OCTOBER 19-25, 2020
Below are our lectionary passages for this week in the Church calendar. For those unfamiliar, the lectionary is a resource that churches all over the world use to consistently and uniformly read through the scriptures every week as we gather for worship. The lectionary passages typically consist of a combination of Old Testament readings, a Psalm, a New Testament letter, and a Gospel reading.
We dwell on these passages throughout the week so that when we gather together on Sunday we may proclaim these truths together in worship. We encourage you to find some rhythm of reading and meditating on these passages throughout the course of the week, whether that’s reading through all of the passages daily or reading a single passage a day until you’ve read them all. We have included below some commentary and thought for guided prayer and reflection.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. - Psalm 119:105
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12 (click here for passage)
This week’s first reading ends our narrative journey with Moses as Israel’s leader and prophet. We began this story with the birth and deliverance of Moses from the tyranny of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Throughout the story of Moses we have witnessed recurring themes. A primary one, of course, being deliverance. From infancy Moses was reliant on the faithfulness of God to be his deliverance. Another theme that we have seen is one that carries over from the leaders of Israel before Moses including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that theme being promise and covenant. Both God and Moses covenant themselves to their people and one another in inseparable ways. Again, we see the faithfulness of God and the righteousness of Moses as prophet and intercessor for the people of Israel. But finally, in this passage the time of Moses’ leadership comes to a close and he dies. But interestingly, he dies still on the outside looking in at the land of promise. God says to Moses, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’’; I have let you see it with your eyes but you shall not cross over there.” Moses, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before him dies without seeing the promise come to fruition. How then are we to understand the promise? What does righteousness count for when you don’t get to see the promise manifested? Verse ten tells us that “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” In a real sense Moses didn’t get to see the land that had been promised to the people of Israel. But the land seems more of a byproduct of an intimate relationship with God than it does the end goal. Primary to Moses wasn’t enjoying life in the promised land, otherwise this would be a tragic story indeed! Rather, covenanted, intimate relationship with God is what Moses seemed primarily interested in and because of that intimate relationship the people of Israel were moved closer to the promise. The beauty of the life of Moses is the mutual faithfulness between he and God
Maybe in your devotional time this week you would flip back through the pages of the life of Moses and dwell on these themes of deliverance, covenant, righteousness, and faithfulness.
PSALM 90:1-6, 13-17 (click here for passage)
Our Psalm reading this week is the only Psalm that is attributed to Moses, whether he was actually the author of it or if it was written in the Mosaic tradition as the Israelite community reflected on the life and intercession of Moses. It’s appropriate that we should come to this Psalm in conversation with our first reading in Deuteronomy as the content of Psalm 90 reflects on the frailty of human life. In it, human mortality is contrasted with God’s eternity. This may seem like a bleak outlook but I would argue that the entire passage hinges on verse twelve, “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” It’s hard to be grateful for that which you take for granted and we’re reminded in this passage that life as we experience it now is a gift; one that, in this form, will one day end. Of course, we live in the confident hope of new creation and eternity with God in redeemed bodies and with redeemed creation but in this middle period, we are reminded that life is a gift and that our days are numbered. The fact that we are alive right now at this particular moment, experiencing the things that we are experiencing, is a miracle! As we head in to autumn, think about the changing of the colors, the smells of fall, the cool crisp October mornings. It’s conceivable that there is a world where there is no flavor or color, but intrinsic in God’s creation is the outpouring of His love manifested in reality as we experience it. With all of the troubles that we may experience we are also reminded that God’s grace is everywhere, woven into the fabric of reality and the miracle of it all is that we are alive and experiencing it right now in this moment.
It is a sobering thing to think of our own frailty and mortality but it also lends perspective to the miracle of God’s grace around us. Think about the things in your life that are full of beauty and allow your prayer time to be shaped by your gratitude for how you are experiencing God in those graces.
1 THESSALONIANS 2:1-8 (click here for passage)
Our epistle reading this week comes from Paul to the church in Thessalonica. As we had mentioned last week, the occasion for Paul's writing is to encourage the Thessalonian Christians in the development of the church there. One of the verses in this passage that I find to be most compelling is the final verse, verse 8, “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.” You get the sense that sharing the gospel requires something more than just merely the transaction of knowledge, but rather, it is sharing life together. To share the gospel is to share oneself. If the good news is that God through Christ made himself available and accessible to us, then in turn our response is to make ourselves available and accessible to others in relationship.
MATTHEW 22:34-46 (click here for passage)
In our final reading for the week from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is approached by a Pharisee that is trained in the law and, intending to discredit Jesus, asks him “which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus’ response not only validates his authority and mastery of the law but also sums up the heart of the law and the prophets. He says, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” In synthesizing two ancient Judaic tenets, Jesus essentially summarizes the heart of what it is to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God; love for God, neighbor and self.
What does it mean to love our neighbors as ourselves? Of course I think this passage challenges us to be kinder to our neighbors but maybe it’s challenging us to be kinder to ourselves as well; to treat our bodies with respect and care for ourselves as if we are someone worth taking care of.
REFLECTION
Our lectionary readings this week don’t have an immediately strong central theme that runs throughout but they do challenge us to introspection. In our first reading from Deuteronomy we are challenged by the death of Moses to dwell on what it means to be people of the promise. Moses never got to experience the Promised land, yet, he knew and walked with God. In our Psalm reading we are reminded of the frailty and fragility of life and yet how the beauty of life points to God’s grace and the promise of eternal intimacy in God. Paul, in his encouragement to the Thessalonians, reminds us that the good news is relationship; relationship with God and relationship with one another. And finally in our gospel reading, Jesus orders how it is that we ought to love God, one another, and ourselves. The kingdom of God calls us to a fundamentally different ethic than that of the world and it’s in readings like these that our prayer ought to be for the Spirit of God to shape and form us into His likeness.
As you dwell and meditate on these scriptures, would they also inform your prayer life. Might these scriptures of the revelation of the Triune God shape how you experience and interact with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As a church we also support many local, domestic and international ministries that are serving as the hands and feet of Christ. Not only do we support these Faith Promise Partners financially, we have also committed to supporting them in prayer. This week, would you be in prayer for Soldiers of Honor, a local boxing gym that is working with the youth of Lima to provide meaningful activity and guidance.
For more information on our Faith Promise partners, click here.