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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany
February 1, 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: Matthew 6:19-24
‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
There is a beautiful freedom that attends generosity. It strikes me that generosity is far more about the manner in which it is expressed than in the actions that proceed from a person’s generosity. In this way I am reminded of the time I had a very bad cold. It occurred during my first year in law school. For two days I slept very poorly and ate very little, if anything. I believe that it was my not eating that so alarmed my godmother. For on the second day of my not eating she arrived at my house in the evening with a full course dinner that she had prepared at her home for me and brought to my house. She lived at least fifteen to twenty minutes from my house, yet that meal was still hot when she arrived. She made pork chops with gravy, mashed potatoes and string beans. She served me herself, She even brought her china and silver for me. And she stood over me to assure that I made a clean plate. It was delicious! I do believe I did not finish my meal because there was so much food.
Her generosity was expressed in her manner. Her entire focus was on my health and well-being. She gave the best of herself in her time, her intention for me, and the care she exhibited in preparation and service. Of course, there were leftovers so that I could experience again how she had cared for me. This hastened my recovery.
The reference in Matthew’s Gospel to one’s heart being where one’s treasure is, comes in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Here tension arises between stewardship and generosity, that is in terms of where one’s devotion lies, potentially suspended, as it were, between two magnetic poles, earthly and heavenly. You cannot serve God and wealth. What is interesting is the role worry plays in the tension. Worry, about one’s life, and all that characterizes life, can threaten to separate us from God.
Becoming so intensely anxious about money that it separates us from God demeans us as human beings and impoverishes our lives. This may take any number of forms — too much time given to earning, too much time managing what is earned, too much time spent on spending, too much fretting over what is enough and even what to do with what one has, etc. But in each case worry keeps us from a right relationship with God and each other. We become bound to a thing and the pursuit of it.
The antidote to this is to trust in God, to immerse oneself in God’s presence and generosity. Striving for this trust, and for a worry-free view of money, opens a window to God in the heart. This is manner over actions that can reshape our thinking or our relationship to God, and then to appreciating the treasure given.
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.
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