Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings for Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter
First Published:Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Where we are ...
Since the UCCB web site was not responding this morning I had to find the Holy Scripture for you in another place. Here are the first reading and the Gospel for today. They are not the New American Bible. While I could have copied the NAB from the Vatican web site, they did not have it in Lectionary format.
Acts 17:15,17:22-18:1
15Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.
22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, To an unknown god. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor* he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God* and perhaps grope for him and find himthough indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For In him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your own poets have said,
For we too are his offspring.
29Since we are Gods offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again about this. 33At that point Paul left them. 34But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
18After this Paul* left Athens and went to Corinth.
John 16:12-15
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Reflection:
We can observe in the first reading just how smart Paul really is. He comes to Athens, home of Greek philosophy, where for hundreds of years they have been worshiping pagan gods. Instead of denouncing them (which probably would have gotten him killed some of those pagan cults were pretty violent), Paul tells them they have it right but just have not identified God properly. He launches into a discourse that brings them to understand that the Unknown God for which they have a temple, is in fact the One True God.
He then weaves them a tapestry that allows them to move from the pagan practices toward faith in God and Christ.
We who evangelize in the world at large should take a page from Pauls book. When we talk to people about our faith, do we remember, as Paul clearly did, that all people are not at the same place as we are on their own journey of faith?
At some point all people seek God.
More later, looking for the readings on line kind of burned up my time for reflection this morning. Pax
Readings for Wednesday of the 6th Week of Easter
First Published:Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Where we are ...
Since the UCCB web site was not responding this morning I had to find the Holy Scripture for you in another place. Here are the first reading and the Gospel for today. They are not the New American Bible. While I could have copied the NAB from the Vatican web site, they did not have it in Lectionary format.
Acts 17:15,17:22-18:1
15Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.
22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, To an unknown god. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26From one ancestor* he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27so that they would search for God* and perhaps grope for him and find himthough indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28For In him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your own poets have said,
For we too are his offspring.
29Since we are Gods offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again about this. 33At that point Paul left them. 34But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
18After this Paul* left Athens and went to Corinth.
John 16:12-15
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Reflection:
We can observe in the first reading just how smart Paul really is. He comes to Athens, home of Greek philosophy, where for hundreds of years they have been worshiping pagan gods. Instead of denouncing them (which probably would have gotten him killed some of those pagan cults were pretty violent), Paul tells them they have it right but just have not identified God properly. He launches into a discourse that brings them to understand that the Unknown God for which they have a temple, is in fact the One True God.
He then weaves them a tapestry that allows them to move from the pagan practices toward faith in God and Christ.
We who evangelize in the world at large should take a page from Pauls book. When we talk to people about our faith, do we remember, as Paul clearly did, that all people are not at the same place as we are on their own journey of faith?
At some point all people seek God.
More later, looking for the readings on line kind of burned up my time for reflection this morning. Pax
posted by Deacon Jim | 5:04 AM
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