Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born this day, January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He was the thirty-second President of the United States, serving over 12 years, longer then any other President. He saw America through the Great Depression and World War II. In a 1935 radio broadcast, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared: “We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic…. [W]here we have been the… most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity.”

William J. Federer. American Minute

… the greatest spiritual privileges
may be neutralized by the indulgence
of one illicit passion,
and the life that is lived in the face of the unclouded sun
may set at last in the night of despair.
--- J.B. Lightfoot


At the cross God wrapped his heart in flesh and blood
and let it be nailed to the cross for our redemption.
--- E. Stanley Jones

... from here, there and everywhere

20     My son, obey your father’s command,
and don’t abandon your mother’s teaching.
21     Bind them always on your heart,
tie them around your neck.
22     When you walk, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
and when you wake up, they will talk with you.
23     For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light,
and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                The dilemma of obedience

     And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision. --- 1 Samuel 3:15.

     God seldom speaks to us in startling ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand, and we say, ‘I wonder if that is God’s voice?’ Isaiah said that the Lord spake to him “with a strong hand,” that is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing touches our lives but it is God Himself speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere occurrence?

     Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord”; make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place of saying, “Speak, Lord.” Recall the time when God did speak to you. Have you forgotten what He said? Was it Luke 11:13, or was it 1 Thess. 5:23? As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus, we shall hear God all the time.

Luke 11:13     If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spiritf to those who ask him!”

1 Thess. 5:23     May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept soundf and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

     Shall I tell my ‘Eli’ what God has shown to me? That is where the dilemma of obedience comes in. We disobey God by becoming amateur providences — I must shield ‘Eli’, the best people we know. God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli; he had to decide that for himself. God’s call to you may hurt your ‘Eli’; but if you try to prevent the suffering in another life, it will prove an obstruction between your soul and God. It is at your own peril that you prevent the cutting off of the right hand or the plucking out of the eye.

     Never ask the advice of another about anything God makes you decide before Him. If you ask advice, you will nearly always side with Satan: “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

The wheel revolves
          to bring round the hour
for this one to return to the darkness
and be born again on a chill
          doorstep, and have the blood washed
from his eyes and his hands
          made clean for the re-building

of the city. While for this one
          it revolves to make the tanks
          stronger the aeroplanes faster.

The scholar bends over
his book and the sage his navel
          to enter the labyrinthine
mind and find at the centre the axis
on which it spins. But for the one
          who is homeless
there is only the tree with the body
     on it, eternally convulsed
by the shock of its contact
with the exposed nerve of love.

The Poems of R.S. Thomas , (Fayettesville: University of Arkansas Press), 1985

     Jacob encounters Jacob

     There are two important lessons in the story of Jacob and Esau. I don’t have to take Jacob’s road to blessing. Instead, I can trust God and commit myself to do the right thing at all times. Truth, not lies, will serve me far better. God’s will still will be done, and I’ll be able to live in harmony with those around me. How great it is to shrug off all sense of pressure and to commit my way to God, confident that as I daily do His will, His good purposes will be performed.

     Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 28:10–15). Afraid that his brother would kill him, Jacob fled to his mother’s relatives in Haran. On the way, alone and at night, he lay down in the dirt with only a stone for a pillow. How Jacob must have missed his family then. How alone and frightened he must have felt. But there God appeared to him, and confirmed the transmission of the covenant promises. And God added a personal word for Jacob: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

     I have noticed many people are one way when they are around others and another when they are alone. I am too. What is with the need to be stimulated? Why do we have to watch something, hear something, do something? I fight the urge to always be moving, although I do enjoy pacing. Sometimes isn't it good to just try to be still?

     Jacob had no choice; no cell phone, no ipad, not even a radio. In an unstimulated state we encounter ourselves and sometimes God. Is this why we try and do anything rather than being still?

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The Teacher's Commentary (323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

     Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
--- 1 Corinthians 13:13.

     Isn’t life full of opportunities for learning love? (The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10 ) Every man and woman every day has a thousand of them. The world is not a playground; it is a schoolroom. If people do not exercise their arms they develop no biceps muscles; if they do not exercise their souls, they acquire no muscle in the soul, no strength of character, no vigor of moral fiber nor beauty of spiritual growth. Love is not a thing of enthusiastic emotion. It is a rich, strong, vigorous expression of the whole, round Christian character—the Christlike nature in its fullest development. And the constituents of this great character are only to be built up by ceaseless practice.

     Paul’s reason for singling out love as the supreme possession is this: it lasts. “Love,” urges Paul, “never fails.”

     Some think the time may come when two of these three things will also pass away—faith into sight, hope into fruition. Paul does not say so. But what is certain is that love must last. God, the eternal God, is love. Covet therefore that everlasting gift, that one thing which it is certain is going to stand, that one coinage that will be current in the universe when all the other coinages of the nations of the world will be useless and unhonored. You will give yourselves to many things—give yourselves to love. Let at least the first great object of our lives be to achieve the character—and it is the character of Christ—that is built around love.

     How many of you will join me in reading this chapter once a week for the next three months? You might begin by reading it every day. Get these ingredients into your life. Then everything that you do is eternal. It is worth doing. It is worth giving time to.

     It is the Son of Man before whom the nations of the world shall be gathered. It is in the presence of humanity that we shall be charged. And the spectacle itself, the mere sight of it, will silently judge each one. Be not deceived. The words that all of us shall one day hear sound not of theology but of life, not of churches and saints but of the hungry and the poor, not of creeds and doctrines but of shelter and clothing, not of Bibles and prayer books but of cups of cold water in the name of Christ. Everyone who loves is born of God.
--- Henry Drummond

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     During the 1970s, vast numbers of Christians were among those who perished violently in Uganda, the “Pearl of Africa.” But they weren’t the first. The decade of the 1870s, a full century before Idi Amin, also extracted the church’s blood.

     Henry Stanley, Livingstone’s convert and biographer, was the first to reach Uganda. When he showed his Bible to King Mutesa, the chieftain told him the Muslims had also brought a book, the Koran. “How do we know which is better?” he asked. “I am like a man in darkness. All I ask is that I be taught how to see.”

     Stanley published Mutesa’s words in London’s Daily Telegraph, adding, “Oh, that some pious, practical missionary would come. What a harvest ripe for the sickle.” His plea aroused such passion that the Church Missionary Society soon appointed a 27-year-old Scottish bachelor, Alexander Mackay, to lead a party of eight to Uganda. Mackay did not go blindly. “Is it likely that eight Englishmen should start for Central Africa and all be alive six months after?” he asked. “One of us at least will surely fall. When the news comes, do not be cast down, but send someone else immediately to take the vacant place.”

     Mackay himself was injured in a wagon accident in Zanzibar. Two others defected. Another was murdered. Another contracted fever. The remaining three set out from Zanzibar to Uganda.

     On January 30, 1877, they reached Mutesa’s court, but two of the three were soon killed, leaving C. T. Wilson to begin Sunday services alone. Mackay soon joined him, and the two labored for years before baptizing their first convert.

     Just as their work was accelerating, Mutesa was succeeded by his son, a cruel teenager who promptly tortured a group of Mackay’s younger converts for refusing his demands. Mackay survived the tyrant’s threats only to die of malaria while translating the Gospel of John. He was 40.

     But his efforts were not wasted. The church grew faster than it perished and became one of Africa’s strongest.

     If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don’t belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and that is why its people hate you. Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master. So if people mistreat me, they will mistreat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say.
--- John 15:19,20.

Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK AFTER EPIPHANY
YEAR 2

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 56, 57 (58)
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 64, 65
Old Testament Genesis 19:1–17 (18–23) 24–29
New Testament Hebrews 11:1–12
Gospel John 6:27–40

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 56, 57 (58)

To the leader: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. Of David. A Miktam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

1 Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me;
all day long foes oppress me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many fight against me.
O Most High, 3 when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid;
what can flesh do to me?

5 All day long they seek to injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps.
As they hoped to have my life,
7 so repay them for their crime;
in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will retreat
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?

12 My vows to you I must perform, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death,
and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
until the destroying storms pass by.
2 I cry to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me,
he will put to shame those who trample on me. Selah
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.

4 I lie down among lions
that greedily devour human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongues sharp swords.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.

6 They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
7 My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn.
9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
10 For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.

[ To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam.

1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge people fairly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.

3 The wicked go astray from the womb;
they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.

6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10 The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.” ]

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 64, 65

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes?
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.”
For the human heart and mind are deep.

7 But God will shoot his arrow at them;
they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.

10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.

To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
2 O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
6 By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
7 You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis 19:1–17 (18–23) 24–29

19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; 5 and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. 10 But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”

[ 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19 your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. 20 Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.]

24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

NEW TESTAMENT
Hebrews 11:1–12

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

GOSPEL
John 6:27–40

27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary