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.
SATURDAY, August 1 (Joseph of Arimathaea)
Acts 17:16-34. Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
In Paul's time the city of Athens was a center of philosophical and cultural life, a place where ideas were introduced and debated. It was a vast melting pot, the perfect place for Paul to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. The people were "professional seekers" and Paul was confident that at the heart of their search was a desire for the one, true, and living God, revealed in Jesus.
I'm not sure that any one city today could be likened to ancient Athens. Globalization has made the whole world a melting pot. If there is an equivalent to the Athenian forum for debate and "telling or hearing something new," it's the Internet. But with the technology to manipulate sounds and images, and with the plethora of voices, it is often difficult to separate truth from fiction. The desire to find the one, true, and living God is the same. There will always be an abundant supply of the next new thing, but there is only one Lord who makes all things new.
PRAY for the Diocese of Rochester (Canterbury, England)
Ps 75, 76 * 23, 27; 2 Samuel 5:22-6:11; Mark 8:1-10
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
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