Time in the Word
August 3-8 2015
Pentecost 11 -Proper 14
Collect for Pentecost 11—Gracious Father, Your blessed Son
came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant
that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him, who lives and
reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Collect for Proper 14 – Gracious Father, You blessed Son
came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant
that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him, who loves and
reigns with You and the holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Before the study of God’s Word – Almighty God, our heavenly
Father, without Your help our labor is useless, and without Your light our
search is in vain. Invigorate our study of Your holy Word that, by due
diligence and right discernment, we may establish ourselves and others in Your
holy faith; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
For reconciliation – God of love, through Your Son You have
commanded us to love one another. By the guidance of Your Word and Spirit,
deliver us from impenitence and teach us the truth that we might confess our
sins, receive Your forgiveness, and be reconciled to one another; through Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
For guidance in our calling – Lord God, You have called Your
servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending by paths as yet
untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage,
not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love
supporting us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
For proper use of leisure – O God, give us times of
refreshment and peace in the course of this busy life. Grant that we may so use
our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds that we may be opened to
the goodness of Your creation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
For a right knowledge
of Christ – Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us perfectly
to know Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be the way, the truth, and the life, that
following His steps we may steadfastly walk in the way that leads to eternal
life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.
For steadfast faith – Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
because of Your tender love toward us sinners You have given us Your Son that,
believing in Him, we might have everlasting life. Continue to grant us Your
Holy Spirit that we may remain steadfast in this faith to the end and finally
come to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The theme for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is “Eat
and Live”. His own people, the Jews, grumbled when Jesus told them that He is
the Bread of Life that came down from heaven. They saw Him only as a man, not
the Savior who had been promised from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden
after the Fall (Genesis 3:15). Their own expectations of God’s promised
Deliverer blinded them to the fact that He was standing before them.
Christ Jesus offers His gift of eternal salvation to all who
will receive it. He calls them, and the Father draws them to Him. But some,
because of the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their sin, reject
the good gift that God has for them. May we ever nourish our faith through our
regular church attendance, hearing the word of God preached and proclaimed, and
receiving the body and blood of Christ.
Monday, 3 August 2015—Psalm 34:8–10; Antiphon, Psalm
145:16—The antiphon should be familiar to us, as it is part of the prayer
before a meal which Luther included in the Catechism. The psalmist David then
says to taste and see that the Lord is good. How are we to do this? St Peter
tell us that we should be like newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual
milk. We have tasted that the Lord is good, for we have heard His Word of
forgiveness and salvation, we have eaten of His Holy Supper, and we long for
more.
Tuesday, 4 August 2015—Psalm 34:1–8—The psalm appointed for
next week is one taken from a bizarre incident in the life of David, when he
pretended to be insane before Achish, a Palestinian king in the line of
Abimelech. The entire story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. David exhorts us
to extol the Lord at all times, for as the Lord delivered David in answer to
his prayer, so He also has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil.
Wednesday, 5 August 2015—1 Kings 19:1–8—Despite the fact
that the Lord had shown that He alone is the true God in Elijah’s showdown with
the prophets of Baal, wicked Queen Jezebel clung to her false gods and sought
to kill Elijah. To escape, Elijah fled to the wilderness near Beersheba. There,
the Lord fed him with bread. The Lord feeds us also; not through the
ministrations of an angel, but by farmers, truckers, stock-boys, and
grocery-store clerks. “God gives daily bread to everyone…we pray that He would
lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.”
Thursday, 6 August 2015—Ephesians 4:17—5:2—In this section
of our reading from the book of Ephesians, St Paul tells us that, since we have
been set free from bondage to sin and death, we should live outwardly in way that
reflects our new life in Christ. We are to live as children of light, no longer
living in the darkness of sin. Those in the world ought to see a difference in
how Christians live versus how the rest of the world lives. As children of God,
we imitate God, not the ways of the world.
Friday, 7 August 2015—John 6:35–51—“I am the Bread of Life,”
declares Jesus. The bread that He gives is better than earthly bread, for that
can only sustain the body while we sojourn in this earthly vale of tears. The
bread that Jesus gives—the bread that Jesus is—sustains our souls for all
eternity. Jesus gives Himself for the life of the world.
Saturday, 8 August 2015—Again this week, the hymn of the day
is O Living Bread from Heaven (LSB 642). This second stanza proclaims that we
have been led by the Lord to His house to receive His good gifts of
forgiveness. We could not, and do not, do this on our own, but He leads us, and
then feeds us with Word and Sacrament. The ‘food’ we receive in the Divine
Service is better than the food we eat daily at our meals, for it is food that
gives eternal life.
My Lord, You have led me
To this most holy place.
And with Yourself have fed me
The treasures of Your grace;
For You have freely given
What earth could never buy,
The bread of life from heaven,
That now I shall not die.
-Lutheran Service Book 642:2
Prayers from Lutheran Service Book © 2006 and Lutheran
Worship © 1980 Concordia Publishing House and from Lutheran Worship © 1980
Concordia Publishing House.
Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut used with permission from
WELS
Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series B – John Brokhoff ©
1981 CSS Publishing, Lima, OH
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