God’s Surprising and Renewing Life Energy

Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Proper 21, the week of the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

36He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.”’

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 987)

AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144

Hosea 4:11-19; Acts 21:15-26; Luke 5:27-39

Today we celebrate the Feast of Remigius of Rheims. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

Thomas Merton, Cistercian monk and writer, who spent his monastic life at Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky, wrote this poem.

“The Victory.”

Make ready for the Christ,

Whose smile,

like lightening

Sets free the song of everlasting glory

That now sleeps,

in your paper flesh,

like dynamite. *

Merton’s surprise ending catches something of the force of Jesus’ words about God’s uncontainable life.  The vivid images of new cloth on old clothes and new wine in old wineskins portray the surging energy of that life.  The loving life energy of the Holy Spirit can’t be confined within the forms religion takes in response to the encounter with God.

Jesus understood that tension between tradition and the pull of an ever-new future.  God’s saving love continues to reach toward us, but the ways in which God moves are ever changing.  Trying to confine the divine surprises within established traditions and forms of piety and worship would be something like trying to catch all the wind in a sail.

God’s life and presence lurk beneath the surface of every rain shower, every sunrise, every holy desire, every loving expression from another, and every breath we inhale.  We may experience that presence as a renewed energy, as a suddenly altered perspective, as the ability to let go of what has us caught and entrapped, as the breaking of a logjam in a relationship, or as a willingness to undertake a challenge that had us intimidated into inaction (to flag a few possibilities on an open-ended list).

Jesus’ teaching and Merton’s words prepare us for surprise, God’s surprising and renewing presence.  We’d best make ready.  Best not to cling to old perceptions of God’s presence and activity in the face of the ever shifting and unpredictable activity of the Spirit.  Best to sit loose to our institutional paradigms. Clinging means one is looking back while walking forward.  Best to look forward as we walk. Best to celebrate all past experiences of God’s loving activity without assuming the future ones will be the same.

* Thomas Merton, "The Victory," in Collected Poems (New York:  New Directions, 1946), p. 115.

Collect of the Day, Proper 21, the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 235)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Remigius of Rheims, bishop and apostle to the Franks (died 13 Jan 533 CE)

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Remigius.htm

Collect of the Feast of Remigius of Rheims

Almighty God, who by your servant Remigius spread the truth of the gospel and the fullness of the catholic faith: Grant that we who glory in the name of Christian may show forth our faith in worthy deeds; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer to the Spirit

"Welcome Holy Spirit, come and set us free!  Let each one catch the living flame and be ravished by your love!  Let our souls glow with your fire.  Help us overcome our forgetfulness of Spirit."

(Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Downer's Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996), p. 9

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)

For stewardship of creation

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 259)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of

our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

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 5:27-39

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 28And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ 31Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ 33Then they said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. 34Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.’ 36He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, “The old is good.”’

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