Today’s evening meditation is available below in audio and script formats. The audio version is also available for free download on the player.

Reading

We live in and through one another. We become ourselves only in and through a process of mutual inter-becoming. It all began in God’s own creative, self-giving love. Much deeper than the inevitability of my [physically] resembling my earthly mother is the reality of my core identity, the core identity of all who bear the same family resemblance, a unique but related face of compassion—the same divine Love has birthed us all. God will never be dead as long as we’re alive.

—Catherine T. Nerney

Commentary

The whole thing is one, just at different stages, all of it loved corporately by God (and, one hopes, by us). Within this worldview, we are saved not by being privately perfect, but by being “part of the body,” humble links in the great chain of history. This view echoes the biblical concept of a covenant love that was granted to the Jewish people as a whole, and never just to one individual like Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Esther, or David. Similarly, the prophets and Jesus spoke both their judgments and their promises to the collective of the House of Jacob, Moab, Bashan, Gilgal, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Jerusalem (and on and on) much more than they ever did to individuals. Many Christians’ failure to recognize this has led to a major misinterpretation of the entire Bible. (CAC)

Quiet

As your day draws to a close, spend a few moments in silence and stillness.

Podcast Feeds

Abbreviations

(BC) The Belgic Confession

(CAC) The Center For Action & Contemplation

(CD) The Canons of Dort

(CIB) Church In Bethesda Prayers

(DZ) Donna Z.

(HC) The Heidelberg Catechism

(IO) Inward Outward

(MAO) Michael A. O’Sullivan

(NT) The New Testament

(OT) The Old Testament

(RP) Ryan Phipps

(TAO) The Tao Te Ching

(WC) The Westminster Confession

(WLB) Words To Live By

(WLC) The Westminster Larger Catechism

(WSC) The Westminster Shorter Catechism

ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A