Feast of St. Bartholomew
[Go to Mission St Clare for an online version of the Daily Office including today’s scripture readings.]
Today’s Readings for the Daily Office:
Psalms 86 (morning) // 15, 67 (evening)
Genesis 28:7-10
John 1:43-51
The poetry of the Psalter found in the Book of Common Prayer gets something really right this morning. When the Psalmist asks for a whole heart that is connected to God, some translations use the image of a heart that has been split or torn: The Psalmist prays, “give me an undivided heart to revere your name,” or “unite my heart to fear thy name.” But the Prayer Book Psalter asks of God, “knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.
Knit my heart to you. Draw together what has unraveled. Turn me into something whole. Bind me to you, stich by stich, row by row. Knit my heart to yours, my God.
Our spiritual lives and our human relationships are like knitting projects. Sometimes, the work is slow and methodical. But the connections can be rich and deep, the results beautiful and warm. Our prayers today can add yet another connective stitch to our relationship with the heart of God, in a bond that does not tear easily if we assemble it day by day.
Lora Walsh blogs about taking risks and seeking grace at A Daily Scandal. She serves as Priest Associate of Grace Episcopal Church in Siloam Springs and assists with adult formation and campus ministry at St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, Arkansas.