Scriptures and Reflection Questions for July 25

Scriptures and Reflection Questions 

9th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12

July 25, 2010 

 

How to use this page:

Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it.  Some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection.  You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.
For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading).  We've written some instructions on how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link: Using Lectio Divina to pray the lections

We use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.

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O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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The Lessons

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

 

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Hosea 1:2-10
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD." So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them. But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen."

When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God."

Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."
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Note:  "Lo-ruhamah" means "Not pitied," and "Lo-ammi" means "Not my people."  Hosea prophesies the end of the king's dynasty -- Jeroboam was the fourth king in Juhu's line.  Yet he promises a future hope.  How might today's prophets speak to us and to our leaders?

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Psalm 85   

You have been gracious to your land, O God, *
     you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.

You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
     and blotted out all their sins.

You have withdrawn all your fury *
     and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

Restore us then, O God our Savior; *
     let your anger depart from us.

Will you be displeased with us for ever; *
     will you prolong your anger from age to age?

Will you not give us life again, *
     that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your mercy, O God, *
     and grant us your salvation.

I will listen to what you are saying, *
     for you are speaking peace to your faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to you.

Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you, *
     that your glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together; *
     righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
    and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

You, O God, will indeed grant prosperity, *
    and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness shall go before you, *
    and peace shall be a pathway for your feet.
 

St. Helena Psalter

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 How might these words become a prayer for our time?

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Colossians 2:6-15

As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

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The writer offers a high theology of Christ as one in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."  We are joined into Christ through the death and resurrection of baptism.  We share his triumph in the cross.  What part of this theology has strong meaning for you?  Is there anything here that bothers you or seems had to understand?

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Luke 11:1-13 

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 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 Spirit to those who ask him!"_______________

Note the differences between Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer and Matthew's version (Mt. 6:9).  What do you make of the differences?
How do you reconcile this passage with the problem of unanswered prayer?