Invitation to Meditation
Daily Devotions for the Church Year
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
PROPER 11: SALVATION
Sunday: Luke 10:38-42
Jesus is invited to dinner. Martha prepares the meal for Jesus and Mary sits at his feet as a disciple does. Mary knew something important: the first one who needs salvation is me. The commandment, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy”, is for us, not God, and is sandwiched between commandments of love for God and love for others. It is true that even worship cannot keep us from our obligation to our needy brother or sister, but it is also true that we cannot help others if we do not let God meet our needs first. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:27). Neither more, nor less
Monday: John 9:1-12
Jesus happens upon a blind man. The man seemed not to know about Jesus and asked him for nothing. Jesus’ disciples asked who was at fault that he was born blind, him or his parents. Jesus answers, “Neither” (v.3). Then he sends the man to wash in a pool called Siloam (The Sent One), a picture of himself. The man got no promise of sight, but came back seeing. Here is a very interesting take on the question, “Why did this happen to me?”
Tuesday: John 9:13-41
Today’s reading is a continuation of yesterday’s story. The formerly blind man is brought before the religious authorities and questioned. When asked, “What do you say about this man”, he replies, “He is a prophet” (v.17), and he did not even know who it was who had healed him. We know God by our experience
Wednesday: 1 Timothy 4:6-16
The writer says, “Take pains for yourself and your teaching, persevere in them, for by doing do you will save both yourself and those who listen to you” (v. 16). One of the temptations of people who are active in the church is to burn out, overwhelmed by needs. To remember the Sabbath is to take time in God’s presence. If we don’t spend time in the presence of God and let God meet our needs, we will have nothing to give to others. We are conduits of God’s love, not sources
Thursday: Matthew 13:44-52
Jesus tells two short parables of people finding something so precious that they sell everything they have to buy it. To find the precious pearl, one must be looking. To find the treasure, one must be digging
Friday: Deuteronomy: 8:1-3
We try to satisfy the deep hungers inside ourselves by things. But that never works. We always need more, and cannot be satisfied with what we have. The writer explains to people that God allowed them to be hungry in the wilderness and then fed them with manna to teach them an important lesson: one cannot live by bread alone. The deep hungers inside ourselves can only be satisfied by God
Saturday: John 6:22-51
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (v.35). The bread of life is what sustains life even in the wilderness where there is nothing else to eat and one is starving. Like the manna, however, it comes only for one day at a time
Litany on the Commandment Regarding the Sabbath
L: God of covenants and promises, we give thanks that you love us with a love deep and broad past our comprehension.
R: Liberator, we give thanks that you have come to make us heirs of life and hope.
L: Guide and Comforter, we give thanks that you have given a taste of your riches. Loving God, we find ourselves so busy fussing and fretting with the little things of our lives that we never have time for you.
R: We give in to our fear and never spend any more time in silence and alone with you than we can help.
L: We leave our Bibles shut, pleading lack of time and understanding.
R: We don’t pray because we think we don’t have time, or that it is a waste of time—unless something is frightening or wrong.
L: We spend our energy fretting over music, the preacher’s faults, and other nonessentials in worship services, forgetting what we came to do: worship you.
R: We get so busy doing good that we think we need nothing from you.
L: We are more concerned about preserving the way it has always been than discovering new paths in which you would lead us, and don’t want you disturbing us with new insights.
R: We have a hard time accepting other Christians as our equals, let alone anyone who understands you differently than we do.
L: Teach us how to discipline ourselves lest in saving others we lose our own souls.
R: Help us find treasure in your word.
L: Give us the courage to learn the value of silence before you that we may come to know you and ourselves.
R: Teach us how to worship that we may learn its recharging power and teach us how to pray, to have the courage to talk with you face to face in your forgiveness.
L: We pray for those in need. Feed all those who hunger for your word and can’t access it for some reason,
R: Those who are unable to come to worship, or are persecuted or even killed for worshiping you,
L: Those who have been hurt by clergy, especially those who have been sexually abused by clergy,
R: Those who have been hurt by our prejudice and stupid comments,
L: Those suffering for any reason (especially . . .):
R: Comfort and relieve them all, loving God, and give them your presence as a never-failing strength.
L: Provide laborers for your harvest: faithful pastors, counselors, and teachers, and be with those who minister in isolated and hostile places
R: Confront those church leaders who think they don’t need to spend time with your word and you that they may repent and their flocks be fed.
Gracious God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. May we find peace in your service, and at last see you face to face; through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. (BAS 367 Alt)
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Here is a book intended to help users meditate on a biblical passage and then pray for themselves and others. It contains devotions not just for Advent and Lent but also Christmas and Easter, every day of the church year and more. The book is organized into weeks, and each week has a litany. Each day has a suggested reading from scriptures and a few sentences to pull something out of the text as a start for meditation.
About the Author
After receiving an MSW from the University of Maryland, Leona Irsch began her career as a psychiatric social worker with troubled children and their families and a consultant in long term care facilities. She then taught baccalaureate social work at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After graduating with an MDiv from Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary, for six years she was rector of an Episcopal parish in Avon, a bedroom community of Rochester, NY . After leaving the parish, she received a DMin in Biblical spirituality from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
Two things make her uniquely qualified to write a book of devotions. First, her background in the Bible comes from use in worship, from education, from reading the Bible daily, and from being able to read the New Testament in Greek and translate passages in the Hebrew Scriptures. Second, her wide-ranging experience with people and their spiritual needs in the parish, institutions, and counseling gives her insight into the needs of many who seek spiritual food. Using this background she has written a book for her own spiritual needs which she now is sharing with others.