7 July 08
Posted by gmashburn on July 7, 2008
Monday after Trinity VII
7 July 08
LECTIONARY READINGS
Morning Prayer: Psalm 75, 76; 1 Samuel 8:4-end; Luke 13:1-9
Evening Prayer: Psalm 73; Daniel 4:4-5, 10-18; Acts 22:30-23:11
REFLECTION
Today’s Gospel reading, found in Morning Prayer, speaks about the voices we hear around us that seem to say those who are killed in various ways must have been worse sinners than others of us. In our own times, we have heard these kinds of thoughts shared by some who lay the same claim regarding 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. Yet, the Gospel tells us we will all suffer in like manner if we do not repent of our sins.
In the parable that is told, there is a tree that bears no fruit. There is an order to cut it down, with a subsequent plea to wait until there is adequate time to fertilize this tree in hopes it will bear fruit. You and I, brothers and sisters, are called to be the ones who scatter the fertilizer of the loving and challenging Good News of Jesus Christ around our own cultural contexts, in prayerful hope that there will be those who will bear great fruit in their lives, in their neighbourhoods. It is about the expansion of the peaceable Kingdom of God that is established here and now.
Look around your own situation in life. Who are those people to whom you can live and give the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and action? In what ways might our Lord be calling you to be His eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and feet to those with whom you come into contact with. In what ways can you build relationships with these people and build trust, so that the Holy Spirit can come in and water those fertilized roots?
Fr. Greg
THE COLLECT FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SAINT OF THE DAY
Saints Cyril and Methodius, Bishops and Confessors (born and died in the 9th cent.)
These biological brothers were born in Thessaloniki. They grew up in very devout Christian families and sensed God’s call into ministry. They became missionaries to the Slavs, of which the great great Churches we see today in slavic nations are inheritors. They created the cyrilic alphabet, based upon the Greek alphabet, so that those to whom they minister to would be able to enjoy the Scriptures and tradition of the Church in their own language. These brothers have been proclaimed by the Church as “Equal to the Apostles,” and, “Apostles to the Slavs.”
COLLECT FOR STS CYRIL AND METHODIUS
Almighty and everlasting God, who, by thy blessed Confessors and Bishops, Cyril and Methodius, didst suffer the nations of Slavonia to come to the knowledge of thy Name: grant; that we, who glory in their festival; may hereafter be united to their fellowship in heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
