Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
FRIDAY, October 2
Matthew 8:1-17. "Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean."
An expert interviewed during the hurricane clean-up indicated that the equipment being brought in included "IBBs," or "itty-bitty boats." Those small craft, though unimpressive to look at, would be used to bring one or two people at a time to safety.
Often the presence of God arrives in an itty-bitty boat. I expect a big splash, and that expectation delays me in going to God. After all, how can I go to the God of all creation with small problems that hardly seem worth mentioning? I can convince myself that God needn't be bothered with me; like the man in need of healing, I say apologetically, "Lord, if you choose..."
But my places of pain and anxiety are not too small for the Creator of the universe. In fact, knowledge of the presence of God comes in those small places, when I am afraid and alone. Someone comes along--whom I believe to be an incarnation of the presence of God--to help heal me. So God, though Creator and ruler of the universe, does not always show up in flashy, conspicuous ways. More often, God shows up in an itty-bitty boat.
PRAY for the Diocese of St. Mark the Evangelist (Southern Africa)
Ps 102 * 107:1-32; 2 Kings 19:1-20; 1 Corinthians 9:16-27
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
A Meditation for Pentecost
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