Today's artwork is Paisley Nasturtium by Alma Lee, http://www.ebsqart.com/Quote for the day
You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
John Adams, 1735-1826
Opening Words
It is good to sing praises to our God;
it is pleasant and right to praise God.
The Lord is restoring Jerusalem,
God is bringing back the exiles.
God has decided the number of the stars
and calls each one by name.
Great and mighty is our Lord;
God's wisdom cannot be measured.
Psalm 147:1-2,4-5
A Reading from Another Voice
Christians have always known that they can only make real and credible their relationship to the great mystery of their lives through unconditional love for their neighbor. This love for others in all the varied forms it can take is the liberating grace of God. Where this love is real, the spirit of Jesus is at work, even if it is not named. Everything depends on this, absolutely everything. Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith.
A Reading from Acts 21:15-26
After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.
A time for reflection on the readings
Prayer
The sky does it simply, naturally day by day by day. The sun does it joyfully, like someone in love, like a runner on the starting line. The sky, the sun, they just can't help themselves. No loud voices, no grand speeches, but everyone sees, and is happy with them. Make us like that, Lord, so that our faith is not in our words but in our lives, not in what we say but in who we are, passing on your love like an infectious laugh: not worried, not threatening, just shining like the sun, like a starry night, like a lamp on a stand, light for life -- your light for our lives. (Kathy Galloway, The Iona Community)
Blessing
May you see the glory of God in sun and sky; may you hear the Creator's song in bird and breeze; and may the grace of Christ's Spirit course through you, body and soul.
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