Devotional Reflection, Friday, May 3, 2024
The week of the fifth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
7 ‘Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. . . .11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 963)
AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48
Lev. 23:1-22; 2 Thess. 2:1-17; Matt. 7:1-12
Today we celebrate the Feast of Elizabeth Cruciger. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Gerald G. May has said, ". . . any prayer you might say consciously is but a wave on the surface of the great prayer being prayed deeply in you by the source of love every moment of your life."* What a feast of images, like a luscious aquifer bubbling up through the rocks. First, conscious prayer constitutes only a fraction of the prayer going on in our lives. Second, our prayers actually spring from God’s seeking us and calling out through us.
Earlier, Jesus told us to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness above all else and that all these things we seek, food, shelter, clothing, God’s kingdom, and God’s salvation, would be added to us. Here, Jesus says, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. Three of those four verbs are passive—will be added, will be given, will be opened. In each case, we are receiving and the giver is unnamed.
Suppose we translated this way, “Seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness and God will add all these things as well”; “ask and God will give to you”; knock and God will open the door for you”? The unnamed giver in those passive verbs then becomes more definitely God. (People in Jesus’ cultural setting were reticent to use God’s name out of reverence, hence the passive verbs with the unnamed actor.) As May put it the source of love prays deep within us every moment of our lives.
There you have it. God seeks us. As Prayer D in The Book of Common Prayer puts it, “When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death. In your mercy, you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation.” (BCP, 373)
That divine seeking intends to awaken our own deep hunger for God’s presence and evoke a response of seeking, of faith, and of openness on our part. Jesus encourages us to pour out our desires and needs to this God of love, a God whose intent is to form a vital personal connection with us and only to do us good.
We certainly have nothing to fear from this God. Jesus likens God to a parent whose love for their children removes all possibility of taunting or of giving them what would harm them. Suppose I mistakenly ask for what would be a “snake” rather than a “fish.” Would not this seeking God give me the fish I needed rather than the snake I sought?
* Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart: Living Beyond Addiction (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), p. 166.
Collect of the Day, Fifth Sunday of Easter
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 225)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Elizabeth Cruciger, poet and hymnographer (died 2 May 1535 CE)
Collect of the Feast of Elizabeth Cruciger
Pour out your Spirit upon all of your sons and daughters, Almighty God, that like your servant Elisabeth Cruciger our lips may praise you, our lives may bless you, and our worship may give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)
A Collect for Quiet Confidence
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 832)
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
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 7:1-12
7:1‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the log is in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. 6‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
7 ‘Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
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