Connected to the Heavenly
- davidwperk
- Aug 8, 2024
- 5 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, August 8, 2024
Proper 13, the week of the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
49Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ 50Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ 51And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 979)
AM Psalm [83] or 145; PM Psalm 85, 86
Judges 8:22-35; Acts 4:1-12; John 1:43-51
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dominic. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Episcopal psychiatrist Gerald G. May has defined spirituality as " . . .our direct, living connectedness with the divine." * In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares himself to the ladder in Jacob’s vision (Genesis 28), a ladder linking the earthly and heavenly worlds, between the visible and the invisible, a living connectedness with the divine.
That sets my mind to wondering. Our visible world feels so busy and noisy and cluttered. Life flies by like fence posts through the window of a speeding car. The visual images assault the eyes, making any deep looking a challenge. The cacophony of sounds—traffic, elevator music, television, ringing cell phones, the clatter of dishes and voices in a restaurant—drowns out the inner voices whispering to us from that other world.
That strikes me each time I return from tent camping in some remote location. After a week or two of listening to the wind in the trees, the chatter of a brook rushing over rocks, and the sounds of the night through the walls of the tent, returning to “civilization” comes as a shock. It takes my spirit a few days to begin tuning out the overstimulation. I become aware of the energy it takes to buffer the spirit against the assaults of the visual and the auditory.
Jesus gives me hope that a busy life, immersed fully in the daily routine, can maintain a vital link with the invisible world. How else can one explain that remarkable life than one lived out of the abundance of the world of God’s Spirit? But, even more comes to me. God intends that we live fully immersed in this culture. Jesus did. God is love and that love constantly seeks to make itself known and to connect with us in our loneliness, our woundedness, and our “caughtness.” We do not have to withdraw to preserve our link with the invisible world of the Spirit.
Our challenge becomes more obvious. It is for us to carve out spaces of silence and stillness within our daily round and larger spaces within our annual journey. In those spaces, God’s invisible love and presence will have freedom to flow into our experience and keep us connected with our deepest selves and with God’s presence there. What a joy it would be to know that someone caught a glimpse of that invisible world in the way you and I worked, played, served, and loved. May the angels keep descending and ascending upon the ladder of your connection to the heavenly.
* Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart: Living Beyond Addiction (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), p. 56.
Collect of the Day, Proper 13. The eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 232)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dominic, priest, friar, missionary (died 6 Aug 1221 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Dominic
Almighty God, grant unto your people a hunger for your Word and an urgent longing to share your Gospel, that, like your servant Dominic, we might labor to bring the whole world to the knowledge and love of you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Lectionary Prayer
Generous God, in abundance you give us things both spiritual and physical. Help us to hold lightly the fading things of this earth and grasp tightly the lasting things of your kingdom, so that what we are and do and say bay be our gifts to you through Christ, who beckons all to seek the things above, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[Revised Common Lectionary Prayers (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), p. 159.]
For the Nation
Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)
A Prayer for Light
O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 816-817)
Daily Office Gospel, John 1:43-51
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ 46Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ 48Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you get to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ 49Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ 50Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ 51And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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