Readings
Old Testament: Ex. 14:21-31
Psalm 1
Gospel: John 14:8-17
Epistle: 1 Pet. 1:1-12
Devotional on Psalm 1
One of the most obvious landmarks in Savannah are the massive oak trees which are everywhere. They are scattered around the city, sometimes clearly by design, as in Forsyth or Daffin Park, but sometimes as if by the hand of a profligate Johnny Appleseed god. There is a massive oak in the house next door to mine which looks as if it has stood for a thousand years. It dwarfs my house, and my span of life.
The last three or four weeks we have remembered what was always true, but which we in our arrogance are prone to forget- that the things which we take as permanent are no more permanent than the wind. Our health isn't permanent, our jobs aren't permanent, our wealth isn't permanent. And (even more disorienting), when we cry to God about our loss of permanence, we realize that the wind which blew all these things away is operating in some cases at his instigation, but always at least at his allowance.
There is, however, something that lasts. Something that God doesn't blow away. Something like the oak trees of Savannah. Something that is still possible, even in the winds of change. Psalm 1 paints a picture of a follower of Jesus who sole purpose is delight in God's law (v. 1-2). This is no self-righteous, self-exalting holiness either; it yields fruit and blesses the community (v. 3). The self-obsessed schemes of the world, which sought to make us healthy, wealthy and wise, and which promised permanence pre-pandemic, have been blown away, and revealed that which lasts, and which God will not blow away. You want to do something that lasts forever? Learn to delight in God's law. Learn to delight in holiness. Learn to bless your neighbor by being faithful to God.
Hymn
O Christ Our King Creator Lord
Prayer
O MOST dear and tender father, our defender and nourisher, endue us with your grace, that we may cast off the great blindness of our minds, and care of worldly things, and may put our whole study and care in keeping of your holy law ; and that we may work for our necessities in this life, like the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, without care. For you have promised to care for us, and have commanded that we should cast our cares upon you, who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen