Surprised into Faith
- davidwperk
- Sep 12
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, September 12, 2025
Proper 18, the week of the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s Philippians reading:
7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
You will find the full text of today’s Philippians reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 982)
AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51
1 Kings 18:20-40; Phil. 3:1-16; Matt. 3:1-12
Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart . (See below.)
David's Reflections
Just who was this person, Paul? Many, especially women, in our churches feel little connection with him because of their understanding of his views on women and because of the emotional tone of some of his writings. At least two factors contribute to his lack of popularity. First, the stories about Paul in the Book of Acts present something of a later understanding of him by someone who regarded him as a spiritual hero. Second, later letters written in Paul's name by others (a practice common in that day) contain some of the harshest statements about women (2 Timothy, Colossians, Ephesians), positions that actually stand at variance with Paul's practice and his undisputed writings (Galatians; Romans; 1 Corinthians).
Today's reading gives us one of Paul's two most extensive autobiographical reflections on Jesus’ initial revelation to him. (Paul did not convert in our traditional sense from Judaism. He remained a practicing Jew throughout his life.) The other you can find in Galatians chapter 1. Both allusions to that moment are vague and brief, a reticence I find intriguing and appealing.
Paul’s story strikes me with the dramatic suddenness of his coming to faith in Christ. He was a Pharisee and was persecuting the church. To say the least, he was not seeking Christ, and he was feeling no need for more than he was experiencing in Judaism. As he says in today’s reading, in verses 4-6, he was thriving in his Jewish practice. But, his awakening to Christ turned him from a resister and persecutor to a follower, into a church planter and theological pioneer.
Paul knew that Jesus' appearing to him had nothing to do with anything he was doing to earn or deserve it. Quite the reverse. Paul does not tell us the "how" of that. He simply says in Galatians 1:15-16 that God revealed Christ in him (a translation I prefer to most English renderings that have Christ revealed “to” him.)* He may have alluded to that revelation in 2 Corinthians 4:6 when he said that God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God's undeserved love was the only possible explanation for Christ’s revelation to him. As today’s reading indicates, Paul’s entire spiritual value system got reversed and turned inside out as a result.
I wonder how many people who live in our communities, like Paul, feel no particular religious need. How many might be among your friends or family or coworkers. Yet, like Paul, if they get surprised by an encounter with Christ in you or in word and sacrament or in some other unlikely moment, their spiritual hunger could awaken and call them home to God. Your hunger can be awakened by the smell of baking bread. Knowing this encourages me not to despair or to assume that people who show no visible interest cannot be transformed with the story of God’s saving love in Christ. That possibility fills every day with exciting potential.
*Note that the New Revised Standard Version does offer “in me” as an optional translation in the footnotes.
Collect of the Day, Proper 18, the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen (BCP, 233)
Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart, bishop (died 12 Sep 1830 CE).
Collect of the Feast of John Henry Hobart
Revive your Church, Lord God of hosts, whenever it falls into complacency and sloth, by raising up devoted leaders like your servant John Henry Hobart; and grant that their faith and vigor of mind may awaken your people to your message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 97)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
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 Epistle, Philippians 3:1-16
3:1Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. 2Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.
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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