He became the 13th President when President Zachary Taylor died unexpectedly. He sent Commodore Perry to Japan and admitted California, which had just begun the Gold Rush, into the Union. His name was Millard Fillmore and he was born this day, January 7, 1800. When the Library of Congress caught fire, he and his Cabinet formed a bucket brigade to extinguish the flames. Millard Fillmore stated: “On commencing my Presidential career, I found the Sabbath had frequently been employed… for private interviews with the President…. To… end to this [I] ordered my doorkeeper to meet all Sunday visitors with an indiscriminate refusal.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

William J. Federer. American Minute

In reference to the Bible,

"That book, Sir, is the Rock
upon which our republic rests."
--- President Andrew Jackson


Praise is the best diet for us,
after all.
--- Sydney Smith (19th century English author and Anglican clergyman

... from here, there and everywhere

12     They will save you from the way of evil
and from those who speak deceitfully,
13     who leave the paths of honesty
to walk the ways of darkness,
14     who delight in doing evil
and take joy in being stubbornly deceitful,
15     from those whose tracks are twisted
and whose paths are perverse.

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.

                Intimate with Jesus

     Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known Me? --- John 14:9.

     These words are not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus is leading Philip on. The last One with whom we get intimate is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One Who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18–20 ). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come—“I have called you friends.” Friendship is rare on earth. It means identity in thought and heart and spirit. The whole discipline of life is to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His word, but do we know Him?

     Jesus said—“It is expedient for you that I go away”—in that relationship, so that He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruitbearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ (John 15:1–4).

     When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Him. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.

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

Taking the next train
  to the city, yet always returning
  to his place on a bridge
  over a river, throbbing

  with trout, whose widening
  circles are the mandala
  for contentment. So will a poet
  return to the work laid

  on one side and abandoned
  for the voices summoning hint
  to the wrong tasks. Art
  is not life. It is not the river

  carrying us away, but the motionless
  image of itself on a fast-
  ¬running surface with which life
  tries constantly to keep up.

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

     comment

     I am reviewing this on 11/11/11. On 1/7/11 I wrote I doubt many of us have endured what Job was required to experience, but I wonder if the seeming hopelessness of life doesn’t overtake all of us at one time or another? People and circumstances, events and situations affect us all differently because as much as we are all alike, we are different too. Yours and my historical roots probably connect and disconnect many times through history, but even so we have backgrounds as distinct as our parents, as different as our fingerprints, as unique as our genetic code. For all of our differences I think Job 6:14-21 finds a spot of familiarity in each of us.

     Who cannot remember a time or times when you didn’t feel like Job, even if in fact you were really OK? Right now I am trying to keep those feelings from taking root in me. After all, things can change very quickly. Doesn't God always show up at the last minute? Reading this today I can only smile thinking how faithful, merciful God has been to Lily and me this past year.

     Some combat these feelings by going shopping, throwing themselves into their work, an unhealthy relationship, something external to themselves. I know from past experience this is a dangerous time. It is a time not to make any life changing decisions. It is a time to be still. I long to be on a long motorcycle ride along the coast right now, with no particular destination, just riding. Just like that bike ride we don’t know what is beyond the next hill or around the next curve because even if we have been this way before, nothing is ever the same as it once was. I know this is a time to be still and trust God. Hasn’t God brought me this far? Isn’t God’s record in my life far better than my own? God is faithful.

     Thank God, as far as I know, I have no friends like Job and my struggles are mostly about processing the uncertainty of 'now', rather than dealing with the horrors Job experienced. I know this is a trust building time for me. I know more than anything … more than anything the desire of God’s heart is that I, you, all of us trust God. ... and today God continues to be faithful still, but in my learning to wait, I am gradually letting go of the anxiety I clutched so tightly last year. I am slowly, much too slowly for my impatient spirit, moving into a quiet time, a restful time with the Lord ... as my trust grows.

RSAofYAP

     Bildad, this sounds fine and dandy, but we all know those who are just plain crooked, and yet they do well ... and so do their children. Some of these carnivores live to a ripe old age and pass on peacefully. To look at the prosperous and assume they have lived a Godly life is nonsense.

     Despite what you say, Bildad, it all comes down to trust. We must trust that God is a God of justice. If God were not a God of justice, why the cross?

     We are blessed that God's mercy runs in front of God's justice, otherwise what would come of you and me? Are either of us innocent?

     Remember the story of the poor beggar and the rich man on the other side of the river? God owns the land and the cattle on both sides of the river. It is there, on the other side of this life that the rich man has the tables turned on him.

     However, I don’t think life is about being rich or poor, suffering or living at ease, living a short life or a long life, or whether we are treated fairly or not. It isn’t as important what we experience as how we process the experience, whether we react from our own place of self-centeredness or whether we respond from a place of loving God so we can trust God.

     Pain is inevitable. The question is whether we will trust God with our pain. This is not to say that we should not seek justice for others. God tells us over and over in Scripture to do that. When it comes to ourselves we are supposed to give away our coat if the man who just stole our pants asks us for it. This is hard, just as it was hard for those who worked all day to see those who worked but a little get the same pay.

     Jesus told us to pick up our cross and follow Him. He called it a cross, not a back pack. Bonhoeffer calls the backpack cheap grace. (The Cost of Discipleship) Cheap grace is not what following Jesus Christ is all about.

RSAofYAP

     … and at the same time I remember that Jesus “noticed” the widow’s humble offering.

      If Jesus is really what our 66 canonized books are all about then why does nearly everyone focus on the widow in this story instead of Jesus? I am moved by the fact that Jesus “noticed.”

     Yes, surely the author of Job is correct in all of his adjectives and metaphors about God, but no list will ever be complete. Be that as it may, it helps me to know that God is also gentle. God knows every little sparrow that falls to earth and my every hair. God is the whisper in the time of natural turmoil as well as my God to lean into when my insides quake with fear. God is imminent and transcendent and I believe that God is moved by the trust of God’s children. Yes Job, God is mighty and awesome and it is right that we fall on our faces in reverent fear and respect, but let us not forget (also) that God “noticed!”

RSAofYAP

     Some time later the brook dried up. --- 1 Kings 17:7.

     The deepest lesson of the story is that the ceasing of the prophet’s brook was the beginning of larger views of God. (The Weaving of Glory (Morrison Classic Sermon Series, The) )

     There is a faith that runs through the green fields of childhood, making everything it laps on fresh and beautiful. Yet while some never lose that faith, living in its gladness until the end, for most of us, some time later the brook dries up. There may be moral causes at the back of that. A vast deal of doubt runs down to moral grounds. But if we are earnest and truthful and if we trust and pray, there is nothing to sigh for in the failing brook. For the God whom we find again through many a struggle and the faith that we make ours by many a battle and the things that we wrestle for until break of day—although we may go limping ever after—these are our own for time and for eternity, and neither life nor death can take them from us.

     And then there are the blessings we enjoy—our health, our prosperity, the love of those who love us. There are many people who never lose these blessings, moving beside still waters to the end. But there are others with whom it is not so. They have suffered terribly or had sharp and sore reverses. There was a day when they had everything they wanted, but it came to pass some time later that the brook dried up. I will not comfort them by any platitudes. I will only ask them, Has not God been nearer—has not religion been more to them since then? And if it has taken the failing of the stream to cast them utterly on the arm of God, if they have risen from an empty brook to drink of an ocean that is ever full—perhaps it was not in anger but in love that the waters ceased to be musical at Cherith.
--- George H. Morrison

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

     Faithfulness eclipses fame as the mark of greatness. Not everyone is named Augustine, Luther, or Graham. The names of some are obscured by time, but they have done the Father’s will. Take John Hooper, for example — born in Sommersetshire, England, in 1495. While studying at Oxford, he discovered the book of Romans which “seriously affected the salvation of my soul,” he wrote, “and my everlasting welfare. Therefore with an earnest study, I employed myself therein both night and day.” Hooper found the death of Christ sufficient for salvation without additional work or merit. He confessed, “I had blasphemed God by wicked worship and an almost idolatrous heart until I became rightly acquainted with the Lord.”

     His Reformation beliefs put him at risk, and he escaped to the coast on a borrowed horse, then to France and later to Zurich where he studied Greek, theology, and the writings of Zwingli. Returning to England during King Edward’s reign, he preached to packed houses and before the king himself. His wife watched with alarm as he wore himself out in ministry. But his labors ceased when Bloody Queen Mary ascended the throne and unleashed a storm against Protestants. Hooper was thrown into Fleet prison where his clammy bed of rotten straw lay beside the city sewer. Hooper described conditions in a letter on January 7, 1554: “On the one side is the stink and filth of the house, and on the other side the town ditch, so that the stench hath infected me with sundry diseases—during which time I have been sick; and the doors, bars, and chains being closed, and made fast upon me, I have mourned and cried for help … neither is there suffered any to come at me whereby I might have relief. But I commit my cause to God, whose will be done, whether it be by life or death.”

     Hooper soon fulfilled that commitment. While being burned at the stake, his voice joined those of the assembled crowd praying, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. …” (KJV).

     Here is a true message: If we died with Christ, we will live with him. If we don’t give up, we will rule with him. If we deny that we know him, he will deny that he knows us. If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful. Christ cannot deny who he is.
--- 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

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

JANUARY 7
The Psalms and Readings for the dated days after the Epiphany are used only until the following Saturday Evening.
YEAR 2

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 103
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 114, 115
Old Testament Deuteronomy 8:1–3
New Testament Colossians 1:1–14
Gospel John 6:30–33, 48–51

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 103

Of David.

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The LORD works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion for his children,
so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
obedient to his spoken word.
21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will.
22 Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul.

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 114, 115

1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

3 The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.

1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
they make no sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them are like them;
so are all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.

12 The LORD has been mindful of us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the LORD,
both small and great.

14 May the LORD give you increase,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the LORD’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to human beings.
17 The dead do not praise the LORD,
nor do any that go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the LORD
from this time on and forevermore.
Praise the LORD!

OLD TESTAMENT
Deuteronomy 8:1–3

8 This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3 He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

NEW TESTAMENT
Colossians 1:1–14

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

GOSPEL
John 6:30–33, 48–51

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.”

48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”


ON THE SAME DATE | VIGIL | EPIPHANY
EVE OF FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
YEARS 1 & 2

Psalms (Evening) Psalm 104
Old Testament Isaiah 61:1–9
New Testament Galatians 3:23–29, 4:4–7

Index of Readings

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 104

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.

5 You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work
and to their labor until the evening.

24 O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

27 These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul.
Praise the LORD!

OLD TESTAMENT
Isaiah 61:1–9

61 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines;
6 but you shall be called priests of the LORD,
you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.
7 Because their shame was double,
and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.

8 For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

NEW TESTAMENT
Galatians 3:23–29, 4:4–7

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary