God is the First to Cry

Devotional Reflection, Thursday, October 31, so24

Proper 25, the week of the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

The full Gospel reading for today can be found at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 991)

AM - Psalm 50; PM - Psalm [59, 60], or 33

Ecclesiasticus 31:12-18, 25-32:2; Revelation 12:7-17; Luke 11:53-12:12

Today is the Eve of All Saints Day

David’s Reflections

In the movie “Selma,” the story of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Martin Luther King’s character is seeking to comfort a black grandfather whose grandson had died from being beaten and shot by police. “God was the first to cry,” King said.

Jesus offers us just this image of God, a loving God who suffers with us and is the first to cry when we suffer. “6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

God values us ultimately. This image of God sparks my sense of care for my children, Ben and Katie, and their spouses, Jenny and John, and children, Lyra, Jonas, and Will. If any of them became ill or was in danger or was injured, I would be the second to cry, following King’s analogy. They are of ultimate value. I have little or no power to spare them illness, crisis, or injury. In such a moment, I can be there with them and pray for them and give myself for their well being. During the height of the pandemic, those anxious flutterings of the heart were all the more intense and frequent.

If a human parent can suffer with their children and feel the flutterings of anxious love even even when they are not in crisis, how much more can God? We are of much more value to God than anything else in God’s creation. We never escape God’s knowledge and awareness. God’s Spirit lives inside our skin.

Episcopal psychiatrist and spiritual guide Gerald G. May says, ”God is far more intimate with us than human parents ever could be, even closer than a pregnant woman is to her unborn child.  God's love pervades us, flows through every molecule, vibrates every particle of our being.”+

+Gerald G. May, Addition and Grace (New York:  Harper, 1988), p. 122.

Collect of the Day:  Proper 25, the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 235)

I Cannot Do This Alone O God, early in the morning I cry to you.  Help me to pray And to concentrate my thoughts on you. I cannot do this alone  In me there is darkness.    But with you there is light;  I am lonely, but you do not leave me;  I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;  I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience.   I do not understand your ways.  But you know the way for me . . .Restore me to liberty.  And enable me to live now That I may answer before you and before me.    Lord, whatever this day may bring, Your name be praised. (Dietrich Bonhöffer)

Prayer to the Spirit O God, we await your Spirit with eager hearts. Fill our longing with the fullness of your being that we may give witness to your life and concern for all that you made. We ask this through Jesus who lives with you and with the Holy Spirit for all ages. Amen. [People’s Companion to the Breviary: vol. II. (Indianapolis: Carmelite Sisters, 1997), p. 321)]

A Collect for Mission

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)

Daily Office Gospel, Luke 11:53-12:12

53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, 54lying in wait for him, in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

12:1Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered in thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

4 ‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority* to cast into hell.* Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how* you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’

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