Above: Good Friday Pilgrimage for Immigrants, Atlanta, Georgia, April 18, 2014
Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Collect:
Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star.
Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands,
and accept our lives as the treasure we offer in your praise and for your service,
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 21
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Assigned Readings:
Exodus 1:22-2:10 (January 7)
Exodus 2:11-25 (January 8)
Exodus 3:7-15 (January 9)
Psalm 110 (All Days)
Hebrews 11:23-26 (January 7)
Hebrews 11:27-28 (January 8)
John 8:39-59 (January 9)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The LORD will send the scepter of your power out of Zion,
saying, “Rule over your enemies round about you.
Princely state has been yours from the day of your birth;
in the beauty of holiness have I begotten you,
like dew from the womb of the morning.”
The LORD has sworn and he will not recant:
“You are a priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek,”
The Lord who is at your right hand
will smite kings in the day of his wrath;
he will rule over nations.
He will heap high the corpses;
he will smash heads over the wide earth.
He will drink from the brook beside the road;
therefore he will lift high his head.
–Psalm 110, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tradition attributes authorship of Psalm 110 to David. One cannot be certain of the veracity of that claim, given the tendency of many people from Biblical times to attribute authorship to the famous dead regardless of who actually wrote a given text. That issue is a minor point, however. A Hebrew monarch has won a military victory, hence the content and tone of the text. One can read the poem and identify passages germane to both Moses and Jesus, as well as those irrelevant to each person. We read of Moses smiting in Exodus, for example. And Jesus, like the king in the Psalm, sits enthroned at the right hand of Yahweh.
One might also compare Moses and Jesus, as the author of the Gospel of Matthew did frequently. Both men were, for example, far more than they appeared to be; they were deliverers and princes, although not of the same variety. No, Jesus was (and remains) far greater than Moses, for our Lord and Savior’s “I am” (John 9:58) carries the same meaning as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Jesus was the human incarnation of the deity who spoke to Moses.
Both men had to decide between a faithful life and a safer, more comfortable one. They chose well, to the benefit of many people. You and I, O reader, will probably not receive the mandate to liberate a large population. We will certainly not have the vocation to redeem the world. Yet we do have to decide between following God and doing otherwise. The faithful path can be a dangerous and frequently uncomfortable one, but it is the superior way. God calls us to act for the benefit of others, even when many of them reject God and us by extension. But, as Charles William Everest (1814-1877) wrote in 1833:
“Take up thy cross,” the Savior said;
“if thou wouldst my disciple be,
take up thy cross with willing heart
and humbly follow after me.”
+++++
Take up thy cross, let not its weight
fill thy weak spirit with alarm;
his strength shall bear thy spirit up,
and brace thy heart and nerve thine arm.
+++++
Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame,
and let thy foolish pride be still;
the Lord refused not e’en to die
upon a cross, on Calv’ry’s hill.
+++++
Take up thy cross and follow Christ,
nor think till earth to lay it down,
for only they who bear the cross
may hope to wear the glorious crown.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 12, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSAPHAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF POLOTSK, AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF CHARLES SIMEON, ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF RAY PALMER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY, BRITISH NOVELIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Adapted from this post:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
Pingback: Devotion for January 7, 8, and 9, Year B (ELCA Daily Lectionary) | ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS