Week of Epiphany 1, Year One
[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 119:1-24 (morning) // 12, 13, 14 (evening)
Isaiah 41:1-16
Ephesians 2:1-10
Mark 1:29-45
It’s so easy over the course of a day, or over the course of a lifetime, to simply follow the course. But our second reading today associates the complacency and predictability of “following the course” with enslavement to evil powers and spirits. This passage from the letter to the Ephesians sharply contrasts the Christian life with the living death of “following the course of this world.”
How have you been lulled into conformity, banality, or submission? Day by day, year by year, major life event by major life event, we have many opportunities to choose to follow the course of the world or the way of Christ.
We don’t always notice these choices when we’re busy following routines, chasing trends, or meeting cultural expectations. Today, let’s pray that we’ll notice these opportunities when they arise. Instead of following the course of the world, let’s find some way to make a sharp turn or long detour. When we do, who knows what grace and freedom might break into our lives?
Lora Walsh blogs about taking risks and seeking grace at A Daily Scandal. She serves as curate of Grace Episcopal Church in Siloam Springs and as director of the Ark Fellows, an Episcopal Service Corps program sponsored by St. Paul’s in Fayetteville, Arkansas.