Tuesday • 5/16/2023 •
Week of 6 Easter
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 78; Deuteronomy 8:11–20; James 1:16–27; Luke 11:1–13
This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90);following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This is Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter, and we are in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Deuteronomy: Moses’s warning. Here is one grave cautionary note: “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:12–14a).
Temptations of the wilderness are one thing. Temptations that come with the Promised Land are another. The latter are not lesser than the former, just different—and no less deadly. It is a risky thing for the Lord to prosper us. It’s all too easy for us to take the credit and forget who got us to where we are.
A feeling of entitlement is a malady to which those of us in the prosperous Western democracies are especially susceptible.
Moses’s warning is good for us. As is James’s:
James’s warning. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers (and sisters, understood”—James 1:16). It’s a good thing, it seems to me, that the versifiers of the New Testament set these few words off on their own—almost as a standalone thought. They make us stop and wonder. Where might my thinking be upside down? How might I be confused about my actual circumstances? How might I be misreading my own heart? How might God’s face have gotten distorted in the muddle of life?
James follows with two of the most soul-centering, spirit-settling, positively attitude-adjusting thoughts in all the Bible:
God gives good gifts. “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:16–17). There’s no good thing we experience that is not worth a hearty and humble “Thank you.” There’s not a trace of whim or caprice in the mysterious mind of God. Wherever we are, whatever we are going through, we can be sure that a benevolent hand is in control. When he blesses us, it’s not to lure us into forgetting him. When he sends us into the wilderness, it’s not because he’s forgotten us or has abandoned us. He does not change his mind about his ultimately kind intentions toward his children, even if his mercies can be, for a time, severe (with a nod to Sheldon Vanauken), or if, as does also happen, his gifts seem to be almost too lavish. Always, the way to avoid self-deception is to give thanks.
God makes everything new. “In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). God himself has stepped into a weary and sin-sick world with power to renew, and with resolve to bring life out of death. Which is why we pray on Good Friday, at the Easter Vigil, and at every ordination: “… by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord…” (BCP, pp. 280, 291, 525, 528, 540).
Among those things that were cast down and are being raised up, that had grown old and are being made new, and that are now being brought to perfection are our very selves! We, as James says, are here to be vanguard (“a kind of first fruits”) of God’s new creation. That is profound truth of which we cannot remind ourselves enough! So, the first order of thanks is this: “Thank you, generous and gracious Lord, for raising me up, for making me new, and for putting me on the pathway to Christlikeness.”
Jesus’s dual approach to prayer. Back-to-back Jesus gives us a pattern for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer, and then the exhortation to persist in asking, searching, and knocking. Jesus’s recipe for prayer is both patterned and persistent. Prayer that is just patterned can become rote. Prayer that is just persistent can become rambling and off-point.
May the Lord’s Prayer focus our priorities around God’s own: the holiness of God’s name and the priority of his Kingdom (“Father, hallowed by your name; let your Kingdom come”); our daily dependence upon him for sustenance and all necessities of life (“give us this day our daily bread”); our constant need to keep our relational slate clean of grievances and offenses (“forgive us as we forgive others”); and our engagement in spiritual conflict (“lead us not into temptation”).
May the Lord’s call for persistence keep us on our knees in quest, always, of the Father’s face and the presence and power of the Spirit of his Son in our lives: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+