Saturday, February 24, 2018
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Saint Matthias, Apostle
Reading: Romans 4:13-25
“For the promise that he
would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through
the law but through the righteousness of faith." Romans 4:13
Righteousness. We
are told that Abraham was given a promise by God. Abraham trusted, left his
land, his ancestors, his culture. Trusted that God would give heirs, in spite
of his and Sarah's old age. Righteousness.
Martin Luther wrote in Two
Kinds of Righteousness, that the first righteousness is a gift of God
“instilled in us without our works by grace alone,” from which develops our
“proper” righteousness, a life lived “soberly with self, justly with neighbor,
devoutly toward God.… Therefore, through the first righteousness arises the
voice of the bridegroom who says to the soul, ‘I am yours,’ but through the
second comes the voice of the bride who answers, ‘I am yours.”
So Abram trusted that the promise of God would be fulfilled,
contrary to all logic. And acted accordingly.
O God of love and promise,
may we always answer, “I am yours.” Amen
- · Plant a bulb in a pot. begin to water it; place it in a sunny window and watch for signs of promise.