Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
July 22, 2022
Invitatory
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
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.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.
Reading - Psalm 116: 10-17
How shall I repay the Lord
for all the good things he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call upon the Name of the Lord,
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his servants.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant and the child of your handmaid.
You have freed me from my bonds.
I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call upon the Name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the Lord's house,
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
Meditation - Winnie Smith
Today on our church calendar we celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene. Mary is an undervalued and sometimes misconstrued figure in the Bible. She has long been wrongly identified as a prostitute, and fabricated stories about her travels and her excessive wealth have permeated culture and religion for centuries. But in reality Mary was a devoted follower of Jesus. She spent years following his teaching, ministering to him, and acting as one of his close companions. In John’s telling of the crucifixion and resurrection, Mary was the first person to whom Jesus revealed himself, calling her by name in the garden near the tomb. In Mark’s Gospel, Mary and two other women came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body with spices, part of the Jewish burial rite. Even in their Lord’s death, Mary and her companions wanted to honor him - to worship him.
Psalm 116 is appointed for the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. A psalm of thanksgiving to a saving God, the text considers how the writer can best offer appropriate thanks for God’s steadfastness and deliverance from a difficult situation. “How shall I repay the Lord
for all the good things he has done for me?” The implication is that nothing the psalmist can offer will be adequate thanks to God. But the best thing she can do is offer thanksgiving through worship. Ritual thanks in the “presence of all his people,” offering up the cup of salvation and a thanksgiving sacrifice, is the ultimate act of praise. The best we can offer to God is worship. That is why the act of worship is so integral to our lives as Christians. What happens Monday to Saturday matters too, of course, but Sunday is central. When we come to church and sing praises, when we recount the stories of God’s salvation through history, we are doing so to give thanks for the innumerable blessings we have received. This is why we have beautiful vestments, altar hangings, music, and flowers. We are presenting our best to God.
That kind of praiseful worship is what Mary Magdalene consistently demonstrated to Jesus. When she went with Mary and Salome to the tomb to anoint Jesus with oil and spices, Mary was thanking her Lord the best way she knew how: through ritual worship. Let her example lead us all to lives of praise and thanksgiving to 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.
