EChurch@Wartburg – 7.13.2019: Wade Burleson: Per Chance or By Providence?

Horsehead Nebula
The Horsehead Nebula

A General Anglican Thanksgiving from Famous Anglican Prayers

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you most humble and hearty thanks
for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all people;

We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your inestimable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace,and for the hope of glory.

And we beseech you, give us that due sense of all your mercies,
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful,
and that we show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives;

By giving up ourselves to your service,
and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory,
world without end.
Amen.

Pray the Beatitudes link

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Keep us from being preoccupied with money and worldly goods, and with trying to increase them at the expense of justice.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Help us not to be ruthless with one another, and to eliminate the discord and violence that exists in the world around us.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Let us not be impatient under our own burdens and unconcerned about the burdens of others.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled.”
Make us thirst for you, the fountain of all holiness, and actively spread your influence in our private lives and in society.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Grant that we may be quick to forgive and slow to condemn.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”
Free us from our senses and our evil desires, and help us to fix our eyes on you.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Aid us to make peace in our families, in our country, and in the world.

Lord Jesus, you said,
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice,
for the kingdom of heaven in theirs.”
Make us willing to suffer for the sake of right rather than to practice injustice; and do not let us discriminate against our neighbours and oppress and persecute them.
AMEN

Scripture Reading

Ruth 2:1-23 NIV

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[b]”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Wade Burleson: Per Chance or By Providence? from Emmanuel Enid on Vimeo.

Benediction

God bless you in rising,
through dawn chorus
and cheerfulness.
God bless you in working,
through honest toil
and service.
God bless you in sharing,
through spoken word
and embracing.
God bless you in resting,
through peaceful sleep
and protection.
Amen

Comments

EChurch@Wartburg – 7.13.2019: Wade Burleson: Per Chance or By Providence? — 2 Comments

  1. Will anyone join with me in prayer for the refugees at our Southern Border?

    It’s become a full-on moral and humanitarian crisis (politics be damned), when men are penned up under conditions that have not been seen in our country since The Civil War.
    The stench and miasma at one camp has been reported to be so bad that the guards now wear breathing masks.

    It’s become a full-on moral and humanitarian crisis when private donations of diapers, food, medicine, and other sundries for the kids are turned away by Border Patrol agents.

    Will they turn away Doctors Without Borders next?

    “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
    — Thomas Jefferson —

    And lastly this from the Prophet Amos:

    21 “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.

    22 I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making.

    23 I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?

    24 Do you know what I want? I want justice – oceans of it. I want fairness – rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

    — From The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language —