Monday in Week One:
Each day we will read a portion of Holy Scripture, using it to hear God’s word to us
about living as followers of Jesus. We will end with a prayer. We should also begin
with a brief time of focusing on God in prayer. (You may wish to begin by praying
the Kyrie, following the directions on the inside cover below the Table of Contents.)
Today please read: Genesis 15: 1‐21.
The Bible’s story of faith begins with Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 15:6). God had
made Abraham (originally named “Abram”) a promise that through his progeny, all
the people of the world would be blessed (Gen. 12: 2‐3). To get the fulfilling of that
promise started, they were to leave security behind and become pilgrims in the
Promised Land. They were to adopt a lifestyle of faith and hope! We might call this
a “spirituality” or a “Rule of Life”. This opened their lives to a partnership with God,
in God’s great plan, eventually realized in their descendent Jesus, to redeem the
human family.
We can be befuddled by customs in the Bible that were very meaningful to the
people in their culture, but now seem odd to us. In today’s reading, Abram is told
not to be afraid, for his “reward will be very great” (Gen. 15:1). But he needs
reassurance (15:2). He is asking for help for his faith in God. For this help to be real
for Abraham, it would have to be experienced in a way that was meaningful to him.
God accepts us and works with us as we are. So God commands Abraham to
prepare a display of cut‐up sacrifices. In his day, people would walk between such
slain carcasses to give a bloody surety to their oath. God lovingly condescends to
guarantee his promise to Abraham in this gruesome yet mystical experience.
The Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer Canada concludes with an invitation
to personalize our faith, with a six‐fold “Rule of Life” (see Page 2). That is a
disciplined offering of our own suitable preparations and sacrifices, by which we
become open to God’s presence, and grow to better trust in him. A “Rule of Life”,
personally designed for our lives, will help us to be prepared to experience God.
Prayer:
Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings
With Thy most gracious favour,
and further us with Thy continual help;
That in all our works,
Begun, continued, and ended in Thee,
We may glorify Thy holy Name,
And finally by Thy mercy obtain everlasting life;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(BCP pages 87‐88, and 644, 656, 667)