Dear all,
Given that most of us are snowed in - and church services were cancelled -
here are some suggestions for daily devotions and worship today.
The Book of Common Prayer offers these to be used by individuals and
families.
- Morning Prayer Rite I (page 37) or Evening Prayer Rite I (page 61)
- Morning Prayer Rite II (page 75 or Evening Prayer Rite II (page 115)
- Noonday Prayer (page 103)
- Compline (at the end of the day - page 127)
- Daily Devotions (pages 137-140)
The Lessons for today are:
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
Given that it is the 5 Sunday in Epiphany, the Collect for the Day is found
on page 216.
Another option - would be to use the Grace at Meals (page 835) as you sit
down to eat - either alone or with others - and take a few moments to thank
God for the all the blessings of your life. After all, when we gather for
Holy Eucharist, we are offering up our thanks to God for the gift of the
redeeming grace and new life brought to us in Jesus Christ. In your prayers
before and after a meal, you may ask God for strength, renewal, healing, or
whatever you or your loved ones need, to sustain you in your daily life.
I now offer a few words of reflection on this 5th Sunday of Epiphany.
Reflection:
In today's lessons from Isaiah and Luke, we are introduced to two of the
most influential people from our faith history. Isaiah and Peter.
Isaiah was the son of a priest and from a prominent family. When he had his
vision of the Lord and experienced his call to become a prophet, we hear how
he is afraid and feels utterly unworthy and incapable of the task. It is
only when God touches his heart, frees him from guilt, and forgives his
sins, that Isaiah is able to muster up the courage to accept his call with
the powerful words, "Here am I, send me."
Peter, in contrast to popular myth, was not a poor, illiterate fisherman. In
the town of Capernaum, he owned a fairly substantial home. He also owned a
fishing boat and so had a decent living. We know that he had enough assets
to not only support his wife and children, but also his mother-in-law. Like
Isaiah, when Jesus came to him, and he realized that God was calling him to
follow his Lord, he too felt afraid, utterly unworthy, and incapable of what
was being asked of him. It is Jesus' reassurance that he could indeed live
out his call and was capable of "catching people" - that Peter trusts and
obeys.
Often we feel like Isaiah and Peter. We feel afraid - that we are not good
enough, smart enough, or worthy enough, to follow our Lord and make a
difference in the lives of others, in the church, in our society, or in the
world. Most often it is because we have failed in some way in our past. We
have made a poor decision, we have hurt someone, we have been neglectful of
praying to God or offering our thankfulness by attending worship, or we
suffer from inferiority and poor self-esteem. And so like Isaiah or Peter,
when God comes to us and asks us to serve our first instinct is to say - "O
God, I'm a sinner. I can't possible do what you ask."
The truth is that God loves each of us enormously and unconditionally and
sees in us our greatest potential. No doubt Isaiah and Peter were not
perfect people either. They too experienced times of failure,
disappointment, self-indulgence, and certainly at times turned a blind eye
to those in need. And yet - God stilled called them and rejoiced when they
both accepted their mission in the world. One of the biggest stumbling
blocks to responding faithfully to the work God calls and needs each of us
to do - is holding onto our sense of unworthiness and the fear that we can't
do what God is asking of us.
In a way, feeling we are so unworthy of God's love or God's call to us to
serve, is a form of spiritual arrogance. It is the opposite side of the coin
of feeling superior and better than others. "I am so special that God loves
me more" - "I am so bad that God loves me less." Both of these keep us in a
distorted relationship with God and others. And it prevents us from getting
outside of ourselves - and offering ourselves in healthy and humble ways to
do God's work.
And so today - I invite you my friends - to know that God loves you and
believes in you and calls you to do good work in God's world. Let go of your
feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. God has touched your lives, freed
you from your guilt, liberated you from fear, and made you worthy so that
you may go forth and "catch people" with love, compassion, forgiveness,
charity, and new life. In essence, don't be afraid to respond boldly and
faithfully to God's call with the words - "Here am I, send me." When you
respond thus, God rejoices!
Take care all. Be safe, be warm, be well in this weather.
Joan+
