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.
SUNDAY, August 16 11 Pentecost
Ephesians 5:15-20. Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I had just arrived at a new parish. On my first Sunday as I greeted parishioners at the door, a woman stopped and said, "Now that you are here, I hope we can sing some of my favorite hymns!" "I'd love to," I replied. "Tell me which ones they are." After a brief pause, she said, "Oh, you know," and left. In the confusion of learning hundreds of new names and faces I lost track of this questioner, so I never got around to asking her if we had fulfilled her request.
The principal reason we gather each Sunday in churches is to be a community of praise. We come first to give, not receive. We come to worship, before we come to want. When we join our voices together in hymns sung from the heart, the harmony is that of heaven, and we can be transformed.
When I think upon my God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen.
-Franz Joseph Haydn
PRAY for the Diocese of San Joaquin (Province VIII, USA)
Ps 111 and 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 –OR– Ps 34:9-14 and Proverbs 9:1-6; John 6:51-58
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I have 'matured' a little since that time. The Psalms say, on several occasions, to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord" in the King James and "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth" in the NIV. In neither case does it say, "when you like the music". We should be so thankful for what God has done for us and what we know God has in store for those who love and trust Him that we are unable to think of anything else but praise for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Praise be to God.