Beware, O Sleeper! [a Lamentation/Intercession] ~ Sabbath Day ~
Scripture Portion
Commentary: Usually for Sabbath, the Scripture portion is more robust than other days. Not today. Today, I have a simple message that is burning with me that I want to share. Today, is short, but oh how I wish it were sweet. However, before we dive into the verse, I want to be clear on something. We need to be care with Scripture! Furthermore, we must remember that Scripture is not open to private interpretation (2 Peter 1.20). Therefore, we must tread carefully when claiming Scripture as “our own” or that everything applies today as though there were not an original audience the Scriptures were written for. On the other hand, however, Scripture is alive and it does mean something for us today (Hebrews 4.12). With all of this in mind, there is a verse that I think does speak directly to our society in America today and many other societies as well. This verse was not written or proclaimed to us directly, but oh is it a witness to the true position of where we are!
Malachi 2.17
17 “You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In your saying, ‘All evildoers are good in the eyes of the Lord, and them He desires,’ or, ‘Where is the God of justice?’”
Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. N.p.: W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2019 – Volume 2: Prophets, pg. 1,390
Sacrifice of Our Lips/Praise
Fruit of Our Lips
Liturgical Portion
The summary of the law
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. [Matthew 22:37-40t]
The collect for purity
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
from Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pg. 106
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you sent your Son among us to proclaim the kingdom of God in cities, towns, villages, and lonely places. Behold and visit, we pray, the community of ________. Renew the bonds of charity that uphold our civic life. Send us honest and able leaders. Deliver us from poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and justice with mercy. And at the last, bring us to your Holy City, the new Jerusalem, where we shall know perfect unity and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
from Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pgs. 658-659
Note: The Feast of Sukkot is a weeklong festival, or, as the Scriptures say, 7 days plus 1. This is the Day 8 (plus 1) Sabbath day. In honor of this time, today’s reading will be John 7, the time we see Jesus celebrating this festival and making a spectacular and wonderful proclamation! Lastly, a reminder of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, which is what this Festival looks forward to. Enjoy!
John 7
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Revelation 19.6-8
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
Note: When reading the Psalm, if you are with another person or a group, the “leader” can read the first part of each verse, then pause at the * mark. The next person or the rest of the group can read the remainder of the verse after the * mark. You can also split the verses by groups, e.g., a traditional split is the men in the group will read one part of the verse and the women read the next part (another traditional split would be one side of the room and then the other side of the room).
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, * a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, * and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters rage and swell, * and though the mountains shake at its tempest. 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, * the holy dwelling place of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; therefore she shall not be moved. * God shall help her at the break of day. 6 The nations are in an uproar, and the kingdoms are moved, * but God has lifted his voice, and the earth shall melt away. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; * the God of Jacob is our refuge. 8 O come and behold the works of the Lord, * what devastations he has brought upon the earth. 9 He makes wars to cease in all the world; * he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the chariots in the fire. 10 “Be still then and know that I am God; * I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; * the God of Jacob is our refuge. – from The Psalter, Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pgs. 327-328
Prayer
Purity of Thought Almighty God, who alone gave us the breath of life, and alone can keep our hearts filled with your holy desires: I ask you, trusting in your infinite compassion, to sanctify my thoughts and endeavors; that I may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without your blessing. And grant that, having the eyes of my mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, my heart may be inspired by your wisdom, and my work upheld by your strength, and in the end, that I may be accepted by you as your faithful servant; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. – from https://dailyprayer.us/prayers/purity_of_thought.php
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