A Reading from the Gospel of Luke 8:16-25
16 “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed; rather, one puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. 18 So pay attention to how you listen, for to those who have, more will be given, and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.”
19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out, 23 and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were terrified and amazed and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him?”
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Meditation
No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
In another place in the gospels, Jesus declares: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Followers of Jesus are light-bearers in a darkened world, or more precisely, Christians are Christ-bearers carrying his brightness into gloomy places.
Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, whom the church remembers today, was such a light-bearer in eastern Europe in the 18th century. He was one of the early leaders of the Moravian Church, a body with which the Episcopal Church is in full communion. A follower of the Lutheran pietistic tradition, Zinzendorf believed that “heart religion” should be lived out in practical ways in the lives of Christians. He and the Moravians became some of the earliest Protestant missionaries founding communities in Africa, North American, and the Caribbean.
Where is Christ calling us to bring his light in our own day? It might be as far away as eastern Europe, or it could be as close as our neighbor next door.
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Michael G. Smith served as bishop of North Dakota for 15 years and is currently assists in the dioceses of Dallas and Albany. He is a Benedictine Oblate and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Ten wonderful grandchildren call him “Papa Mike.”
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
The Diocese of Port Sudan – Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan
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