Test Yourselves - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 6/13/2025 •
Friday of the Week of Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69; Ecclesiasticus 45:6–16; 2 Corinthians 12:11–21; Luke 19:41–48  

And Saturday’s epistle: 2 Corinthians 13:1–14 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday of the Week of Pentecost. We are in Proper 5 of Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

This morning’s readings in Ecclesiasticus and Luke make poignant bookends.  

Ecclesiasticus offers praise of Aaron, highlighting the way the high priest’s fabulous garb served his role in bringing together the Lord and his people. On Aaron’s chest he bore precious stones “in a setting of gold, the work of a jeweler, to commemorate in engraved letters each of the tribes of Israel.” Atop his head he wore “a gold crown upon his turban, inscribed like a seal with ‘Holiness’” (Ecclesiasticus 45:11,12).  

By contrast, Luke records Jesus weeping as he approaches Jerusalem and its temple—a temple that had never known as much finery as was being lavished ever since Herod the Great launched his renovation project forty-six years prior. In Jesus’s estimation, however, religiosity had become robbery. Pomp had produced plunder rather than prayer. The master of the house, and its true and final High Priest, weeps as he begins to clean house: “Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers’” (Luke 19:45).  

Image: Mosaic of St Paul in Westminster Cathedral. "St Paul the Apostle" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

The Corinthians, too, have profaned a sacred space. That sacred space is the Corinthians themselves, for as the church, they are God’s holy dwelling place. It is this profanation that Paul has been contending so hard to reverse in his two letters to them, and it is why he includes in today’s reading a warning against their broken relationships and their sexual misbehavior: “I fear that there may perhaps be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear … I may have to mourn over many who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced” (2 Corinthians 12:20–21).   

 Together, as “one body with many members,” the Corinthians comprise God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). The whole is God’s temple, but so is each member. For Paul can say of each believer, “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Believers are God’s temple corporately, and each is God’s temple individually. That’s an extraordinary feature of the Christian faith. God has committed himself to living among us in one particular human person, his Son Jesus Christ, and that makes the “all” and the “each” equally important.  

The problem at Corinth is twofold. By their factious and fractious relationships, the Corinthians defile the corporate temple. At the same time, by their sexual libertinism they defile the individual temple.  

And so Paul challenges them: “Test yourselves” (heautous dokimazete—2 Corinthians 13:5b). It’s the same term Paul uses when he encourages the Romans to “prove” (dokimazein) what is the will of God (Romans 12:1). It’s not like the test that (hypothetical) mean professors write when they try to fail students. It’s like the test that good professors write when they are trying to help students pull things together and show what they know. What is the test? “[S]ee,” Paul says, if you are “living in the faith.” He genuinely believes that they belong to “new creation,” and so he urges them to “rejoice, set things right, and be encouraged” (2 Corinthians 13:11b NET).  

“Set things right,” he says. What’s that look like? Well, rather than selfishly quarrel and press their own priorities, predilections, prejudices, and preferences on each other, Paul wants them to strive for peace with one another. He wants them to learn to work toward agreeing with one another (which has to begin with listening to one another!). “[A]gree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11c,d).  

“Greet one another with a holy kiss” (2 Corinthians 13:12). He wants, as well, kisses that are holy, not unholy—which would mean embraces that are chaste, not licentious; and words that are edifying, not debasing. It means valuing one another as precious image-bearers rather than as potential partners in impermissible behavior, or objects for pleasure, or victims of exploitation. It means not reverting back to old patterns of defiling the wedding bed (1 Corinthians 5) or other practices that Paul (along with the rest of Scripture) considers to be out of bounds. From such practices they had been rescued (1 Corinthians 6:9,15): “[Y]ou were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).  

And always, always, always, Paul wants for these Corinthians what Jesus wants for them (and for us as well): “I do not want what is yours but you…” (2 Corinthians 12:14). May you and I live in the joy of being wanted, loved, and rejoiced over by the one who died in weakness for us but now lives in power within, for, and through us.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Truths that Transcend Irony - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 6/12/2025 •
Thursday of the Week of Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 70; Psalm 71; Ecclesiasticus 44:19–45:5; 2 Corinthians 12:1–10; Luke 19:28–40 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. We are in the Week of Pentecost, and our readings come from Proper 5 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Ecclesiasti-what?! The Old Testament readings for today through Sunday come from latter chapters in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, otherwise known as the Wisdom of Ben Sirach. Ecclesiasticus provided the curriculum for Jewish scribes-in-training in the second century before Christ. This book is regarded as fully Scripture in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, but as having a lesser authority in Jewish and Protestant circles. Our Daily Office selections offer a brief summary of Israel’s history from Abraham through Samuel in anticipation of this coming Monday’s launch into the history of the kingship in Israel.  

The overall theme of this portion of Ecclesiasticus is stated at the beginning of this chapter: “Let us now sing the praises of famous men, our ancestors in their generations.” Abraham was found faithful. Isaac received assurance. Jacob distributed the inheritance. Moses was godly and beloved of God, and he was consecrated because of his faithfulness and meekness. Always good to keep such things in mind.  

Image: Hortus Deliciarum, Public Domain. 

2 Corinthians: reluctant self-revelations. For his part, the apostle Paul is embarrassed to have to keep talking about what it is about his own life that should command a following from the Corinthians (a church which he himself had founded!). Chiefly, he has been at pains to talk about his apostolic sufferings, in imitation of Christ.  

Nonetheless, so much is at stake with these Corinthian believers whom he loves, that he reluctantly, even with significant embarrassment, speaks of something that eclipses anything his opponents could offer. He has been taken up into the very abode of God (the “third heaven,” beyond the first heaven of our atmosphere and beyond the second heaven of the stars in the sky). There he has seen and heard things he can neither describe nor explain. To imagine the scenario, I suppose we have to think in terms of the imagery of the Book of Revelation, especially chapters 4 and 5. Though of such things Paul himself will not speak.  

There is a tradition of mystical experiences that are called apophatic, meaning, “unspoken” or “unspeakable.” Experiences that make a person say, not to put it too colloquially, “Well, shut my mouth!” Experiences that can only be responded to with stunned and awestruck silence. Paul has been there. His opponents haven’t. So, maybe they should shut their mouths! 

Then Paul turns on a dime. He insists that to keep him from being overly impressed with himself, “to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). This “messenger from Satan” Paul will describe no further. That fact hasn’t kept interpreters from speculating: an affliction of the eye? a besetting temptation? a guilt-ridden conscience? Perhaps Paul’s silence on the matter is good, because it means every one of us can more easily relate. Every person I know can write themselves into this story! We all have things we’d just as soon be rid of. But we nonetheless sense that the Lord does deeper work in us by ministering to us through them than he would if he were to rescue us from them. In other words, he allows us to see the necessity of dependence upon him. 

Paul’s thrice-prayed prayer for deliverance has been answered simply: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I offer my own paraphrase: “You don’t need less of that, my child. You need more of me.” The invitation is there for each of us to write ourselves into this story, and along with Paul, to exclaim: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).  

Luke: into Jerusalem. We readers know that Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem is deeply ironic and full of pathos, for it will lead in less than a week to the ignominy and apparent defeat of the cross. However, Luke’s version of the entry encapsulates some preciously enduring truths that transcend the irony. Here, indeed, is the King that Psalm 118 had envisioned as Savior of God’s people. Joyful praise is altogether appropriate to his advent: “the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen” (Luke 19:37). And their song of joy forms a gorgeous inclusio to the angels’ song for the shepherds of Bethlehem: “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” (Luke 19:38—see Luke 2:14).  

At Luke 19:40, Jesus says even the rocks will cry out in praise if we can’t. But we can! We can cry out in praise while seeking to emulate the faithfulness of old covenant saints. We can praise in “shut-my-mouth” visions or in “dear-Lord-deliver-me” trials. May we never outlive our wonder at the King who comes to save!  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Play the Long Game - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 6/11/2025 •
Wednesday of the Week of Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 72; Deuteronomy 31:30–32:14; 2 Corinthians 11:21b–33; Luke 19:11–27 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you Today is Wednesday of the Week of Pentecost, and our readings come from Proper 5 in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Recently, I felt offended by somebody. I don’t know if they even meant it. But I felt it anyway. I don’t think I showed anything on the outside, but inside I spent too much time stewing. I was surprised to find my thoughts going to ingratitude, entitlement, and distrust. Ingratitude: in that moment, all the good things in my life vanished, and all I could see was deficits—like I was a piece of Swiss cheese with more holes than cheese. Entitlement: I thought I deserved more respect than I had been shown (or thought I had been shown). Distrust: where was God when my investment in relationships produced disappointment?  

Then along came today’s passages.  

Deuteronomy: Gratitude for benefits in the wilderness. The Book of Deuteronomy is written in full awareness of the story that is to unfold in Israel’s life, from judges to kingship to exile to restoration. Moses closes this cautionary book with a song that reminds Israel that throughout it all, Yahweh is the God who loves and cares for his people. Just as “He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste,” and just as “he shielded him, cared for him, [and] guarded him as the apple of his eye” (Deuteronomy 32:10), so will he always do.  

With this song, Moses forever plants in God’s people’s minds the images of Yahweh as a loving (and disciplining) Father, as a mother eagle that nourishes and protects her young, and as a great banquet master who provides produce, honey, milk, choice meat, and the finest breads and wines (Deuteronomy 32:13–14).  

In the leanest and hardest times, may Moses’s song keep God’s song alive in us!  

2 Corinthians: The true marks of a minister of Christ. Belonging to Christ means that your pedigree, privilege, and credentialing don’t mean much. In fact, as with the false “super-apostles” Paul is dealing with in Corinth, those things can get in the way. Paul is embarrassed to note that he has just as much going for him in the way of entitlements, but the only thing that entitles him to be heard is that he “out-servants” the “super-apostles”: “Are they ministers (or servants, diakonoi) of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one” (2 Corinthians 11:23). This last phrase is huper egō, and could colloquially be rendered: “I’m in hyper-drive when it comes to ministering!” Then follows his catalog of sufferings—some external (lashings, shipwrecks…) and some internal (anxiety for churches and empathy for struggling believers).  

Dignity, it seems, does not come from being treated with the worth you think you are entitled to. The entitlement of the Christian life is the privilege of what Paul calls elsewhere “the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). There is a knowing of him that comes only in the place of lowliness, only in the place of service, only in the place of renouncing privilege.  

Luke: Playing the long game. What’s interesting about the Parable of the Ten Pounds (the “mina” is a gold coin worth about 100 days of a worker’s wages) is its introduction: “[Jesus] went on to tell a parable, … because [people] supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately” (Luke 19:11). Jesus did not actually teach that the final cataclysm ending history as we know it was right around the corner. He taught that, in a sense, the end of that world had already come—the end of a world in which importance was measured by power and wealth. His cross and resurrection would indeed mean there was “a new sheriff in town.” But his governance would be established in the midst of a world in which things continue, for the time being, under the old rules of domination, pride, license, and exploitation.  

What he taught is that he would leave behind for each of his followers a measure of his resources appropriate to each. Our calling would be to invest in making manifest his alternative kingdom. Risky business! The kind of thing that just might get us “crucified” right along with him: the risk of being misunderstood, misconstrued, rejected, persecuted, even killed. Or — it could be the kind of thing that might see others brought in, and the new reality of God’s kingdom becoming more visible. Either way, in Jesus’s terms, a return on investment.  

Within the framework of this parable, the only sin is to bury fearfully, faithlessly, cowardly, and ungenerously the resources entrusted to us. That sad reality looks different in different people and different situations. The commonality is this pitiful statement: “I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow” (Luke 19:21). These words come to my rescue when, as on the occasion of my recent feeling of being slighted, I want to retreat into a safe place of disengagement. These words force me to ask whether I trust that God is good rather than harsh, and generous rather than miserly. And whether I can trust him to work his good pleasure in the messy and uncertain business of relationships, regardless of consequences. That’s the way Jesus wants us to play the long game.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

A Healthy Check for All of Us - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 6/10/2025 •
Tuesday of the Week of Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 61; Psalm 62; Deuteronomy 30:11–20; 2 Corinthians 11:1–21a; Luke 19:1–10 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. Today is Tuesday of the Week of Pentecost, and our readings come from Proper 5 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

In Deuteronomy, Moses calls for, and in Luke, Zaccheus exemplifies, simplicity of vision and purity of passion. What we find in 2 Corinthians is that these are the very things Paul has worked to instill in the Corinthian church. Paul sees a threat to the simplicity and purity of faith in the different view of Jesus, of the gospel, and of the Holy Spirit being foisted on the Corinthians by false teachers who claim to have greater credentials and deeper knowledge than Paul.  

Sometimes our enemies make us better. In this case, Paul is pushed, for the first time in his writings, to portray the church as the bride of Christ. She is betrothed to Christ, but her chastity is being threatened by seducers: “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2–3).  

In painting this portrait, Paul recalls the Bible’s long story arc about God marrying his people to himself. Later, and in a context of less pressing circumstances, Paul elaborates on the metaphor of Christ as Groom and the Church as Bride, composing a lovely description of the mystery of the love relationship God has been building between himself and redeemed humanity (Ephesians 5).  

For now, though, Paul utilizes this powerful image of Eve’s deception to warn the church against being seduced by smooth-tongued pseudo-teachers. We can only dimly make out the contours of their teachings: 

Another Jesus. Paul’s opponents exude an air of superiority. Theirs is a Jesus who promotes pride rather than humility, and competitiveness rather than kindness. This “other Jesus” is a chaplain for the successful—a Jesus who has no place for the “nobodies,” and who shoves the “have nots” to the rear of the line (1 Corinthians 1:28; 11:22).  

A different spirit. Thus, for Paul, the chief mark of the Spirit of God is love. For the Corinthians, it’s power. Paul has accepted financial support from the impoverished Macedonian church, but has refused support from the prosperous Corinthian church. Paul knows that the Macedonians give because they love, but that the Corinthians give because they want to put Paul under obligation to themselves. The Corinthians understand the Spirit of God when the Spirit inspires tongues and creates miracles. But they misunderstand the Spirit when the Spirit lovingly says “No” to their manipulative ways.  

A different gospel. Accordingly, theirs is a gospel that is unfamiliar with “the foolishness of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). Their gospel has little room for Paul’s: “…Christ died for our sins…,” much less his “…he became sin for us…” (compare 1 Corinthians 15:3 with 2 Corinthians 5:21). They would be unable to make sense of the Book of Common Prayer’s Palm Sunday prayer: “Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” 

The devil: posing as an angel of light. Though the false message seems flattering and appealing to the Corinthians’ ego, Paul points out that it is ultimately degrading. He says the false “super-apostles” are “deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:13–14). These false teachers, insists Paul, are enslaving the Corinthians, exploiting them, taking advantage of them, behaving arrogantly toward them, and slapping them in the face (2 Corinthians 11:20). Behind the veneer of light (their Jesus for winners, their spirit of self-aggrandizement, their Cross-less gospel) lies a deep abyss of darkness. The logic was well captured in C. S. Lewis’s sketch of the mind of the Devil in his The Screwtape Letters: “We (devils) want cattle who can finally become food; He (God) wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over.” 

Today’s passage presents a healthy check for all of us: is our Jesus a Jesus of humility, or of pride? Does the Spirit within us prompt love for others, or put us on a quest for power or control or influence for ourselves? Does our gospel have as its centerpiece, “Christ died for our sins”? In the wrong answer to these questions lies the path to death, in the right answer, fullness of life.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Christ's Kindness - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 6/9/2025
Monday of the Week of Pentecost (Proper 5) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Deuteronomy 30:1–10; 2 Corinthians 10:1–18; Luke 18:31–43 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me. This is Monday of the Week of Pentecost, and our readings come from Proper 5 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

2 Corinthians and accusations against Paul. It’s not enough that Paul is having to call the Corinthians to account for their tardiness in generosity. In addition, he is embroiled in a power struggle with some notables in the congregation. These individuals find Paul’s tactics to be worldly and manipulative (remember his reneging on his promise to visit them). They allege that it is cowardice that is keeping him away. He writes bold letters from a distance, they contend, to compensate for his weakness in person. They find his rhetorical skills, frankly forgettable: “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10b).  

Someone else might have flipped the table on these folks, and said, “Why am I wasting my time on the likes of you? I shake the dust off my sandals!” Or they might have decided to come in with guns blazing: “Boldness!? Boldness you want? Batten down the hatches, because here I come, and I’m bringing the heat!!” 

Instead, Paul sees a teaching moment.  

Restraint and the kindness of Christ. In a former life, Paul might have responded differently than he does. One could easily imagine his zeal leading him to come after the Corinthians the same way he had first begun to hunt down the followers of Christ in Damascus. But Christ has taught him a different approach, described here in four gorgeous terms. He says that the “meekness” (praütēs) and “kindness” (epieikeia) of Christ have taught him to be “humble” (tapeinos), even in his apostolic “confidence” (pepoithēsis—2 Corinthians 10:1–2). Christ has dealt with Paul with a meekness, a kindness, and a humility that was altogether opposite to what his pride and ruthlessness had merited. As a result, with all the confidence of his apostolic calling, Paul has learned how to measure his words and actions. Here is a “new creation” way of doing things. May you and I take note! 

Building up and tearing down. Paul insists his lone goal is to build these people up: “…our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down…” (2 Corinthians 10:8b). This language of “building up” (oikodomē) is the very language he had used in 1 Corinthians to describe what everybody is supposed to do with their spiritual gifts: use them, not for ego-gratification, but for other-gratification. The goal of “building up” is, moreover, to be a life principle that informs every decision: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things build up (my translation; oikodomein, usually translated “edify,” as in “to build an edifice,” or “to be beneficial,” or “to be helpful”— see 1 Corinthians 6:12a; 10:23a).  

Sometimes before a new, beautiful, and useful edifice can go up, an old, decrepit, and useless edifice must first come down. Paul labors with his words—whether in person, or in writing—to help the Corinthians see that there’s some demolition work that has to be done among them. People there are overly awed by secular credentials matched to impressive displays of hyper-spirituality (a deadly combination). They have picked up the notion that Christ is for the winners. They are “king’s kids.” They already rule with Christ: “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you!” (see 1 Corinthians 4:8–13; 11:22). And, accordingly, they conclude that Paul’s weaknesses, his ailments, and his sufferings are a sign of God’s lack of blessing on his ministry.  

The Corinthians need to see that the opposite is true. Paul wants the Corinthian congregation to ask themselves: What would the life of Christ look like among us? Does he call us to wear the crown of glory in the present life, or does he call us to take up a cross? Who loves us the way Christ loves us? Paul, or these posers? Paul is certain that in the end the Corinthians will conclude that it is Paul who has their best interests at heart, not his detractors. That is the brief Paul began to build in 1 Corinthians, and it is a brief he brings to its conclusion in these closing chapters of 2 Corinthians. To look ahead, he is putting before them a proposition and a test: 

The proposition: “For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.”  

The test: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:4–5).  

Even so, we ought not forget that Paul’s ultimate aim is not to tear down, but to build up.  Nor ought we forget that Paul’s “hope is that, as your faith increases, our sphere of action among you may be greatly enlarged” (2 Corinthians 10:15b). That’s why his final words to them will be words of blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).  

Collect for Proper 5: O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

The Dead Are Made Alive - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 6/6/2025 •
Week of 7 Easter 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 102; Ezekiel 34:17–31; Hebrews 8:1–13; Luke 10:38–42 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday of the Seventh (and final) week of Easter. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

This our last day of a quick trip through some of the main themes of the Book of Ezekiel and of the first half of the Book of Hebrews; meanwhile, we continue our way through the Gospel according to Luke. This morning we are meditating on the way Hebrews captures the essence of the new relationship Jesus gives us with God, and we are reflecting on the amazing breadth of ways Ezekiel had forecast this new relationship we enjoy. 

Image: Jerusalem-Menora-40-Ezechiels Vision der Totengebeine-2010Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

Today’s paragraph in Hebrews is a view-from-the-mountaintop statement. Jesus, the author writes, is our new and permanent “minister” or “worship leader” (the Greek leitourgos is the word from which we get “liturgist”) in the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:2). Jesus is mediator of a new covenant. Hebrews unpacks this amazing reality by using a paragraph from the prophet Jeremiah: God writes his laws on our hearts in such a way that we are now inclined to love him and obey him rather than not—Hebrews 8:10; Jeremiah 31:33). We are given such a new orientation from within that we don’t even need someone to teach us (Hebrews 8:11; Jeremiah 31:34).  Side note: As a teacher in the church, I have to conclude that this is at least a little hyperbolic! God has dealt mercifully with our wrongdoings; in fact, he “remembers them no longer” Hebrews 8:12; Jeremiah 31:34). This I do not take to be hyperbolic! 

In a strikingly similar vein, Ezekiel’s book climaxes by clustering several central new covenant promises. Each is worth lingering over.   

Yahweh promises his people a new shepherd-king in the line of David (Ezekiel 34). After the Jews return from Babylon to their homeland beginning in 538 B.C., no one arises with a claim to David’s throne for over 500 years. That is, until the angels sing, “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel,” says Paul (2 Timothy 2:8).  

All hail King Jesus! 

Ezekiel promises the gift of new and sprinkled-clean hearts, and the conferring of a new Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–27). That would be the gift of the washing and regenerating of our hearts by the Holy Spirit that comes with faith in Jesus (Titus 3:5–8).  

Come, Holy Spirit, make our hearts new this day! 

Ezekiel is shown a valley of dry bones that are raised up and brought back to life (Ezekiel 37). That is what happens to people who “were dead in our trespasses and sins,” and who, “by [God’s] great love with which he loved us,” are “made alive and seated together with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:1–5).  

For breathing life into the dead places of our lives, we praise you Holy Spirit! 

Yahweh says he will renew the relationship between the estranged people of Judah and Israel (Ezekiel 38). That is precisely what happens when the Lord sends Peter and John from Jerusalem (the heart of the old Southern Kingdom, Judah) to Samaria (the heart of the old Northern Kingdom, Israel). They witnessed the same Spirit of Pentecost fall upon these new Samaritan believers as had fallen upon them in Jerusalem (Acts 2 and 8).  

Praise you, Lord Christ, for your power to restore broken relationships, to bring love back into broken families, and to make enemies into friends.  

Ezekiel, finally, receives a grand and extended vision of a new temple with flowing waters, filled with the glory cloud that had departed at the beginning of the exile (Ezekiel 40–47). We, the Church of Christ, are that new temple constructed of living stones, “a holy temple in the Lord; in whom [we] also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:21—see also 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 1 Peter 2:5).  

Lord, live in us that we may live in you! Amen!!! 

May our hearts be encouraged with the long reach of God’s love, the way he has been working his good plans for you and me, and the way he nurtures each of us with his love and care right now.  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

Jesus Will Hold Me Tight - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 6/5/2025 •
Week of 7 Easter  

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 105; Ezekiel 18:1–4,19–32; Hebrews 7:18–28; Luke 10:25–37 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moss,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Today is Thursday of the 7th (and final) week of Easter, and I’m grateful to be with you. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

It’s our next to last day of a quick trip through some of the main themes of the Book of Ezekiel and of the first half of the Book of Hebrews; meanwhile, we continue our way through the Gospel according to Luke.  

Image: Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Ezekiel: “the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own.” I once had a professor who said that in the Old Testament what counts is the group, while in the New Testament what counts is the individual. For instance, the entire nation of Israel gets “baptized” at the Red Sea, while each person individually goes “into the water” in Christian baptism. 

Today’s passage in Ezekiel is proof that my professor wasn’t entirely right. In today’s passage, Ezekiel has to speak up, because some people had gotten the impression that their individual decisions and behavior didn’t matter. They believed they were being held accountable “for the sins of the fathers.” So it didn’t matter how they behaved, good or ill, because they were fated to suffer punishment anyway at the hands of a vindictive God.  

Not so, insists Ezekiel. If punishment is being meted out, it is not for somebody else’s sins. Each person bears punishment for their sins alone. Conversely, blessing for any individual is as near as a sincere prayer of repentance. The genius of biblical faith—Old Testament as well as New—is that each of us is made in the very image and likeness of God. Each of us is a masterpiece of his love. None of us is the sole product of our genetic pool, our family of origin, or mysterious societal forces. None of us is unable to rise above “the sins of the fathers.” “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezekiel 18:31). That’s part of what Ezekiel says to a generation of slothful, self-pitying shirkers.  

The other part of Ezekiel’s message is that God is not a vindictive tyrant or an unfeeling, punishment-dispensing machine. Abraham had asked Yahweh: “Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?” (Genesis 18:25). It is of the very nature of God’s being that he works (albeit in his own time and in his own way) to set all things to rights. This passage in Ezekiel makes it clear that the joy for Yahweh lies in bestowing blessing in the face of repentance and faith. He takes no joy in leaving to their just deserts anyone who fails to respond to the overtures of his love.  

Hebrews: “he ever lives to intercede.” The writer to the Hebrews has the advantage, as do we, of living in “these last days” when God has given his Son to secure a relationship with us (Hebrews 1:1–4). The Son of God, Apostle and High Priest of God’s love, has made a perfect and final sacrifice for our sins “once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27b). And now, resurrected from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, “he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Though I may falter, Jesus won’t. Though my zeal may flag, Jesus’s won’t. Though my love may cool, Jesus’s won’t. Though I may drift, Jesus will hold me tight. That’s what has changed as we move from the Old Testament to the New—we have a friend in a high place, holding each of us tighter and closer than we can possibly imagine.    

Luke: becoming the Good Samaritan. From one angle of vision, the Parable of the Good Samaritan points to Jesus who rescues us when we were cast aside and left for dead on the side of the road.  

But the real thrust of Jesus’s parable is to encourage us to neighborliness, that is, to be like the Good Samaritan ourselves, not like the uncaring people who walked past the castoff man on the side of the road. Love calls us, like the Good Samaritan, to refuse to be a party to societal attitudes. Our Samaritan, considered “less than” by the Jews in his world, ignored the cultural hostilities of his day. Instead, he went out of his way to extend help and compassion to someone he chose to see, not as a Jew, but as a human being in need. Martin Luther King, Jr., describes this heart-attitude as  “the strength to love”—answering cruelty with kindness, rejection with acceptance. The Parable of the Good Samaritan calls upon us to be strong, bold, and extroverted in our love. 

The most powerful meditation on this parable of which I am aware is Vincent Van Gogh’s painting of it. Van Gogh portrays a ginger-bearded, virile Samaritan lifting the battered roadside victim onto his donkey. Van Gogh imagines himself as the Samaritan. The painting was aspirational for Van Gogh, for he saw himself as a failure in relationships—he had failed as a missionary, he had failed in his attempt to “rehabilitate” a prostitute, he had failed in his attempt to create an artist colony around Gaugin, he had failed to sell his art (in his entire he life, he sold only one painting). His painting becomes a prayer: Lord, don’t let me be defined by my failures, in my own eyes or in the eyes of others. Give me grace and strength to be this guy. Give me your strength to love.  

May our Heavenly Father give you and me—each of us—grace to know we are personally loved and uniquely crafted to bear his image. May the Lord Jesus hold us close to the Father’s heart in his prayers of intercession for us. May the Spirit of strength and power embolden us to be neighbor to those around us.  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

He Makes His Home in Our Hearts - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 6/4/2025 •
Week of 7 Easter  

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 101; Psalm 109; Ezekiel 11:14–25; Hebrews 7:1–17; Luke 10:17–24 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1–3,11a,14c,18–19, BCP, p. 87);  following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68–79, BCP, p. 92) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you Today is Wednesday of the 7th (and final) week of Easter. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

During this week the Daily Office continues a quick trip through some of the main themes of the Book of Ezekiel and of the first half of the Book of Hebrews; meanwhile, we are reading our way through the Gospel according to Luke. This morning we are meditating on Ezekiel and Hebrews.  

There are many displaced people in our world today. They are separated from anything that feels like home. They live in strange places with strange rules amid strange people. Longing for home. There’s a common sentiment that “It’s just not the same as being there.”  

Ezekiel has three lessons for us today. And the writer to the Hebrews describes “the indestructible life” by which Jesus Christ makes Ezekiel’s promises true for us.  

Image: Stained Glass, Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, FL  

Ezekiel writes to his fellow Jews in Babylon who are removed from their beloved homeland with its holy city and temple. He wants them to know three things. First, there will be a homecoming. Nevertheless, it is in the heart that God plans to make his home with his people. And although they are currently in exile, they are not separated from God’s watchful and loving presence. 

First, the Lord will bring his people home. He’s not just going to leave them where they are. Their exile will end: “Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 11:17). Following the decree of Cyrus the ruler of Persia in 538 B.C., the Lord brings his people back to Israel under the administration of the Hebrew leaders Ezra and Nehemiah (see Isaiah 45:1–6; Ezra 1:1–11).  

Second, though, it’s in his people’s hearts that the Lord plans to make his home. The lesson to be learned from the period of separation from land and temple is that the real place of Yahweh’s desired abode is within people themselves. He is working all things toward the day when not only can he bring his people back to a land that has been cleansed of “detestable things” and idols; but more, toward that day he promises to establish a new covenant with them. This will be a covenant that doesn’t stand outside them, but that resides within them. “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19–20).   

Third, even in exile, the Lord is not absent. At the end of today’s passage, Ezekiel returns to his extraordinary vision of God’s mobile presence: the wheeled chariot-ark. The “glory of the God of Israel”—Yahweh’s very Presence—hovers above the chariot. Ezekiel sees the presence of Yahweh rise on the wings of the cherubim and leave the temple in advance of its desecration. Yahweh moves east toward his people in exile, and his chariot hovers over the Mount of Olives. The Lord has been, says, Ezekiel, “a sanctuary”—a holy dwelling place—for his people in exile, and will continue to be so for as long as they are there. Unlike many deities from antiquity, Yahweh is not tied to a particular geography. He is the creator of heaven and earth, and he fills all things with his presence. He has committed himself to his people, and he will be with them wherever they are.  

And there’s this from Hebrews: “the indestructible life” of God’s Son and its impact on our lives. Foreshadowed in the mysterious Gentile king-priest Melchizedek described in Genesis 14, Jesus Christ has a priesthood authorized “not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life” (Hebrews 7:16).  

By the power of that “indestructible life,” Jesus Christ will one day bring us to our true homeland—the one that Abraham and the patriarchs looked to beyond the geography of Palestine, with its city whose Architect and Builder is God himself (Hebrews 11:10). There is hope for all the earth’s lonely exiles, and for any of us who find ourselves yearning for “home.”   

By the power of that “indestructible life,” Jesus Christ has already taken up residence within us, writing the law of his new covenant on our hearts. The risen and ascended Jesus has, by the power of the Spirit, given his people “a heart of flesh.” Residing at the right hand of the Father, he works to bring us grace to help us in our time of need, and he works within us to incline our hearts to do his will.  

By the power of that “indestructible life,” weekly, even daily, wherever we are, Jesus Christ already brings us in our worship “to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22–23). When we know we belong to Jesus, we know that we are always in good company, already abiding, in part at least, at “home.”  

Be blessed this day,  

 Reggie Kidd+  

The Rod Has Blossomed - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 6/3/2025 •
Week of 7 Easter 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 97; Psalm 99; Ezekiel 7:10–15,23b–27; Hebrews 6:13–20; Luke 10:1–17 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90);following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. Today is Tuesday of the 7th (and final) week of Easter. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

During this week the Daily Office continues a quick trip through the main themes of the Book of Ezekiel and of the first half of the Book of Hebrews. Meanwhile, we are reading our way through the Gospel according to Luke.  

Today, our meditation will key off of three different verses, one each from Ezekiel, Hebrews, and Luke. Ezekiel wants us to know that, despite appearances, God will bring justice to the earth. Pride and wickedness will not have the final say in human affairs. Hebrews would have us know that God’s promises for those who trust him are so sure, that his promises can serve as a secure anchor for our soul. And in Luke, Jesus urges us to be bold in speaking out on his behalf. He promises that he stands behind us, and that his Father stands behind him. 

Ezekiel: “the rod has blossomed.” First, consider this thought in Ezekiel chapter 7, verse 11: “The rod has blossomed, pride has budded. Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain….”  

Ezekiel writes from Babylon to Jews who remain in Jerusalem, and he does so not long before the puppet government in Jerusalem provokes the destruction of the city. Ezekiel presents one last rehearsal of Israel’s faults, one last plea for repentance. In chapter 6 verse 9 Ezekiel had said that the people’s “wanton heart” had turned away from Yahweh, and their “wanton eyes” had turned to idols. As a result, the exile and destruction that were upon them would make them “loathsome in their own eyes.” Here in chapter 7, he assures them that the prosperity acquired through violence and wickedness will be wiped out. Their military won’t save them, for “They have blown the horn and made everything ready, but no one goes to battle.” Nor will they be saved by delusional visions from prophets, manufactured instruction from priests, self-serving counsel from elders, or suicidal incitement to rebellion from the lackey “king” Zedekiah (2 King 25). The house of cards is coming down.  

Yahweh had called Israel a people of his own possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5,6). But God’s people had presumed that the mere occupation of sacred position made that position inviolable. They wrongly assumed that the mere stewardship of God’s holy words put them beyond being answerable for obeying those words. But God had called them to holiness so that they might be holy. He had given them precious truths that they might live by them. Instead, however, they worshiped profanely and treated one another profanely—and so they were bringing profanity upon themselves. Lord, have mercy.  

Hebrews: an anchor for the soul. Second, there is this powerful word of assurance in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 9: “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…” (Hebrews 6:19).  

Threats like Ezekiel’s can seem so final. They do bespeak God’s unchangeable resolve to liberate the world he loves from the grip of evil. But those threats are not the final word. The final and unchangeable word is a word of promise. Hebrews quotes the terms of God’s promise to Abraham from Genesis chapter 22 verse 17 (which reads powerfully and meaningfully in the more literal King James Version): “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” Despite the downward arc of Israel’s sinfulness, God had sworn by his own character that he would turn that arc. He had done so back in Genesis 22, when he substituted a ram for Abraham’s son Isaac on Mt. Horeb’s altar of sacrifice. God did so again in an ultimate and unimaginable way when he substituted his own Son for all the world’s sin on the cross of Mt. Golgotha.  

Despite his people’s faithlessness, God ultimately remains faithful to his own promises. His promise had been to bless all nations through Israel, and through his Son Jesus, he has done just that. Hebrews makes the point that the arm of God’s promise is as long as his arm of justice. At the cross, promise and justice meet to enfold us in a divine embrace. And Hebrews promises us that if we will hold that promise in our hearts, it will serve as a strong anchor against all the currents of doubt and fear that try to shipwreck our souls.  

Luke: “Whoever listens to you…” And third, in the certainty that God will bring justice to the earth and bring to himself those who truly belong to him, Jesus promises that we can speak confidently on God’s behalf. Here’s what he says in Luke chapter 10, verse 16: “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects the one who sent me.”  

Luke presents Jesus as being altogether cognizant of his mission: its purpose, process, and outcome. Thus far in Luke’s narrative, Jesus has explained twice to his uncomprehending disciples that he will be betrayed, killed, and raised from the dead. On the Mount of Transfiguration, he has spoken about his upcoming “exodus” with Moses and Elijah. Thus, he has “set his face” toward Jerusalem.  

On this last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus gives his followers a taste of what their mission will be on the far side of his death and resurrection. He sends seventy (some ancient texts say seventy-two) on a brief missionary expedition. They go as “lambs among wolves,” that is, as innocents among the shrewd, as potential martyrs among potential persecutors. They can expect to be welcomed by some and rejected by others. Regardless, their message is “The kingdom of God has drawn near”—which nearness brings blessing or curse. The messengers aren’t in charge of making the kingdom happen; they are responsible only for telling the truth.  

This purpose applies to you and me. In the face of lies, we tell the truth. Where there is sickness of soul, we offer the medicine of Jesus. Where the kingdom of self and sin are in apparent ascendancy, we declare the reality of the dominion of love and justice and holiness. The Lord takes care of the results.  

May you and I take heart in today’s threefold truth. As Ezekiel says, evil will not have the last say. As Hebrews says, God’s promises are a firm anchor for our soul. And as Jesus says in Luke, our job is simply to tell the truth about the kingdom of God’s beloved Son and leave the outcome to the Lord himself.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

A Gift and Sacrifice for Sins - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 6/2/2025 •
Week of 7 Easter  

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 89:1–18; Ezekiel 4:1–17; Hebrews 6:1–12; Luke 9:51–62 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me. This is Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter, and we are in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

Ezekiel as judgment-bringer. By God’s command, Ezekiel creates a replica of the city of Jerusalem. He then sets up an iron plate between himself and the model to demonstrate how God’s people’s sins have created a barrier between themselves and their God. Ezekiel proclaims God’s resolve to exercise judgment against his disobedient and rebellious people by destroying Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. This prophetic action is a perfect embodiment of the prophet’s task as “prosecuting attorney”— in Yahweh’s covenant lawsuit against his people.  

Image:  Statue of Ezekiel on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, UK. Richard Avery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. 

Ezekiel as sin-bearer. Then again, Ezekiel isn’t just a prophet -- he is a priest as well. It is a priestly calling, as we saw in last week’s reading in Hebrews, to be “taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5:1). 

So for over a year, Yahweh requires Ezekiel to lie on his left side: “and so you shall bear the punishment of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 4:5). Then for forty days, Yahweh requires him to lie on his right side: “and bear the punishment of the house of Judah” (Ezekiel 4:6). Ezekiel lies bound to the ground by cords, first on one side, then on the other, representing the people before God. Ezekiel himself becomes a gift and sacrifice for sins. It’s one of the most extraordinary “Easter eggs” in the Old Testament. It is a fantastic preview of Jesus Christ, bound to the cross, more by love than by nails, offering himself as gift and sacrifice for the sins of the whole human race. Praise be! 

As priest, Ezekiel represents God to his people and the people to God. As a prophet, he bears God’s word of judgment to them. In his symbolic acts, Ezekiel blends both priestly and prophetic roles. But Ezekiel isn’t finished … there’s a prayer dimension to his ministry.  

Ezekiel as mercy-supplicant. . God’s command to eat food cooked over human excrement (disgusting and unclean according to the Law — Deuteronomy 23:12–14) is an index of his disgust with his people’s sinfulness. Ezekiel’s revulsion at the thought is certainly more than understandable. His reaction (I paraphrase: “Dear God, don’t make me do that!”) opens to us one of the mysteries of prayer. Ezekiel takes his complaint to God, and God listens. God accommodates his sovereign will to his prophet-priest’s protest because God has made his point: sin disgusts him. It is sufficient for Ezekiel’s bread to be cooked over cow dung instead (cooking over cow dung was not an uncommon practice). God is totally in charge, but he takes our longings and thoughts into account. He wants us to pour our hearts out to him. And he delights to do his sovereign will in response to us! When, as the psalmist says, “a cry goes up from the poor man, … Yahweh hears, and helps him in all his troubles. … How good Yahweh is—only taste and see” (Psalm 34:6,8 Jerusalem Bible).  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Sweet as Honey - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 5/30/2025 •
Week of 6 Easter 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 85; Psalm 86; Ezekiel 1:28–3:3; Hebrews 4:14–5:6; Luke 9:28–36 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday of the Sixth week of Easter. “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

Today’s Scriptures bring us three gifts. 

Luke and Hebrews: The Father’s initiative. Somehow, people can slide into the notion that God is a grump whose Son has to cajole him into accepting us. Maybe it’s because people have their own father-issues. (Well, I mean, who doesn’t? I’m sure my own kids do; to this day they tease me by calling me “Bad Dad.”) But the architect of our redemption was not the Son. The architect was the Father. “Today I have begotten you” (Hebrews 5:5b). “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35 NASB NET). Hebrews and Luke agree with John: “God so loved the world that he gave…” (John 3:16).  

God has appointed us a High Priest, and has sent him as Apostle of his love (Hebrews 3:1). Deep down each and every one of us knows we need someone to represent us, and to bring us both mercy (the withholding of our just deserts) and grace (the gift of goodness we have not earned—Hebrews 4:14, and see below). Hebrews and Luke, along with John, go out of their way to say that God the Father has supplied what we need.   

Hebrews: A friend in a high place. The one who has “gone through the heavens” (a reference to Christ’s ascension to the right hand of the Father) is one who can “sympathize with our weakness” because he was here among us as one of us, “like us in every way—except for sin” (Hebrews 4:14,15). As one of us, he was set upon by every temptation. On our behalf, he responded the way we were designed to. He said “No!” And his “No!” counts for us!! 

We need to have every confidence that our prayers do not fall on deaf ears. The Son brought the mercy we needed: we have not received the judgment we deserve. The Son brought the grace we needed: we have received a life we did not merit. What’s more, we are encouraged, with the Son’s mediation, to come continually to ask for the additional mercy and grace that we need for each day, and for each moment of each day. “Therefore let us [keep] draw[ing] near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 NRSV slightly edited).  

As we keep coming to the throne of grace, we do so knowing that our High Priest is already there, praying even harder than we, for “he ever lives to intercede” (Hebrews 7:25). Until we have arrived safely at home, we will still need mercy (to be delivered from what we deserve) and grace (to be provided with that which we cannot earn).  

Image: Icon of Ezekiel, 17th cent., North Russia, AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Ezekiel: A word that comes alive in us. There’s an ironic twist in Ezekiel’s call. He’s thirty years old. He should be taking up his priestly duties in the temple, as that is the calling into which he was born. Thirty is the age at which aspiring priests normally begin their priesthood duties (Numbers 4:3). But Ezekiel is in an alien land, far from the temple. God touches him with the gift of prophecy instead. Not just any gift of prophecy, though. Yahweh gives him some of the most surreal visions in all the Bible (as we’ve just seen in the first part of Ezekiel 1), and calls him to some of the strangest prophetic actions in all the Bible (like lying on his side for over a year, and eating food he first cooks on human feces—Ezekiel 4:4–17). 

It was a difficult call to take up, comprising a mixture of the severest warnings at the beginning of his ministry, then containing the sweetest promises toward the end. So Yahweh’s Spirit prompts Ezekiel to listen and speak: “As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me” (Ezekiel 2:2 NASB). Further, Yahweh calls upon him to eat a scroll the words of which are condemnatory, and yet the taste of which is sweet (Ezekiel 2:8–3:3)!  

May you and I trust that the same is true for us. May our confidence in God’s “Thus says the Lord…” (see Ezekiel 2:4) overrule our hesitancy to stand upon God’s Holy Word when we know it won’t be popular. May the Spirit of the Lord prompt us to “hear…, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest,” as the Book of Common Prayer puts it, “all holy Scriptures.” May we find them, as Ezekiel did, to be “sweet as honey” in our mouth (Ezekiel 3:3).   

Collect for Proper 28. Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+