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, December 4 (John of Damascus)
Isaiah 4:2-6. On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel.
It is hard to break out of our sense of time as being one moment following another. It is difficult to realize that the last and great day is already here, even as we wait for it. When it comes to God, we can’t think about things the way we usually do. When Jesus comes, it is not in any way we expect.
The same is true of prayer. One of the biggest obstacles is our idea of how God should come to us. We wait around for the vision we think we should see and then we miss the presence that is always with us. Or we judge from our point of view, forgetting that God’s judgment will be visited upon us.
But Isaiah and Paul both remind us that we should wait with joyful expectancy for the Lord’s coming to be made evident to us. Expectantly, but not with the idea that we make it happen. Expectantly, but not expecting what we expect.
When God visits us in prayer, we are mostly aware of it in retrospect. We are aware of infusions of mercy but there is a deeper awareness that we have been embraced, and we know not when or how. (1984)
PRAY for the Diocese of Kita Kanto (Japan)
Ps 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 21:5-19
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
A Meditation for Pentecost
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