Confronting the Powers: Week 8 of Ordinary Time
Look: Voici l’homme!, 2019 by Marc Padeu after Caravaggio’s “Ecce homo” - Source 1 Source 2
Read Victoria Elizabeth Jones’ description of Padeau’s work here.
Listen: Love is the Rebel Song by Jon Foreman - Spotify | YouTube w/ lyrics
Listen to my playlist for Ordinary Time, pt. 1: World and Church
Read: Isaiah 57:14-21; Psalm 22:23-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-44
Readings for the rest of the week*: Psalm 105; 1 Kings 18; Luke 9:7-9; Luke 22:66-23:25; Acts 12; Acts 21:22-26:32
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Eighth Week After Pentecost
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Do: This week, we’re thinking about what it means to join Jesus in confronting the political and (false) religious powers of this world. In the safety of God’s presence, ask the Spirit to help you prayerfully sit with the following questions from Living the Christian Year (p. 264):
Do you need to communicate your conviction about some matter of truth or justice to anyone in a position of authority over you, whether immediate (as in your boss) or distant (as in your senator)?
Ask God for the courage and grace to do so this week when the time seems right.
*During Ordinary Time this year, I’ll be sharing readings from the excellent devotional guide, Living the Christain Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross. While it’s not necessary to purchase the book to follow along with us, it’s an excellent resource we’ve dog-eared so often the pages are falling out of our copy!