Dwelling Place: Twentieth 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: Japan nach Reisen und Studien (British Library digitized image), Johann Justus Rein - Source
LISTEN: Psalm 84, Poor Bishop Hooper - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
One Thing, Housefires - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
READ: Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22; Psalm 84; 2 Timothy 4:6-18; Luke 18:9-14
Daily Readings for the Week of the Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost*:
Monday (10/24) Psalm 41, 52; Psalm 44; Sirach 19:4-17; Revelation 11:1-14; Luke 11:14-26 **
Tuesday (10/25) Psalm 45; Psalm 47-48; Sirach 24:1-12; Revelation 11:14-19; Luke 11:27-36 **
Wednesday (10/26) Psalm 119:49-72; Psalm 49; Sirach 28:14-26; Revelation 12:1-6; Luke 11:37-52 **
Thursday (10/27) Psalm 50; Psalm 33; Sirach 31:12-18,25-32:2; Revelation 12:7-17; Luke 11:53-12:12 **
Friday (10/28) Psalm 40, 54; Psalm 51; Sirach 34:1-8,18-22; Revelation 13:1-10; Luke 12:13-31 **
Saturday (10/29) Psalm 55; Psalm 138, 139:1-17; Sirach 35:1-17; Revelation 13:11-18; Luke 12:32-48 **
**The Apocrypha: What Is It? Why do Anglicans Read It?
PRAY: Collect for Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost, the Book of Common Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
DO: Meditate on Psalm 84 by remaining alert to the movements and habitats of birds in your neighborhood this week. Verses three and four in the Psalm describe God’s dwelling place as so lovely that even the birds want to make their homes there:
Even the sparrow finds a home
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.(C)
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise. Selah.
As I’ve been reflecting on this Psalm today, these two videos have become a spiritual reflection on bird habitats and migration patterns as a metaphor for Psalm 84, especially verse two:
My soul longs, indeed it faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
*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)