Bless Me: Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Welcome to the weekly Ordinary Time Daybook devotional post for the 24 weeks between Pentecost and Advent. Ordinary Time is the longest season of the church calendar - a season of working and resting with Christ as he brings God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Ordinary Time.
LOOK: I Will Not Let Thee Go Except Thou Bless Me, Henk Krijger - Source
LISTEN: Bless Me, Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin, recorded at Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
READ: Genesis 32:3-8,22-30; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5; Luke 18:1-8
Daily Readings for the Week of the Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost*:
Monday (10/17) Psalm 25; Psalm 9, 15; Sirach 4:20-5:7; Revelation 7:1-8; Luke 9:51-62 **
Tuesday (10/18) Psalm 26, 28; Psalm 36, 39; Sirach 6:5-17; Revelation 7:9-17; Luke 10:1-16 **
Wednesday (10/19) Psalm 38; Psalm 119:25-48; Sirach 7:4-14; Revelation 8:1-13; Luke 10:17-24 **
Thursday (10/20) Psalm 37:1-18; Psalm 37:19-42; Sirach 10:1-18; Revelation 9:1-12; Luke 10:25-37 **
Friday (10/21) Psalm 31; Psalm 35; Sirach 11:2-20; Revelation 9:13-21; Luke 10:38-42 **
Saturday (10/22) Psalm 30, 32; Psalm 42-43; Sirach 15:9-20; Revelation 10:1-11; Luke 11:1-13 **
**The Apocrypha: What Is It? Why do Anglicans Read It?
PRAY: Collect for Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, the Book of Common Prayer
Set us free, loving Father, from the bondage of our sins, and in your goodness and mercy give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
DO: Set aside 15 minutes to become still in your body, heart, and mind. First, read Genesis 32:22-20, the story of Jacob wrestling the angel in today’s Old Testament passage.
Then, gently and with curiosity, consider the story as if for the first time in the quiet.
What is happening in the passage?
What might it have looked like to an outsider?
What might it have felt like to be Jacob?
As you consider these questions, notice what emotions stir in you.
What resonates from Jacob’s words?
What resonates from the angel’s response?
Where do you feel dissonance between the Scripture account and your experience with God?
Simply notice what stirs in your heart, mind, and body. Tell Jesus what you notice and then return to quiet.
While writing my book, I’ve been reading a lot of Thomas Merton. Today’s account of Jacob wrestling God reminded me of a reflection Merton wrote in “My Soul Remembered God.” After your own reflection, consider reading Merton’s. In what way do his words enhance your own reflection? Perhaps write these things in a journal (or in an email to me, if you’d like!)
"If I find Him with great ease, perhaps He is not my God.
If I cannot hope to find Him at all, is He my God?
If I find Him wherever I wish, have I found Him?
If He can find me whenever He wishes, and tells me Who He is and who I am, and if I then know that He Whom I could not find has found me: then I know He is the Lord, my God: He has touched me with the finger that made me out of nothing.”
You might also enjoy this reflection I wrote all the way back in 2007:
You can read another version written in 2008 here: Authentic Experiences [Disciplines for the Inner Life].
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year C of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 2)