Book Three - Internal Consolation

     The Fifty-Fourth Chapter / The Different Motions Of Nature And Grace

     THE VOICE OF CHRIST

     MY CHILD, pay careful attention to the movements of nature and of grace, for they move in very contrary and subtle ways, and can scarcely be distinguished by anyone except a man who is spiritual and inwardly enlightened. All men, indeed, desire what is good, and strive for what is good in their words and deeds. For this reason the appearance of good deceives many.

     Nature is crafty and attracts many, ensnaring and deceiving them while ever seeking itself. But grace walks in simplicity, turns away from all appearance of evil, offers no deceits, and does all purely for God in whom she rests as her last end.

     Nature is not willing to die, or to be kept down, or to be overcome. Nor will it subdue itself or be made subject. Grace, on the contrary, strives for mortification of self. She resists sensuality, seeks to be in subjection, longs to be conquered, has no wish to use her own liberty, loves to be held under discipline, and does not desire to rule over anyone, but wishes rather to live, to stand, and to be always under God for Whose sake she is willing to bow humbly to every human creature.

     Nature works for its own interest and looks to the profit it can reap from another. Grace does not consider what is useful and advantageous to herself, but rather what is profitable to many. Nature likes to receive honor and reverence, but grace faithfully attributes all honor and glory to God. Nature fears shame and contempt, but grace is happy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. Nature loves ease and physical rest. Grace, however, cannot bear to be idle and embraces labor willingly. Nature seeks to possess what is rare and beautiful, abhorring things that are cheap and coarse. Grace, on the contrary, delights in simple, humble things, not despising those that are rough, nor refusing to be clothed in old garments.

     Nature has regard for temporal wealth and rejoices in earthly gains. It is sad over a loss and irritated by a slight, injurious word. But grace looks to eternal things and does not cling to those which are temporal, being neither disturbed at loss nor angered by hard words, because she has placed her treasure and joy in heaven where nothing is lost.

     Nature is covetous, and receives more willingly than it gives. It loves to have its own private possessions. Grace, however, is kind and openhearted. Grace shuns private interest, is contented with little, and judges it more blessed to give than to receive.

     Nature is inclined toward creatures, toward its own flesh, toward vanities, and toward running about. But grace draws near to God and to virtue, renounces creatures, hates the desires of the flesh, restrains her wanderings and blushes at being seen in public.

     Nature likes to have some external comfort in which it can take sensual delight, but grace seeks consolation only in God, to find her delight in the highest Good, above all visible things.

     Nature does everything for its own gain and interest. It can do nothing without pay and hopes for its good deeds to receive their equal or better, or else praise and favor. It is very desirous of having its deeds and gifts highly regarded. Grace, however, seeks nothing temporal, nor does she ask any recompense but God alone. Of temporal necessities she asks no more than will serve to obtain eternity.

     Nature rejoices in many friends and kinsfolk, glories in noble position and birth, fawns on the powerful, flatters the rich, and applauds those who are like itself. But grace loves even her enemies and is not puffed up at having many friends. She does not think highly of either position or birth unless there is also virtue there. She favors the poor in preference to the rich. She sympathizes with the innocent rather than with the powerful. She rejoices with the true man rather than with the deceitful, and is always exhorting the good to strive for better gifts, to become like the Son of God by practicing the virtues.

     Nature is quick to complain of need and trouble; grace is stanch in suffering want. Nature turns all things back to self. It fights and argues for self. Grace brings all things back to God in Whom they have their source. To herself she ascribes no good, nor is she arrogant or presumptuous. She is not contentious. She does not prefer her own opinion to the opinion of others, but in every matter of sense and thought submits herself to eternal wisdom and the divine judgment.

     Nature has a relish for knowing secrets and hearing news. It wishes to appear abroad and to have many sense experiences. It wishes to be known and to do things for which it will be praised and admired. But grace does not care to hear news or curious matters, because all this arises from the old corruption of man, since there is nothing new, nothing lasting on earth. Grace teaches, therefore, restraint of the senses, avoidance of vain self-satisfaction and show, the humble hiding of deeds worthy of praise and admiration, and the seeking in every thing and in every knowledge the fruit of usefulness, the praise and honor of God. She will not have herself or hers exalted, but desires that God Who bestows all simply out of love should be blessed in His gifts.

     This grace is a supernatural light, a certain special gift of God, the proper mark of the elect and the pledge of everlasting salvation. It raises man up from earthly things to love the things of heaven. It makes a spiritual man of a carnal one. The more, then, nature is held in check and conquered, the more grace is given. Every day the interior man is reformed by new visitations according to the image of God.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

     He was a physician in the Revolutionary War, a member of the Continental Congress and signed the Constitution. He was Secretary of War and established the Military Academy at West Point. The Star-Spangled Banner was written while the British bombed the fort which was named for him. Who was he: James McHenry, who died this day, May 3, 1816. As president of the Baltimore Bible society, James McHenry stated: "Neither… let it be overlooked that public utility pleads… for the general distribution of… Holy Scriptures… which… can alone secure to society order and peace."

William J. Federer. American Minute

But I always think that the best way to know God
is to love many things.
--- Vincent van Gogh, Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh


No matter how much I prove and prod,
I cannot quite believe in God;
But oh, I hope to God that He
Unswervingly believes in me.
--- E.Y. Harburg, attributed


So long as breath remains in our lungs, untapped potential lies inside us, waiting to be released. The reason we are still alive is that we are carrying something inside us that this generation needs. That’s why we’re not yet in heaven.
--- Wayne Cordeiro

... from here, there and everywhere

5     ADONAI detests all those with proud hearts;
be assured that they will not go unpunished.

6     Grace and truth atone for iniquity,
and people turn from evil through fear of ADONAI.

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.

                Vital intercession

     Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. --- Eph. 6:18.

     As we go on in intercession we may find that our obedience to God is going to cost other people more than we thought. The danger then is to begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting to a totally different sphere in answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from identification with God’s interest in others into sympathy with them, the vital connection with God has gone; we have put our sympathy, our consideration for them, in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

     It is impossible to intercede vitally unless we are perfectly sure of God, and the greatest dissipator of our relationship to God is personal sympathy and personal prejudice. Identification is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with God, it is by sympathy, not by sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our relationship to God, but sympathy will, sympathy with ourselves or with others which makes us say—‘I will not allow that thing to happen.’ Instantly we are out of vital connection with God.

     Intercession leaves you neither time nor inclination to pray for your own ‘sad sweet self.’ The thought of yourself is not kept out, because it is not there to keep out; you are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests in other lives.

     Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to fault finding.

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

Madrigal

Your love is dead, lady, your love is dead;

Dribbles no sounds
From his stopped lips, through swift
underground
Spurts his wild hair.

Your love is dead, lady, your love is dead;
Faithless he lies
Deaf to your call, though shades of his eyes
Break through and stare.


R.S. Thomas Selected poems, 1946-1968

     D’RASH

     We are not the first era to be concerned with casual sex. Knowing that people engage in sex for a variety of reasons, the Rabbis of the Talmud tried to teach that we should sanctify sexual relations. Very specific rules were drawn up to increase modesty and sanctity in sex and to insure that relations would not be immoral or crude.

     Nonetheless, it is clear that people were having sexual relations outside the parameters of these teachings. The very discussion is proof. The question then becomes: What do we assume about people's motivations, purposes, and intentions? Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel have two different views, not only about sex but also about human behavior in general.

     The Rabbis of Bet Hillel were aware that people's motivations are not always pure, in sex as in much of life. Nonetheless, they seem to have chosen to assume the best about people, facts aside, in the hope that the world would soon become closer to this ideal. Reality, they are saying, is what we make of it. If we assume the best about people, the world will begin more closely to reflect our ideal.

     Every one of us can think of examples of others who have questionable motivations. How do we respond to them? For example, what should we think if a new employee speaks to a supervisor about certain work conditions? If we assume the worst, we think that he is trying to get in good with the boss, to promote himself at the expense of the group. We surmise that the newcomer is out only for himself.

     A Bet Hillel approach, though, asks us to act based on our most positive assumptions about others, to be more trusting of their motivations. With no evidence to the contrary, we should assume the best about others. In this situation, if we act according to Bet Hillel, we may assume that this new employee has seen certain conditions that can be improved; perhaps he can demand changes, because of his new status, which veteran employees could not. The employee may very well be acting in everyone's best interest and may actually help those around him.

     Our finding a more positive way of looking at reality is based not on naiveté but on a genuine desire to create a better world. Just as Bet Hillel assumes (even with facts to the contrary) that the "a man would not have casual sex," so too we can make positive, optimistic assumptions about our world and the people in it. This is often a way of finding the best in others. Our optimistic assumptions may be wrong at times, but often we will find people living up to our ideal. As we start to view the world more positively, it may begin to look a little more like the ideal place we envision.

     One who is commanded and acts is more praiseworthy than one who is not commanded and acts.

     Text / Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel: "They asked Rabbi Eliezer: 'What is the limit for honoring one's parents?' He said to them: 'Go see what a certain idol worshiper in Ashkelon named Dama son of Netina did. Once, the Sages sought to buy gems for the ephod from him at 60,000 profit—Rav Kahana taught 80,000—but the key was under his father's head and he would not disturb him. The next year, the Holy One rewarded him when a red cow was born to his herd.' When the Sages came to him, he said to them: 'I know that if I were to ask for all the money in the world, you will give it to me, but I am asking only for the money I lost by honoring my father.' " Rabbi Ḥanina said: "If someone who is not commanded and acts [is considered praiseworthy], how much more so one who is commanded and who acts!" For Rabbi Ḥanina said: "One who is commanded and acts is more praiseworthy than one who is not commanded and acts."

     Context / Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is assigning to you. (Exodus 20:12)

     The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid. (Numbers 19:1–2)

     Next you shall instruct all who are skillful, whom I have endowed with the gift of skill, to make Aaron's vestments, for consecrating him to serve Me as priest. These are the vestments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and a sash. (Exodus 28:3–4)

     How far does one have to go to fulfill certain mitzvot? When asked this question concerning honoring one's parents—a well-known mitzvah mentioned in the Ten Commandments—Rabbi Eliezer responds with a story. The Rabbis approach a non-Jew named Netina in the hope of buying from him jewels for the ephod, one of the vestments that the Kohen Gadol wore while serving in the Temple. They are not greeted by Netina but by his son, Dama. As a non-Jew, Dama is not required to observe the mitzvah of honoring one's parents. However, he does respect his father who at the time is sleeping, with the key to the jewelry under his head. Dama's actions cause his father to lose 60,000 (or 80,000) profit. (We are never told 60,000 or 80,000 what, but it is apparently coins.) The reward that Dama receives is a "red cow," that prized animal mentioned by the Torah in Numbers 19 and used in rituals of purification. This animal was extremely rare and, thus, quite expensive (worth more than 60,000 coins!). Dama apparently knows enough about Judaism to realize that he had been rewarded with an exceptional prize. Nonetheless, he asks only for repayment of the amount he lost by not making the original sale the year before (60,000 or 80,000 coins).

     The entire section is based on the assumption of Rabbi Ḥanina that one who acts because he is commanded by a mitzvah is considered more praiseworthy than someone who is not commanded. Thus, if Dama ben Netina, a non-Jew who is not required to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring one's parents, takes this obligation so seriously and is praised by the Rabbis, imagine how far a Jew who is commanded to honor his parents must go in order to fulfill the mitzvah, and how great his or her reward will be!

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving . Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     We meet these warlike people in Judges. They came to the south coast of Palestine, possibly from Crete, but certainly from the Aegean area. During the years 1200 to 1000 B.C. (part of the time of the Judges and during Saul's and David's reigns) they were the principal enemy of Israel. Their five key cities (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron) controlled both land and sea trade routes, making the territory the Philistines occupied wealthy and highly desirable.

     The Philistine society, in contrast to the tribal structure of Israel, was highly organized. These people knew the secret of making and maintaining iron weapons. This gave them a military advantage over Israel, which lacked both a source of iron ore and the technology to work it. Ultimately the Philistines were able to establish garrisons at strategic points within Israel, and by the end of the period of the Judges, had clearly embarked on a campaign to conquer the whole land.

     Not until the time of David was this bitter enemy subdued. David reduced them to insignificance.

     Thus these people, introduced here in Judges, play an increasingly significant role in the Bible books which follow.

     Judges for Today / Judges is the source of some of our most familiar Old Testament stories. The youngest of children have heard tales of Samson and Gideon—over and over again. In fact, the very familiarity of the stories from this book makes it likely that some will miss its message.

     As in all of Scripture, God communicates His message to men in the selection and recounting of events as well as in explicit teaching. As we listen and respond to what God says, the message of the written Word becomes an adventure with the Living Word—Christ Himself! The written Word of God is the avenue through which God comes to us and invites us to enter into an ever-deepening relationship with Him.

     Thus it's dangerous to treat familiar portions of the Bible simply as stories. All too soon "Bible stories" can take on a misty familiarity, associated with our childhood—and with Mother Goose fantasy. But the stories in our Bible are not fantasy; they are the rugged flesh and blood of reality. They are a living and powerful message to us from God, designed to captivate us as boys and girls—and to challenge us as adults.

     When we do examine Judges with our hearts tuned to respond to God's Word, we find a powerful message indeed. Along with the demonstration of the basic theme (Ai, now magnified and repeated over and over again), we find in the experiences of men and women recounted here the promises and the warnings on which you and I must choose today to act—or to ignore.

     This is the adventure of studying the Bible for adults: to study, to examine, and to hear God speak to us, as individuals today.

     * Some scholars would have Samson's 20 years running concurrently with the Philistines' 40 years.

     ** Abimelech, not a judge but a son of Gideon who set himself up as a king, ruled for three years (Judges 9:22) to bring the total number of years in the period to 410.

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

     Few Jews in the Diaspora had been inspired to join in the revolt of 66. There was a brief uprising in Alexandria, but it was short-lived. Roman retaliation against the Jews also included the forced closure of the Oniad temple at Leontopolis in 72 and its precincts in 73, even though it had never been a center of unrest or disloyalty since its foundation in the mid-second century B.C.E. Titus’ destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70, however, severely strained Diaspora Jews’ loyalty. Further complicating matters was the imposition after 70 of the fiscus Iudaicus, an annual payment made to Jupiter Capitolinus by all Jews, regardless of gender, in lieu of payment of the Temple tax. This tax weighed heavily on the Jews, especially the poorer ones with large households, and its rigorous application by the emperor Domitian only made conditions worse (Suetonius, Domitian 12).

     In Alexandria, local conditions and grievances made the status of the Jewish community quite unstable. A single papyrus, the Acta Hermaisci, recounts rival embassies from Alexandria to Emperor Trajan only a decade before the outbreak of another uprising. Although the account has been heavily fictionalized, it speaks to the tensions between Alexandrian Jews and non-Jews. Some scholars have argued that there were additional factors leading up to the rebellions (Pucci Ben Zeev 2005). In particular, rebels who had fled Judea after the suppression of the First Revolt continued to cause problems, which only heightened tensions between Jews and non-Jews. There was a general rise in messianic aspirations and expectations of Rome’s collapse, especially after an earthquake that occurred in Antioch during a visit of Emperor Trajan in 115.

     In 115/116, these tensions exploded into full-scale revolt in Egypt, Cyrene, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia. This revolt, also called the War of Quietus after the general Lusius Quietus who suppressed the revolt in Mesopotamia, raged until 117. In Egypt, the Jewish rebels managed to take over much of the countryside including the Athribite district, the Fayum, Oxyrhynchus, and the nome of Herakleopolis. To the south, fighting broke out in the districts of Apollinopolis Magna, Hermopolis, Kynopolis, and Lycopolis. In Alexandria itself the rebellion seems to have involved destruction of pagan shrines, such as the shrine of Nemesis near Alexandria and the tomb of Pompey (Appian, Bella Civilia 2.90). In Cyrene, the rebels, who were led by a certain Andreas (Dio 68.32.1) or Lukuas (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 4.2.3), killed several thousand non-Jews and destroyed several statues of the gods as well as several temples and sanctuaries, including the temples of Zeus and Hecate and parts of the sanctuaries of Apollo and Asclepius. Finally, perhaps in fear of a Roman military arrival by sea, the rebels smashed up the road connecting Cyrene to its port (CJZC 24–25). In Cyprus, a man named Artemion led an attack on the Gentile population and razed the city of Salamis. Not much information is known about the uprising in Mesopotamia except that Trajan sent Lusius Quietus to suppress the rebellion. It is possible that the Jews were simply one part of a general anti-Roman revolt within the region, and that the inhabitants there preferred Parthian control to Roman.

     The Roman response to the uprisings in Cyrene, Cyprus, and Egypt was swift and brutal. Trajan sent two forces to put down the rebellion: the VII Claudia legion to Cyprus and Quintus Marcius Turbo, with a large fleet and a number of legions, to Egypt and Cyrene. Egyptian papyri also indicate that local non-Jewish militias fought alongside the legions. Turbo sailed into Alexandria and defeated the rebels over the course of several battles in which his army killed several thousand Jews.

     The results of the war were cataclysmic for the Jewish populations of Egypt, North Africa, and Cyprus. Jews were banished from Cyprus and were prohibited from stepping foot on it on pain of death. After the revolt, there is no more evidence for Jewish settlement in the countryside of Egypt or Cyrene. Tragically, the great Jewish community of Alexandria disappeared and seems to have been destroyed, although there are a few traces of Jews left in the city afterward. Outside of the region under revolt, however, there does not seem to have been any anti-Jewish backlash. In the following years, large swaths of North African territory needed to be resettled and repopulated. Trajan and his successor Hadrian used confiscated Jewish property to fund the reconstruction efforts, especially the rebuilding of pagan temples.

Adam Kolman Marshak (2010). From Pompey to Hadrian.The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism

     There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. --- Luke 15:10.

     Why do angels sing over repentant sinners? (Classic Sermons on Angels (Kregel Classic Sermons Series)

     In the first place, I think it is because they remember the days of Creation. You know, when God made this world and fixed the beams of the heavens in sockets of light, the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy. As they saw star after star flying abroad like sparks from the great anvil of omnipotence, they began to sing. Every time they saw a new creature made on this little earth, they praised afresh. And over everything he made, they chanted evermore that sweet song, “Creator, you are to be magnified, for your mercy endures forever.”

     Now, when they see a sinner returning, they see the Creation over again, for repentance is a new creation. I don’t know that, ever since the day when God made the world, with the exception of new hearts, the angels have seen God make anything else. He may, if he has so pleased, have made fresh worlds since that time. But perhaps the only instance of new creation they have ever seen since the first day is the creation of a new heart and a right spirit within the breast of a poor penitent sinner. Therefore they sing, because creation comes over again.

     I don’t doubt, too, that they sing because they see God’s works afresh, shining in excellence. When God first made the world, he said of it, “It was very good” (Gen. 1:31). He could not say so now. There are many of you that God could not say that of. He would have to say the very reverse, “No, that is very bad, for the trail of the serpent has swept away your beauty, and that moral excellence which once dwelt in humanity has passed away.” But when the sweet influences of the Spirit bring people to repentance and faith again, God looks on them and he says, “It is very good.” For what his Spirit makes is like himself—good and holy and precious—and God smiles again over his twice-made creation and says once more, “It is very good.” Then the angels begin again and praise his name whose works are always good and full of beauty.
--- C. H. Spurgeon

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

     Before the Civil War, few chaplains served with American armies. But on May 3, 1861, the Southern Congress approved Bill 102, stating, “There shall be appointed by the President chaplains to serve the armies of the Confederate States during the existing war.” On May 3, 1862, Rev. A. C. Hopkins, Presbyterian pastor from Martinsburg, West Virginia, joined them, commissioned as chaplain of the Second Virginia Regiment.

     Hopkins wasted no time. On May 16 he led the men in a day of fasting and prayer. Two days later he conducted Sunday services at Mossy Creek. The ensuing week found him consumed by the wounded, dying, and dead.

     During the Seven Days’ Battle near Richmond, he marched all day in the hot sun and spent a sleepless night ministering to the wounded and dying. The next morning, attempting to preach to his men on the line, he collapsed, strength gone. He was carried to the rear to recover, but when he returned to the front ten days later, he learned that his best friends were dead. Hopkins sank into despondency. Heavy losses at Malvern Hill further drained him, and Hopkins felt he could no longer continue.

     He retreated for a season of intense prayer, and soon Bible classes were organized and flourished. Evangelists visited the brigade, and religious services were followed by group discussions, prayer meetings, and baptisms. Large sums were raised to provide Christian literature for ravaged cities. Generals and officers were saved, and prayer meetings were conducted three times daily.

     In all, between 100,000 and 200,000 Union soldiers and approximately 150,000 Southern troops were converted during the Civil War revivals. Whole armies on both sides became vast fields, ready for harvest. And many of the soldiers who perished went to heaven through the efforts of chaplains like Rev. A. C. Hopkins, who continued hard in service until the bitter end.

     With the Civil War, chaplains earned a lasting place with American troops around the world.

     Don’t be afraid! I am with you. From both east and west I will bring you together. I will say to the north and to the south, “Free my sons and daughters! Let them return from distant lands. They are my people—I created each of them To bring honor to me.”
--- Isaiah 43:5-7.

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

THURSDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER
YEAR 2

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 50
Psalms (Evening) (Psalm 59, 60) or Psalm 114, 115
Old Testament Exodus 34:1–17
New Testament 1 Thessalonians 2:13–20
Gospel Matthew 5:21–26

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 50

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 The mighty one, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

3 Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. Selah

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

16 But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes,
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.

19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;
to those who go the right way
I will show the salvation of God.”

PSALMS (EVENING)
Option A
(Psalm 59, 60)

[ To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when Saul ordered his house to be watched in order to kill him.

1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
protect me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from those who work evil;
from the bloodthirsty save me.

3 Even now they lie in wait for my life;
the mighty stir up strife against me.
For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD,
4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!
5 You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Awake to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

6 Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths,
with sharp words on their lips—
for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

8 But you laugh at them, O LORD;
you hold all the nations in derision.
9 O my strength, I will watch for you;
for you, O God, are my fortress.
10 My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget;
make them totter by your power, and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
13 consume them in wrath;
consume them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob. Selah

14 Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
15 They roam about for food,
and growl if they do not get their fill.

16 But I will sing of your might;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been a fortress for me
and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me steadfast love.

To the leader: according to the Lily of the Covenant. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; now restore us!
2 You have caused the land to quake; you have torn it open;
repair the cracks in it, for it is tottering.
3 You have made your people suffer hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that made us reel.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
to rally to it out of bowshot. Selah
5 Give victory with your right hand, and answer us,
so that those whom you love may be rescued.

6 God has promised in his sanctuary:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
on Edom I hurl my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
11 O grant us help against the foe,
for human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes. ]

OR
Option B
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
Exodus 34:1–17

34 The LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me, on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The LORD.” 6 The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed,

“The LORD, the LORD,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.”

8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” 10 He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13 You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles 14 (for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15 You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16 And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.

17 You shall not make cast idols.

NEW TESTAMENT
1 Thessalonians 2:13–20

13 We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God’s wrath has overtaken them at last.

17 As for us, brothers and sisters, when, for a short time, we were made orphans by being separated from you—in person, not in heart—we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again—but Satan blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Yes, you are our glory and joy!

GOSPEL
Matthew 5:21–26

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary