Daily reflections - Bible readings

Since returning to Christianity last year, I've decided to return to Bible reading, and doing so with new, spiritual eyes. I've appreciated everyone's advice on here as to how to dive back into the Bible, and also ended up finding this website, and love the daily readings and reflections. Thought it would be nice to post them here, and discuss if you wish. Enjoy

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/churches/daily-readings/

Matthew 6, 31-34
Something to read
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 'So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today
New Revised Standard Version

Something to think about
We reach the end of this chapter and find Jesus summing up much that has just gone before. We've been taught the prayer that speaks of God's coming kingdom (verses 9-13). Now we are reminded just how much that kingdom is to be the home we seek and the home we know.

What then is this kingdom? How can we live in it whilst living in the world? For Jesus does not seem here to be calling us away from the world. We'll still face worry and troubles (verse 34). Reality will bite as deeply into our lives as it will into everyone else's. But the reality of the kingdom will be for us the key to unlock what living means.

It becomes, in the words of Jesus, a kingdom that means hoarding less. It is a kingdom within which security comes not by the things we possess and control, but by the depth of our trust in God. Praying the prayer of Jesus, following in the footsteps of Jesus, means allowing God to be God.

And this means trusting that God is good even when bad things happen, trusting that God is active even when God seems absent, trusting that God has overcome evil even when evil is done. None of which is easy. So often life will entice us into believing that God has let us down.

Or, even worse, let others down. Then it is that the depth of our trust, our citizenship of the kingdom, will be most tested.

Something to do
Think about a difficult situation you are caught up in right now. Perhaps you are facing a hardship of some sort. Perhaps there is sickness or sadness around you. Perhaps you see an injustice. Take time to simply hold that situation with God in prayer.

Try not to tell God what it is you demand that God does about it. Instead simply hold it, placing it into God's hands. What strikes you about trusting God in this moment? What is Jesus saying to you even now through these words from Matthew?

Something to pray
Dear God,
infinite in wisdom and love,
your world hurts.
Life is too hard and there are too many ways in which we do harm and get damaged.
Trusting you and your good purposes can be unbearable.
We who are so used to flicking the switch and receiving instant light struggle with mystery and trust in your unpredictable and sovereign grace.
Help us to heed Jesus here.
It matters what we build our lives upon.
It matters how we orientate ourselves upon the world's sea.
We need a compass to give us true course and assured arrival.
That is why you teach us of a kingdom not forged by ruthless force,
but ushered in through the birth of a baby and a death upon a cross.
Help us to trust, and to enter in to life.

BeStill&Know said:

This is where the Lord has been leading me towards recently, His Holy Spirit, His Word and this morning, His Kingdom. I perceive like a door slowly opening to an understanding I have either forgotten or was not yet aware of, to the degree is will be known to me. If you have anything to share of how the Lord has helped you overcome in your life please add your thoughts to my Post
I am hoping to have it moved to Deeper Fellowship.
http://www.christianforums.com/threads/glory-to-god-old-timers-over-come-journal.7929645/

Click to expand...

Yes, the Holy Spirit...that is what led me back to faith last year. (I was an atheist when this happened) It is remarkable, and it has changed everything for me. It isn't that as believers, we don't have down days...we do. Life is hard sometimes, but it is knowing that we have a great Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Jesus' presence to guide us...that is the game changer. I think so, anyways.

I will check out your thread.

Today's reading from that same site, above. I'm confused on what this purification process is exactly, like how to relate it to today??

St Luke 2, 22 – 24
Something to read
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
New Revised Standard Version

Something to think about
Luke is the only Gospel writer to record the event of Jesus’ life in chronological order and experts consider him to be one of the most accurate historians of his day although by trade he was a medical doctor.

Whether intentionally or not, Luke seems to be combining two rites here. One is the purification of the mother following the birth of a child (Leviticus 12:1-8) and the other is the presentation in the temple a consecration and redemption of the firstborn signifying that the child is "holy to the Lord"

Luke makes it clear that Jesus, from the very beginning, is obedient to the Law of Moses. He also confirms the devotion of Joseph and Mary to the law, mentioning the law three times in verses 22-24 and again in verses 27 and 39.

The law then in question is highlighted in Exodus 13:2. This is in commemoration of the Passover, where firstborn Jewish males were spared death. The law also requires a sacrifice of "a year old lamb and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering".

However, there is a provision in the law for a woman who cannot afford a lamb. In that case, she is allowed to sacrifice two turtledoves or two pigeons.

Something to do
In today’s unequal world of the few who have much and the many who have too little, it seems fairness has little to do with affordability. In the time of the writings of Luke people traded commodities but today we trade in financial currency. If you are able help someone in need by donating, making a pledge or volunteering to help others in your community so that your action becomes your witness.

Something to pray
Prince of Peace
you were born into a world
where terror reigned and fear ruled
and live today in a world crucified by war.
Fill us with your passion for justice
that wherever we see evil about
we may live to disturb its path
and strive to build bridges of reconciliation.
In darkness, beckon us with your kindly light
that we never lose sight of your vision of peace
in which the lion lies down with the lamb

The consolation of Israel

Luke 2:25-27
Something to read
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law.
New Revised Standard Version

Something to think about
Simeon has been anticipating this day in the temple for some time, he had been eagerly expecting to see the Messiah. But what is the 'consolation of Israel'? 'Consolation' is the Greek noun paraklesis, 'comfort, consolation'.

It comes from the root word parakaleo, 'call to one's side' then 'help, encourage and comfort'. In our passage Simeon is eagerly looking forward to the time when an occupied and weary Jerusalem receives her comfort and relief from the Lord, which was popularly expected to be brought about by the Messiah.

The Holy Spirit had made Simeon a promise. The message to Simeon is that he won't die until he has seen the Messiah. The phrase 'the Lord's Christ' means 'the Messiah promised, sent and provided by the Lord'.

Something to do
A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. How many promises have you made recently and kept? Today remember a broken or delayed promise and make good on it.

Something to pray
O Lord, O God
creator of all we know.
God is good and
his mercy endures forever.
Your promises are never broken
and your people are not forgotten.
Help us to remember
your promises to a broken world.
Give me the strength
and courage to stand
renewed and refreshed to serve.

Today's reading...

St Luke 2, 28 – 32
Something to read
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 'Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.'

New Revised Standard Version

Something to think about
Today is Candlemas. The day commemorates the ritual purification of Mary, 40 days after the birth of her son Jesus. This day also marks the ritual presentation of the baby Jesus to God in the Temple at Jerusalem. Simeon held the baby Jesus and called him a Light to the World.

Here we read the absolute Sovereign has kept his promise to Simeon, who now asks the Lord to let him die in peace. In the prophetic praise that follows, Jesus is equated with 'your salvation'.

It is not accidental that Jesus' name, in Hebrew Yeshua (a form of the name 'Joshua'), means literally, 'salvation'. So Simeon looks on the child named 'Salvation' and says, 'my eyes have seen your salvation...'

It is remarkable that Simeon sees Jesus' salvation as extending to all people - Gentiles and Jews alike. This is the same message the angel spoke to the shepherds on Christmas night: 'I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people' (Luke 2:10).

Something to do
When was the last time you heard good news? Maybe it was a wedding announcement, a birthday or a new job. We all want and wish for good news. The Gospel message tells us Jesus is good news to all people, especially the poor.

Today make your own good news happen - reconnect with a neighbour, work colleague or school friend and let them know you care.

Something to pray
Lord Christ, set me on fire
Burn for me all that dims your light
Kindle an answering flame in lives around;
That darkness may be driven back into this world
Transforming it with love.

Lamentations 1, 1 – 7
Something to read
How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become a vassal.

She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
they have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations,
and finds no resting-place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter.

Her foes have become the masters,
her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has made her suffer
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.

From daughter Zion has departed
all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.

Jerusalem remembers,
in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all the precious things
that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
and there was no one to help her,
the foe looked on mocking
over her downfall.

Something to think about
The Book of Lamentations, sitting firmly in the middle of the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, laments the fall of Jerusalem and the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. The Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem lasted from 589 BC until 587 BC.

It left the city devastated, the palace and Temple in ruins, many dead and many others taken as prisoners to Babylon. The bitter aftermath of war included a terrible famine, the loss or exile of loved ones, the challenges of reconstruction and, most of all, a pervasive sense of spiritual abandonment.

The survivors left in Jerusalem feared that God had turned against them or even forgotten them altogether. The five poems that make up the book of Lamentations are an anguished cry by a stricken people expressing the grief and horror of war.

Each poem contains several elements: a series of complaints, a statement of guilt, a cry for God's help and a petition against enemies. But there are none of the statements of praise conventionally found in psalms of lament (eg, Psalm 22) in any of the poems.

Perhaps the burden of their sorrow was so heavy that they could not find any words of praise. Yet this is not a people who have turned altogether from God - their form of lament, which is a public, liturgical voicing of pain, is in itself a cry to God.

Deepening the sense of despair is the use of a dirge, or death wail, used in funerals, in three of the poems. This is not just the death of individuals, or even a city, being mourned - it is the death of a nation.

It is not hard to hear in the poems of Lamentations the voices of the people of Haiti, who have suffered so greatly over more than two centuries, yet still cry out to God - and to us.

Something to do
Look and listen to Christian Aid’s Haiti pages on this website, especially the prayer reflection, and hold these people in your hearts and prayers.http://www.christianaid.org.uk/haiti

Something to pray
O Christ our true peace,
who felt the desolation of death
and the fear of abandonment
deliver us who also recognise the shape of desolation
and weep.

We pray for the people of Haiti.
Give us insight to see the structures of injustice by which we profit,
and grace to cherish all people in our vulnerability,
knowing that we all live within your love.
Amen

Lamentations 1, 8 – 11

Something to read

Jerusalem sinned grievously,
so she has become a mockery;
all who honoured her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans,
and turns her face away.

Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
with none to comfort her.
‘O Lord, look at my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!’

Enemies have stretched out their hands
over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
to enter your congregation.

All her people groan
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to revive their strength.
Look, O Lord, and see
how worthless I have become.

Something to think about

Personification is a figure of speech, a metaphor in which human characteristics, feelings or actions are attributed to things or abstract ideas.

We are, for example, familiar with Father Time, Mother Earth, and with the custom of giving hurricanes names. The poems in Lamentations chapters 1,3 and 4 use a variety of female images to depict Judah and Jerusalem.

These images weave in and out of one another, sometimes confusingly so it is not clear if several women appear in the poems. But the female representations of Judah and Jerusalem merge into one figure, 'daughter Zion', who personifies Jerusalem.

Zion is the mountain in the centre of the city upon which the Temple was built. Zion was the place where God chose to dwell. Daughter Zion is both spoken about by a narrator and speaks herself.

Daughter Zion is God's beloved daughter, and a passionate spokeswoman for the people's anguish. At the beginning of the chapter, Jerusalem is compared to a widow, a term used in the ancient world specifically to one whose husband's death deprives her of economic subsistence, completely exposed to the risk of destitution, disease and death.

Today there are two million widows in Afghanistan; Kabul is known as 'the widows' capital of the world.' They experience that same exposure, and like daughter Zion, they are also exposed to abuse and indecency.

Christian Aid works with partners in different parts of Afghanistan providing training, equipment, tools and seeds to help women to grow food for their children and provide them with safe and dignified means of employment and income.

Something to do

Who are the groups in your community for whom life may be particularly difficult or uncomfortable; perhaps homeless people or families of prisoners or carers? Can you take a step towards them; for example by writing to your MP on their behalf or by befriending someone who is isolated?

Something to pray

Let us pray for those whose lives are wilderness
Those who are hungry and thirsty
Those who are all alone

Let us pray for those whose own will not receive them
Those who are not listened to
Those who live under constant threat

May we stand firm in the gospel of peace and justice
and follow faithfully in Christ's way of compassion and solidarity
with those who are poor and excluded,
wherever it may lead us.

Amen

Today's reading, enjoy

Lamentations 3, 22 – 30
Something to read
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will hope in him.’

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.

Something to think about
People in pastoral ministry learn about the stages of grief; shock, denial, anger, deep sadness.

There is wisdom in these words from Lamentations; they remind us that there are times when it is good to sit alone silently, laying down all the busyness, noise and distraction we use to defend ourselves from the experience and painful emotions of deep grief, regret, guilt, loss.

For by the grace and deliverance of God, if we make space to name and lament what we have lost, to repent hurts we have caused, there comes a time when we are able to let go of clinging to a broken past and move forward into new life.

Climate change is bringing about great natural and human catastrophe and suffering.

In the last 35 years alone, the human species has destroyed one-third of its non-renewable resources. We are losing around 10,000 species of life every year. In the west, perhaps we are somewhere between denial and anger with regard to climate change.

But the sadness will come, as it has for those who have either experienced or studied in depth the scale of what is happening. Such immense sorrow can have a paralysing effect.

The biblical tradition of lamentation – the public voicing of pain - is one important way in which people in huge crisis have responded and sought to find a way through their disempowerment.

The poems of the book of Lamentations are still used today in both Jewish and Christian liturgy. They have allowed people to name their loss, their complicity and their fear, to turn passive despair into active mourning and to release the energy trapped in maintaining denial into energy for action and change.

Lamentation has been an important aspect of all movements for justice, peace and freedom.

Something to do
Spend some time in silence thinking about all humankind has lost in the last 35 years. Let yourself feel the sadness of that. Offer it up.

Something to pray
Lord, by the glories of your creation, which we did not devise,
by the assurance of your freeing us, which we could not accomplish,
By the wind of your Spirit, fanning our faith to flame,
fill us with life anew.

Today's readings and reflections from that website...enjoy

Lamentations 3, 40 – 48

Something to read

Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the Lord.
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands
to God in heaven.
We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.

You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
You have made us filth and rubbish
among the peoples.

All our enemies
have opened their mouths against us;
panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction.
My eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of my people.

Something to think about
Sometimes words fail us. Mouths open but minds don’t engage. This happens when we’re experiencing extreme emotions, pain or bewilderment. It’s at these times we often need someone else’s words to give expression to something too difficult for us to talk about.

Lamentations is a series of acrostic poems and a psalm at the end completing the work. An acrostic poem has the first letter of each sentence either spelling out a message or, as in Lamentations, running through the alphabet.

This form of writing was used to help people memorise the text. The author of Lamentations uses this literary device to help the people make full confession and repentance of the sins that they had committed that they believed had brought about the destruction of Jerusalem.

A similar idea is behind church liturgy. When we are taking part in a church service we may also use another’s words when making confession together. This helps us to be clear about the sin we’ve committed and our need for forgiveness, both individually and corporately.

Something to do
In your worship today, join in with the spirit of Lamentations. Make your confession together with those with whom you share worship, as the church seeks to ‘…examine our ways, and return to the Lord.’

Something to pray
Lord God
We have sinned against you; we have done evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your love.
Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.
Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

I have been slacking in posting these, however...I've noticed that some seem to have political themes woven in, which I don't particularly care for...there should be politics in prayers. I like this reading today.

Lamentations 5, 31 – 39
Something to read
Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to aliens.
We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven;
we are weary, we are given no rest.
We have made a pact with Egypt and Assyria,
to get enough bread.
Our ancestors sinned; they are no more,
and we bear their iniquities.

Something to think about
The last chapter of Lamentations resembles the Psalms of communal lament, such as Psalms 44 and 80, in which similar corporate language is used to speak to God of the people’s shame and desperate need for deliverance.

In our passage, the writer of Lamentations describes the people of Judah as orphans and widows; figures that throughout scripture stand for those who are the poorest of the poor.

These are those who have been left behind in Judah and have become a dispossessed people forced to work for others to survive. They struggle to eke out an existence and are forced to pay for basics, like water and wood, that before would have been their own.

In Bangladesh, where virtually the entire population is precariously perched just above sea level, predicted rises would leave millions displaced and dispossessed.

There is, quite literally, nowhere for them to go. Already, families have to move every couple of years, as increased melt water from the Himalayan glaciers sweeps their land and fragile livelihoods away.

Without concerted efforts to alleviate these effects, say the experts, we can forget about making poverty history – climate change is set to make it permanent.

Something to do
When you next take a drink today, pause for a moment to remember that there are millions living with the threat of having everything they’ve ever known washed away, and then pray for quick and effective action on climate change.

Something to pray
Compassionate God, make your loving presence felt to refugees, torn from home, family and everything familiar. Warm, especially, the hearts of the young, the old, and the most vulnerable among them.

Help them know that you accompany them as you accompanied Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their exile to Egypt. Lead refugees to a new home and a new hope, as you led the Holy Family to their new home in Nazareth.

Open our hearts to receive them as our sisters and brothers in whose face we see your son, Jesus. Amen.

Slacking, but here is today's reading and reflection from christian daily aid uk website. I especially like this one.

John 19, 39 – 41
Something to read
Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.
New Revised Standard Version

Something to think about
Here is another secret admirer. Again, we cannot know the deep regret that Nicodemus, like Joseph of Arimathea, might have felt at being able to approach Jesus only after his death.

How many opportunities had he missed earlier? And yet, he is privileged to minister to Christ’s body in this practical way, producing gifts that recall the gifts brought by the magi at the other end of Jesus’s life.

We cannot know, but we can hope for his sake, that he was among those who encountered Jesus after his resurrection. It is good to think of him at last standing openly, in the daylight, among Christ’s new church.

Something to do
God is so merciful, that it is sometimes easy to forget how important timing can be. Most of the time it isn’t: our lives are spongy and fluid, and usually something not done today can be done tomorrow.

But every so often, there is a critical moment that we cannot afford to miss — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to say the one thing a person needs to hear, make the one gesture, join the right campaign, that will make a difference to our world.

And there’s always the chance that we might be looking the other way, and blow it.

So today task is not an action, but a resolution, framed in the following prayer:

Something to pray
Please forgive us, Lord, for those occasions when we have failed to produce the right word, done the right thing, when it was necessary. Make us alert to those moments in the future when we’re called to make a difference. Build in us the habit of loveliness, so that we naturally do the right thing, at the right time. Amen