Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
July 1, 2022
The Invitatory
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
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.
The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
“It’s a great life… if you don’t weaken.” Many years ago, a man a little older than I, made this remark to me, apropos of what, I do not really recall. It seemed to be his general approach to life. I was not exactly sure if this was true, and if so, how it was attainable? For it suggested to me that one had to be on one’s guard at all times, lest one should weaken. And what would save one at a time of great challenge or distress? And at what cost? And at the end of the day, was this the only way to a great life? Would such a life really be great?
Although the passage does not refer explicitly to the Trinity, it focuses on the action of God as experienced by the people of God. What Paul has described is a fundamental dilemma facing humankind. The power of sin, that prevents us from doing what is good and right despite our best intentions.
For Paul asserts the solution to this human dilemma lies with the power of the Spirit. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” The language points to the real, life-giving power of God.
However we name those sins whose power to overwhelm many feel powerless in the face of sin. Others are unaware of sin’s influence. But my male friend, like Paul here, was calling me to acknowledge that life is mine and it’s yours! That is a powerful promise that Paul affirms often and passionately. And there are consequences. If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. The promise of the resurrection is that no one is so dead in sin that the power of God cannot overcome sin’s hold. Paul invites us to receive the Spirit of God as earnestly and completely as the Spirit of The life-giving power of God makes it possible for us to receive life through our adoption as children of God. This is at the heart of our identity.
Paul’s proclamation is based on oppositions between death/life, flesh/spirit, slavery/adoption. Death, flesh and slavery stand opposed to life, spirit. Pauli Murray, whom The Episcopal Church remembers today, put it this way: “My entire life’s quest has been for spiritual integration and this quest has led me ultimately to Christ in whom there is no East or West, no North nor South, no Black, nor white, nor Red Christ, only Christ, the Spirit and Love and reconciliation, the healer of deep psychic wounds, drawing us all closer to that goal of perfection which links up to God our Creator and to eternity. And that is a great life!
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.
