Daily Devotions
Reggie Kidd
More Than a Human Bride and Groom - Daily ...
More Than a Human Bride and Groom - Daily Devotions with the Dean
Daily Devotions
Reggie Kidd
More Than a Human Bride and Groom - Daily ...
More Than a Human Bride and Groom - Daily Devotions with the Dean

The Garden by Jonathan McKenzie

A garden planted
A man formed
Four river flowed
It had onyx & bdellium stone 

In its midst two trees
One to sustain
One to reign
Man given the first not the latter 

A mission given
A helper too
All things good
Man to grow into adulthood 

King to grow in wisdom
Prophet to grow in knowledge
Priest to expand the temple
Good but incomplete 

A serpent enters
A lie told
And choices made
Eve & Adam to Satan bade 

A satanic king
A lying prophet
An unclean priest
Destined to now die 

God comes to be present
Adam hides to be his own
God grieved does what he must
The serpent now begins to eat dust 

The seed of Eve will come to crush 
The curse will end with a ring
A new Prophet-Priest and King
Man to be restored 

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Daily Devotions with the Dean

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This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 26 & 28; Exodus 19:1-16; Colossians 1:1-14; Matthew 3:7-12

This morning’s Canticles are: 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)

…how I bore you on eagles’ wings…— Exodus 19:4. What a gorgeous and poetic way to look back on the rescue from Egyptian bondage—the Angel of Death “passing over” the Israelites’ homes, the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground under the protection of the Angel of the Lord and the Pillar of Cloud, and the provision of manna and quail during the (thus far) three month journey through the wilderness. 

How can we interpret the Lord’s working in our own lives as his “bearing us up on eagles’ wings”?

…my treasured possession…—Exodus 19:5. We may not be sure how to think of ourselves as personally “treasured.” Are we even supposed to do so? After all, “treasured possession” here in Exodus is a collective, not an individualistic, concept. Still, God surely doesn’t just love the whole without loving the parts. 

So, it’s legitimate for each of us to ask how we can think of ourselves as “treasured.” 

…a priestly kingdom & a holy nation…— Exodus 19:6. The mediatorial work that the nation witnesses Moses doing for them is what the Lord is calling them to do for the world. Moses goes up the mountain to listen to the Lord on the people’s behalf, then brings those words to the people. They answer that they will obey. Moses returns to the Lord with their response, and the Lord sends him back with instructions to prepare themselves for his coming. 

This is a picture of Israel’s distinct calling in the world—to be “set apart” (which is the root meaning of “holy”) in order to bring the rest of the world into the presence of the Lord by prayer in worship, to listen to the Lord on the world’s behalf, and to bring the Lord’s words to the world in hopes of a response to his call and his love. 

This is why Christians are a people of prayer. We do not meaninglessly toss out verbiage of vague “thoughts and prayers.” We earnestly and tearfully agonize before the Lord. We seek divine relief for the misery and suffering, the lostness and confusion, the wrong-headedness and stubborn-heartedness that plagues the human race. As part of God’s priestly kingdom, we plead for the Lord once again to provide “eagles’ wings” rescue for people under the dominion of powers hostile to their souls and bodies. 

Who needs my intercession today? 

…we have not ceased praying for you…— Colossians 1:9. In another happy pairing, the Daily Office invites us to read through Paul’s letter to the Colossians during this week in which we reflect on Israel’s “mountain top” experience at Mt. Sinai in Exodus. This epistle is its own “mountain top” experience. Paul himself is persuaded that these new believers have been rescued from hostile powers by arms lifted on a cross. These Colossian Christians have been transferred into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 2:15; 1:14). Thus, they are able to set their minds on things above where Christ is, and where their lives are hidden with him (Colossians 3:1-4). 

Throughout this gem of a letter, Paul helps Christians living in Colossae, an out-of-the-way, insignificant town in southwestern Asia Minor, to realize the powerful reach of their lives. They participate in making known the mystery of God’s reclamation of the human race through Christ: “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator, where there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!” (Colossians 3:10-11 NRSV, slightly edited). It’s a thrilling perspective. 

What is especially wonderful to see is the way Paul keynotes his epistle with prayer. It was quite standard in first-century letter writing to begin a letter with a brief prayer for the health and well-being of the person being addressed. But Paul expands this custom with generous thanksgiving for his readers, and then with a deep prayer for God to implant a knowledge, impart a wisdom, and instill a confidence for obedience beyond what Paul’s own words can convey. 

For what do I need to give thanks today? And for what do I need a deeper wisdom to know how to live?

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

Daily Devotions with the Dean

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This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 25; Exodus 18:13-27; 1 Peter 5:1-14; Matthew 1:1-17; 3:1-6

This morning’s Canticles are: 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)

This week’s readings in the book of Exodus, to my mind, mark a summit in the story of God’s relationship with his people. Tuesday, Israelites will arrive at Mt. Sinai, where Yahweh will declare to them their identity as “my treasured possession.” Wednesday, Yahweh will manifest his awesome presence and set a boundary between himself and sinful people, inviting only Moses the mediator to approach. On Thursday, Moses will receive the Ten Commandments, a summary of God’s law of life.  On Friday, we will get a window into worship that enables fellowship between the Lord and his people, a pattern of Word and Sacrament. And Saturday will find the Lord giving instructions about how to build “a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among [you].” 

…[T]he task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. — Exodus 18:18b. At first, today’s reading in Exodus looks mundane by comparison. It’s just Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, offering Moses advice about how to build a sustainable life in his ongoing role as mediator between the Lord and the people of Israel. First, Jethro tells his son-in-law to focus on his main tasks of taking the needs of the people to the Lord and bringing the teachings of the Lord to the people. For me personally, I couldn’t be more grateful for this reminder. Secondarily, Jethro tells Moses he should act as judge only in complex cases of conflict among the people. To adjudicate lesser cases, he should appoint “able men … who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain.” Again, for me personally, I couldn’t be more grateful for the capable, godly, and dependable people around me. 

This is not mundane material at all. There’s great wisdom here for all of us: learning to focus on our particular gifts and calling, and then experiencing the humbling but also exhilarating joy of interdependence. That’s why, I think, this passage belongs in the flow of this week’s readings about the literal “mountain top” experience at Sinai. Living the Commandments and being a community of God’s “treasured possession” is going to be done when Israel leaves the mountaintop and goes back into “the wilderness,” because the Promised Land is still a long way off. Like the Israelites, we’re going to need each other for the journey.

Remarkably, the Exodus passage today is paired with a complementary section from 1 Peter. Today’s passage from the epistle closes out our reading of Peter’s incredible missive. Throughout, he has been preparing people for life “in exile” on their way to an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:1,4). 

And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility… — 1 Peter 5:5b. Leaders must lead, and followers must follow. But everybody must do what they do “under the mighty hand of God.” Jesus had had to do some hard teaching to harness impetuous Peter, but the lessons stuck. Now he passes them along to us. 

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7. Peter understands that the whole era before Christ’s return in glory will be one in which his people learn to share their Master’s sufferings. Peter sees the real prospect of an especially intense, if brief, period of suffering in the near future—indeed, Emperor Nero’s horrific violence against Christians in Rome. The apostle even senses the sinister hand of “a roaring lion, your adversary the devil” at work. Even so, Peter’s voice is a calming one. If he were here today, he might say, “God’s got this.” In fact, if he were here today in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, I think he’d say the same thing he did to the Roman Christians facing persecution, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” 

I do pray that this day you will know God’s peace and comfort, and above all, the confidence that “after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10-11). 

To him be the power forever and ever, indeed. Amen. 

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

Daily Devotions with the Dean

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This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 16 & 17; Exodus 16:23-36; 1 Peter 3:13–4:6; John 16:1-15

This morning’s Canticles are: Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“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)

Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord… — Exodus 16:23. Yahweh’s fatherly care is highlighted in this passage from Exodus. For his people on an arduous journey, Yahweh provides rest. 

The Lord showers the ground with manna, the heavenly “bread,” with instructions to gather only enough for the day. Those who disobey and gather more than they need discover the extra rotting and filled with maggots the next day. But, in the sixth day, the people are instructed to gather enough for that day, plus one more day: the sabbath. There will be no gathering on the sabbath; and in the seventh day’s manna there is no rotting, nor are there maggots.  

With a non-stop, soul-sucking daily schedule of “wash, rinse, repeat,” time can become a relentless cycle of day and night. Our Heavenly Father insists on a blessed rhythm of work and rest, of productivity and reflection, of doing and simply “being.” He endorses pushing hard for six days, and then kicking back on the seventh. 

Many of us have to get creative about how to honor this pattern even under normal circumstances. Nonetheless, and especially given the conditions under which we are living at the moment, finding islands of sabbath-rest is critical. For me, racing the sun up each day is important. Engaging God’s story in Scripture & prayer before diving into the day’s news cycle puts everything in perspective for me. It beats back the wolves of anxiety, dread, and depression. Things like “soul-care” reading, exercise, and piano noodling are critical elements of my personal sabbath rest. If you don’t have your own equivalents, I hope you will consider creating some. 

And I yearn for each Sunday’s worship with my Cathedral family, even though right now it’s from opposite sides of electronic screens.

Rest this day and every day in your Heavenly Father’s provision. 

And baptism…now saves you…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ… — 1 Peter 3:21. Peter regales in the comprehensiveness of Christ’s work. 

Peter is grateful for the substitutionary nature of Christ’s work—“the righteous for the unrighteous.” He mines its personally transformative power—“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention.” According to some interpretive traditions (especially in Eastern and Catholic churches), Peter even describes Christ’s triumphant victory chant in the netherworld—“he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.” Our baptism becomes the place where heaven and earth converge in our lives, where Christ sweeps us up into this resurrected life—“And baptism…now saves you.” 

Rejoice this day and every day in the enormity of Christ’s love for you. 

[The Spirit of truth] will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. — John 16:14. John records Jesus’s teaching that the Holy Spirit’s role is to make the Father’s care and the Son’s work personal to us. Much about the inner workings of the Triune God is mysterious. One thing is not. The role of the Holy Spirit is to bring Heaven’s reality into our lives in this life. Jesus says that his bodily absence will make way for this ministry. While on earth, Jesus had been able to be “with” his followers. By going away and sending the Holy Spirit, he will be able to be “in” them (compare John 14:9 with 14:17 & 20). 

The Holy Spirit, says the apostle Paul, brings deep consolation and encouragement to our hearts. The Holy Spirit pours assurance into our hearts, affirming that we really are our Father’s own dear children (Romans 8:16). The Holy Spirit leads us in our walk with Christ (Romans 8:14). The Holy Spirit produces Christ’s life in us (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit even prays for us and with us when we are at a loss for words (Romans 8:26-27).

The work of the Holy Spirit is so immense that Jesus wants us understand that it’s not his disciples’ job to denounce the world and prove it wrong in its rejection of him. That’s the Spirit’s task: “He will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). All we have to do is follow the Spirit’s leading. We are to tell the truth about God’s love for the world (“God so loved the world…”) and about Jesus’s person and work. The Spirit will do whatever undertaking the Father and the Son have given him to do in people’s hearts—“The wind (pneuma, which means “wind,” “breath,” and “spirit/Spirit”) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). 

Be renewed this day and every day by the power of the Spirit who takes all that the Father has given to the Son, and makes it real and personal to you. 

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

Daily Devotions with the Dean

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This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 18:1-20; Exodus 16:10-22; 1 Peter 2:11-25; John 15:12-27

This morning’s Canticles are: Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. … Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. … For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. — 1 Peter 2:16,18,21. 

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. — John 15:12-15

This is a challenging pairing of NT readings: 

This isn’t the only time in his letter that Peter considers people in vexing social circumstances. Here, in 1 Peter 2:18, the apostle addresses “household servants” (Greek oiketai). In 1st century Greek and Roman culture oiketai were considered members of their master’s household (oikos), and were often valued and loved. If you belonged to a high-status household, you enjoyed the status of that household. You might even be able to earn sufficient wages to purchase your freedom, if you wished. Not everyone chose this option, because some felt their life chances were better in a good household. 

Then again, all households weren’t equal, nor all household heads magnanimous, kind, and loving. Peter anticipates the prospect of “harsh” masters. The term he uses is skolioi, which means “twisted” or “crooked” (we get the medical term “scoliosis” from it). Peter might have said more. Did he mean violent? or simply curt? Did Peter mean “crooked” in the sense that the master engaged in illicit business, and expected you to be complicit in his dishonest dealings? or simply that a master might have a “twisted” sense of humor you were supposed to put up with? Did Peter mean being “mean”? If so, there’s a wide range of “meanness,” from issuing verbal lashings to administering physical beatings. 

Peter doesn’t provide guidance as to what the limits are, whether there comes a point to refuse to obey, to stand up and say, “Stop it!” His concern lies elsewhere. 

Peter has had years now to contemplate the meaning of having had his feet washed by his Savior (John 13). He has had years to consider the significance of his Savior calling him “friend,” no longer “slave.” He has had years to internalize the significance of his “Friend” laying down his life for “friends” like him. He has had years to remember that Jesus had called him friend even knowing Peter would deny him. He has had years to work through how to lay down his life for others the way his Master/Friend had modeled and taught (John 15:13-15). And Peter has come to understand that the transforming work of Jesus has put him at odds with a world that doesn’t understand the value of selfless sacrifice—“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 Jerusalem Bible). 

As he writes his epistle, Peter is helping us to find our bearings in the midst of a world in which, at the high cost of the blood of our Savior, we’ve been made “elect strangers.” He knows that we’re called “friends,” and not servants, but that we’re also called to take up basin and towel to lay down our lives in humble service. And so, Peter has turned to Isaiah 53, the song of the Suffering Servant. Unique among NT writers, Peter finds in this passage not just Jesus offering his life as exchange (“he bore our sins that we might be free of sins”), but also Jesus offering his life as example (“because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, to that you should follow his steps”—compare 1 Peter 2:24 & 21). 

It’s a breathtaking discovery. No one else in the NT points up both the exchange and the example aspects of Isaiah 53. Peter doesn’t pause to parse all the qualifications or exceptions. He offers the Suffering-Servant-Footwashing-Friend-of-Sinners answer for what to do with, for lack of a better term for our time, a “bad boss.” Kill from below with kindness. Sometimes, as Abraham Lincoln observed, you can vanquish an enemy by turning them into a friend. Sometimes the softer response to a harsh word from up-the-chain-of-command can calm the waters, occasionally, turning a critic into an advocate. 

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Sometimes … well, it doesn’t work the way we’d like. Among the people whom Peter says to honor is “the emperor” (baliseus, lit., “king,” verse 13). The emperor of his day was Nero. Even as Peter was writing, Nero was preparing to unleash carnage against Christians, because he wrongly blamed them for fires in Rome. Before too long, Peter himself would be arrested and condemned to death. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, the apostle was crucified upside down. The story goes that he requested that he be crucified in this manner, lest anyone think he presumed he was equal to his Master (image by Caravaggio). On the one hand, that’s not the greatest of outcomes. On the other hand, eventually the love that Peter and all the other martyrs displayed proved stronger than the pride and pretense of all the Roman persecutors. As a result, to adapt a saying, while many will honor a son by naming him “Peter,” nobody would name anything but their dog “Nero.” 

I pray God gives us grace today, as Peter says, to “live as free people”—loving one another; serving the unlovable as well as the lovable; honoring bosses, good and bad; and respecting (and praying for!) leaders, wise and unwise. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+