Week of Proper 26, Year Two
[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 72 (morning) // 119:73-96 (evening)
Ecclesiasticus 43:23-33
Revelation 16:1-11
Luke 13:10-17
Last night I was with a group recalling some of the places that have given us glimpses of the sacred. Our stories included everything from majestic cathedrals to groves of giant sequoias. I revisited some of the wondrous places I’ve been able to see, and I remembered that there are so many places I haven’t seen with my own eyes.
The author of today’s first reading is also aware of God the creator and of his own limited view of creation. God has “made all things,” and “by his word all things hold together.” But, like many people, the writer says, “I have seen but a few of his works.” He depends on sea travelers to tell him about islands and about “strange and marvelous creatures.” When people return from their voyages with stories of new lands and sea-monsters, “we marvel at what we hear.”
For this author, our capacity to praise God seems closely connected to the works of God that we have seen and heard about. Can we open our eyes, or at least our ears, to the strange and marvelous today? Our ventures and voyages throughout creation can bring us one step closer to God’s wisdom and glory, even though we’ll never see it all. In any case: “Glorify the Lord and exalt him as much as you can, for he surpasses even that.”
Lora Walsh blogs about the Daily Office readings 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.