Further up and further in: Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Blessed Epiphany, friends!

I'm looking forward to sharing with you a weekly Epiphany Daybook devotional post for these weeks of revelation and witness.

You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Epiphany.

Look: The Mount of Beatitudes, Library of Congress - Source

Listen: Blessed are the Merciful, Beautiful Eulogy - Spotify | YouTube | Lyrics

Enjoy the playlist I made for this week: Further Up and Further In

Read: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20; Luke 6:17-26

Monday: Psalm 89; Genesis 30:1-24; 1 John 1:1-10; John 9:1-17

Tuesday:  Psalm 97, 99; Psalm 94, Genesis 31:1-24; 1 John 2:1-11; John 9:18-41

Wednesday: Psalm 101, 109:1-4, 20-30; Psalm 119:121-144; Genesis 31:25-50; 1 John 2:12-17; John 10:1-18

Thursday:  Psalm 105; Genesis 32:3-21; 1 John 2:18-29; John 10:19-30

Friday: Psalm 102; Psalm 107:1-32 Genesis 32:22-33:17; 1 John 3:1-10; John 10:31-4

Saturday:  Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6; Psalm 33; Genesis 35:1-20; 1 John 3:11-18; John 11:1-16

Pray:  Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Sixth Sunday After The Epiphany

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Do:  Read Practicing the Sermon on the Mount by Richard Foster and then ask yourself: How can I make the kingdom of God available to individuals who are humanly hopeless? Then as you go about your days, learn to take time to point out the natural beauty of every human being.

“In the “beatitudes” Jesus takes up various kinds and classes of people that in his day were thought to be unblessed and unblessable, and he shows how the Kingdom of God is available to them and how they too can be blessed. No wonder the poor heard him gladly! As the Simon and Garfunkel song goes, “Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.”

In The Divine Conspiracy Dallas Willard gives contemporary expression to these “unblessed and unblessable-–the physically repulsive … the bald, the fat, and the old … the flunk-outs and drop-outs and burned outs. The broke and the broken. The drug heads and the divorced. The HIV-positive and herpes-ridden. The brain-damaged, the incurable ill. The barren and the pregnant too-many-times or the wrong time. The overemployed, the underemployed, the unemployed. The unemployable. The swindled, the shoved aside, the replaced… .” (pp. 123-124).

You can find other activities for Epiphany at this post: 12+ Ways To Keep Celebrating With the Rest of the World (loads of links)

Listen to the new playlist I made for this week: Further Up and Further In

Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year C of the 2019 Book of Common Prayer. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 2)