Prone to Drift
- davidwperk
- Mar 4
- 6 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Tuesday, March 4, 2025
The week of the last Sunday after Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:
2:1Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him
You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 950)
AM Psalm 26, 28; PM Psalm 36, 39
Deut. 6:16-25; Heb 2:1-10; John 1:19-28
Today we celebrate the Feast of Paul Cuffee. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Could we say that you and I have an attention deficit disorder in matters of faith? If nowhere else, it may well trouble us in the realm of the spiritual. We struggle to give adequate attention to the truths of the Christian message. We are like a ship loosely tied to a dock that can be carried out to sea by the tide. The knot of commitment and faith must be constantly tightened. No matter how convinced we are of the truths of the Christian faith, we can drift away from them. That's the word picture presented in the first three verses of this passage. The phrase "pay greater attention to" translates a word that could be used for mooring a ship. That combined with the phrase "lest we drift away from them" gives us two rather vivid metaphors to describe the vulnerability we all share.
The Epistle to the Hebrews presents us with one of the most profound witnesses in the New Testament both to the beauty of human nature and to the intractable evil and blindness coexisting with that beauty. In this same paragraph where the writer sounds so pessimistic about us he quotes Psalm 8, one of the most sublime passages in Hebrew Scripture about the beauty and worth of the human person. The psalmist says we are made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor.
The author seems to be writing to Jewish Christians who were wavering under pressure from non Christian family, friends, and adversaries in the synagogue and were in danger of drifting back away from their connection to the Christian faith community house meetings. Like the writer of Hebrews, the inviting and evangelizing efforts of our churches must focus primarily, not on active Episcopalians or those active in other denominations, but rather, we must focus on those without faith or those who have drifted away from their faith. And, also like that writer, we must care for our active people by nurturing them and strengthening them lest they drift away.
Why should we be concerned about finding those people and inviting them to Christ for the first time or back to the Christian way? And, why focus on Christian formation for those already in the community? We can have compassion for those without faith as we revisit our own profound need for God. We can have compassion for those who have drifted or might yet do so, because we can feel our own tendency to drift. Can we get in touch with our own vulnerability, with our tendency to slip away from what we hold dear, with the danger of getting lured into a weaker commitment? In the words of the old Gospel song:
"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it."
"Prone to leave the God I love."
The late Rich Mullins, a Christian musician and Quaker, wrote and sang these lines in one of his songs:
We are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Forged in the fires of human passion,
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage,
And, with these our hells and our heavens so few inches apart,
We must be awfully small and not as strong as we think we are.+
Rich Mullins, lyrics "We Are Not As Strong as We Think We Are."
Collect of the Day, The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
This Proper is always used on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 217)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Paul Cuffee (died 17 Mar 1812 CE), witness to the Shinnecock.
Collect of the Feast of Paul Cuffee
Almighty God, who empowers evangelists and preachers: Help us to proclaim your Word with power, like your servant Paul Cuffee, that more might come to a deeper life in you; in the Name of your Son Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Peace
Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)
For Young Persons
God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 829)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Epistle, Hebrews 2:1-10
2:1Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 4while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere, ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? 7You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8subjecting all things under their feet.’ Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings,
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 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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