yes, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
"I belong to the Lord, body and soul," replied Mary, "let it happen as you say." (Luke 1:38 JBP)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 77

Scripture for the Day: Matthew 1:18-24

Reading for Reflection:

The center of one stream of biblical literature can be characterized by God’s yes.  That word expresses, perhaps better than any other, the gospel message.  God says yes to humanity.  Humanity returns the yes.  Pastoral work consists in repeating the gospel yes in every conceivable life-situation and encouraging the yes answer of faith.  St. Paul’s text is programmatic for the pastoral task: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you…was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes.  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.  That is why we utter the Amen through him to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20).  Yes in Hebrew is Amen.  It is rich and allusive in meaning.  It indicates firmness, solidity.  It describes what is nailed down.  God is “Amen” (Isaiah 65:16)—sure, faithful, affirmative.  Because God is “Amen,” people can live in “Amen,” that is, in faith.  We are taught to say yes to the God who says yes to us in Christ and so be connected in an affirmative way with the God who redeemed us.  (Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene H. Peterson)

Amen, the biblical yes, is used, always, in relation to God, the God who establishes and makes persons firm and secure in eternal purpose and redemptive love.  In response to that affirmation we say, “Amen”—“Yes.”  It is God’s most characteristic word; it is humankind’s most appropriate response.  (Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene H. Peterson)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

            Come, thou long expected Jesus

Born to set thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in thee

Israel’s strength and consolation

Hope of all the earth thou art

Dear desire of every nation

Joy of every longing heart

 

 

Joy to those who long to see thee

Dayspring from on high appear

Come thou promised rod of Jesse

Of thy birth we long to hear

O’er the hills the angels singing

News, glad tidings of a birth

Go to him your praises ringing

Christ the Lord has come to earth

 

 

Come to earth to taste our sadness

He whose glories knew no end

By his life he brings us gladness

Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend

Leaving riches without number

Born within a cattle stall

This the everlasting wonder

Christ was born the Lord of all

 

 

Born thy people to deliver,

Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever,

Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone,

By thine all sufficient merit,

Raise us to thy glorious throne.

Closing Prayer
I have heard your call, my Lord, and respond with a yes that arises from the depth of my being. I know that if I follow close to you, nothing shall be able to separate me from your love. Amen. A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job)