, and each Sabbath, draw me and my brothers & sisters to you…that we may gladly hear and learn your word, that we may reach out to foreigners and welcome them into fellowship… that together we may be built into your house of prayer.  I ask this in the name of the one who is your Living Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Third Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”

What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not despise his Word and the preaching of it, but acknowledge it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it. (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)  

 

*The T.R.I.P. approach to prayer is based on the way Martin Luther prayed and taught others to pray.  It was later developed by Walter and Ingrid Trobisch and then adapted by Mount Carmel Ministries (Alexandria, MN).  The method is founded on scripture and easy to remember:
T: thanksgiving
R: regret (repentance)
I: intercession (asking God to take a specific action)
P: plan or purpose
Reading a biblical text and then applying this method gives one a sound, simple way to form one’s prayers...not to mention that it helps one learn how to faithfully reflect on God’s Word and talk to God.