Devotion for Thursday and Friday Before the First Sunday After Epiphany, Year A (ELCA Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Making Stew at the May Day Pageant, Siloam, Greene County, Georgia, May 1941

Photographer = Jack Delano

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-USF33- 020878-M1

The Call of God

JANUARY 5, 2017, and JANUARY 6, 2017

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The Collect:

O God our Father, at the baptism of Jesus you proclaimed him your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit.

Make all who are baptized into Christ faithful to their calling

to be your daughters and sons,

and empower us with your Spirit,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 3:1-9 (Thursday)

1 Samuel 3:10-4:1a (Friday)

Psalm 29 (both days)

Acts 9:1-9 (Thursday)

Acts 9:10-19a (Friday)

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The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation;

the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees;

the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

–Psalm 29:4-6, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

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The daily lectionary from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) pairs two stories of God calling people in extraordinary ways.  Most followers of God never hear a divine voice, much less get knocked to the ground by God.  But Samuel and Saul/St. Paul the Apostle had unusual experiences.  And both of them did great things for God.  Their legacies survive them long after they died.  Those last two facts regarding those men impress me the most.

My experience of God has been the opposite of dramatic.  I have never even had so much as a “born again” experience.  No, God, has dealt with me (and continues to do so) in a quiet, gradual manner punctuated with occasional periods of more noticeable activity.  In 2007, when the bottom fell out of my life, In felt God’s presence and activity more acutely, for I needed that different form of presence and activity then, for example.

My points are these:

1. We all need God.
2. God relates to people in a variety of ways.
3. God relates to the same people differently over time.
4. So nobody ought to assume that his or her experience of God is mandatory for everyone.
5. Yet it is mandatory that we respond favorably to God and do great things for God.

The variety of these great things is part of the spice of Godly life.  What are the flavors you, O reader, God is calling you to contribute to the stew?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CARL LICHTENBERGER, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF J. R. R. TOLKIEN, NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF JIMMY LAWRENCE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF PRUDENCE CRANDALL, EDUCATOR

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/the-call-of-god-2/

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