Scriptures and Reflection Questions for August 21

Scriptures and Reflection Questions
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost;
Proper 16, Year A, Track 1
August 21, 2011
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Collect

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by  your
Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the  glory of your
Name; 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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Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary
Year A
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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 this link.

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The Lessons

Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
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Exodus 1:8-2:10

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people,
 "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come,
let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war,
join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore they
set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities,
Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they
 multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The
Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives
bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They
were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and
the other Puah, "When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the
birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live." But
the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but
they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them,
"Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh,
"Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous
 and give birth before the midwife comes to them." So God dealt well with the midwives;
and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared
God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that
is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl
live."

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived
and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.
When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered
it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds
 on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen
to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked
beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring
it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him,
"This must be one of the Hebrews' children," she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's
daughter, "Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child
for you?" Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Yes." So the girl went and called the
 child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for
me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she took him
as her son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

__________

Labor and productivity conflicts.  Civil disobedience.  Class conflict.  If you
were rewriting this story in this century, how might you conceive it?

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Psalm 124

If God had not been on our side, *
     let Israel now say;

If God had not been on our side, *
     when enemies rose up against us,

Then would they have swallowed us up alive *
     in their fierce anger toward us;

Then would the waters have overwhelmed us *
     and the torrent gone over us;

Then would the raging waters *
     have gone right over us.

Blessed be God, *
     who has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; *
     the snare is broken, and we have escaped.

Our help is in the Name of God, *
     the maker of heaven and earth.

                              The Saint Helena Psalter
___________

Have you ever felt that you escaped something by the grace of God?
How might these words express your feelings? _____________________________________________


Romans 12:1-8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable
and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself
more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according
to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members,
and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body
in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry,
in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver,
in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

___________

Imagine yourself listening to these words for the first time.  What do they tell
 you?

________________________________________

Matthew 16;13-20

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist,
but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to
 them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah,
the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son
of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the
gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples
not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah

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How would you answer Jesus' questions?

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Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Our Rule of Life:
  We aspire to...
      worship weekly
      pray daily
      learn constantly
      serve joyfully
      live generously.

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