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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany

January 20, 2023

The Invitatory

The Lord has shown forth his glory. Come let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Ephesians 6:1-9

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honour your father and mother’—this is the first commandment with a promise: ‘so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’

And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.

And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

From Proverbs 22: 6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Maya Angelou tells the story in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that while she was living with her grandmother she casually remarked, “By the way…” which caused her grandmother to discipline her harshly because the phrase “by the way” was disrespectful to Jesus Christ. He is The Way. Similarly, my father sternly disapproved of calling anyone a fool. I avoid doing so to this day.

Paul gives consideration to one’s responsibilities within the confines of one’s home. This appears to be rather confining. What is discussed in this letter is just as important as what happens in a broader social context, perhaps more so. The relationships that one develops in one’s home are basic to each person’s own life, to how one functions in a community or political organization and how one participates in the cultural and economic institutions and structures.

Human beings function within a historical context. We all inherit a personal and a familial group and national history. We are tied to a past, struggling with the present and challenged by the future. Human beings function within an economic system of one kind or another. This economic system may determine what one possesses and produces. It dictates much of one’s living. To contemporary readers this presents differently in the consideration of how one would treat those in roles primarily defined by economic status.

Paul challenged his readers in Ephesus as he challenges us today to see beyond what might appear to be narrow rules of conduct to see consider that human beings can only live as social beings, and that the problems that attend our conduct, our survival, our peace and the future arise in our relationships and their tensions together with matters of gender, history and dependence upon economic structures. None of this realms is too far from Christ, nor are they too base, too confused or too rotten.

All of humankind is situated in relationship to God and called to obedience and to do what is right. This is true of masters in relationships to slaves. as well as slaves to master.. Both the seemingly high in socio-economic status and the seemingly low in socio-economic status are subject to the highest authority that resides in God. Before God and before one another, parents and children, masters and slaves occupy the same position; all must obey. In this they are equals and have an equal call upon the love of God. All participate in the common good, and share responsibility. The conduct to which husbands, wives, children, parents, slave and slave owner are directed is conduct that endures. The good that may result is accounted as a gift from God.



The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

     hallowed be thy Name,

     thy kingdom come,

     thy will be done,

         on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

     as we forgive those

         who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

     but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

     and the power, and the glory,

     for ever and ever. Amen.