The Daily Office for June 29, 2012
Scriptures
Psalm 102
Numbers 20:1-13
Romans 5:12-21
Matthew 20:29-34
Reading (Psalm 102)
Reflection
Anyone who has ever witnessed a raging, flooded river knows the frightening and devastating effect this powerful force of nature can wreak. And yet there is a kind of flood that is NOT disastrous. In fact, it’s desirable! We know that floods wash over everything in their path. The waters seep into every crack and crevice. Even when the “wet stuff” recedes, the residue of the flood remains. In the same way, God desires fairness and rightness to cover the world – washing over and in and through the lives of His people.
But what is meant when the Bible uses terms like "a river of righteous living”? If you’ve ever seen a fast-flowing river, you know that it doesn’t let anything stand in its way; it chisels at everything it encounters. Fast or slow, every river flows relentlessly to its destination, bringing life to the land in the process. God wants us to be like that – faithfully working with other believers to provide refreshment, even as we slowly but surely erode the sin in our culture.
Collect for the Day
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you in their death as in their life: grant that your Church, inspired by their teaching and example, and made one by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.