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.
MONDAY, June 22 (Alban of Britain)
Luke 21:29-36. Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.
This second day of summer dawned with an apocalyptic sky--blue-black clouds back-lit by patches of stark white. In Luke, something dreadful is about to happen, but what? Is "that day" the coming of God's kingdom?
If there is a season for dissipation and drunkenness, it would be summer, when children leave studies to play and families leave cares to vacation. But why are anxieties linked with these?
I know about dissipation and drunkenness. The consequences of my alcoholism are twenty-five lost years of my life. While I trust God today, deep forehead wrinkles testify that it was not always so. And I am guilty of excess consumption.
God is found in reality. Trying to escape using chemicals cuts me off from God. God is not found in what might have been or what may come to be: worry shuts the kingdom's door. And too much of a good thing cheapens it, undermines gratitude, the kingdom's key. Entering God's kingdom requires very little, really--we just need to show up.
PRAY for the Diocese of Western Kansas (Province VII, U.S.)
Ps 89:1-18 * 89:19-52; 1 Samuel 5:1-12; Acts 5:12-26
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
A Meditation for Pentecost
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