People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: Between the Dark and the Daylight ~ 20th Sunday after Pentecost '18 Yr B

For Sunday, October 7, 2018, 20^th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, Readings: Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Psalm 26, Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16

Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. [Job 2:10b]

As for me I will live with integrity; redeem me O Lord, and have pity on me. [Ps 26:11b]

[Jesus] is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. [Hebrews 1:3a]

Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it. [Mark 10:15]

Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day's occupations,

That is known as the Children's Hour.*

As we begin the story of Job, his trials and sufferings at the hands of Satan** have barely begun but are nonetheless difficult. We find him at the time between the daylight and the dark and it will become much darker for him before the dawning of his release from this dread-filled game. The Book of Job is far from easy to read, let alone to understand and receive direction. It is at once a dramatic debate or dialogue between God and Satan, Job and his wife, Job and his friends - it contains poetry, it is part folk-tale, and it is extremely difficult to interpret. Judaic scholars suggest that the Book has three main and interrelated points. First, which is Job’s position throughout, that human suffering is not always deserved. We can bring on our own by neglect of our health and/or, from a religious perspective, by sinful behavior. But there are many things in life that cause pain and sorrow for someone and is unrelated to anything she or he has done, such as the death of a loved one. The second point, held by Job’s friends is that human suffering is always deserved and they argue that Job is a sinner and has done something to offend God. The third point, at once simple and complex, is that the understanding of suffering is just beyond human comprehension. The conclusions are inconclusive.

From the opening of this Book, we can hear the music of doom playing in the background; things will only get worse yet even now we are told In all this Job did not sin... How would each of us fare against such tribulation?

The Psalmist has us asking to be tested, examined in heart and mind. Do I really want to ask to be tried and tested? I'm absolutely certain that I am not ready, nor willing, to be the next Job. Yet the mere thought brings me up short as I reflect on my too frequent sin of judgement of others. I am as a “friend” of Job at times.

In the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we are given some help by the instruction to pay more attention to what God is telling us through all God has done and especially through Jesus - who is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being.

And, as Jesus is tested by the Pharisees, he tells the disciples, somewhat indignantly, to let the children come forward and be welcomed fully and completely and with blessing. He is telling us to be as these, feeling the peace and security of a child beloved of a parent, whether or not that is our lived experience, so that we may receive the kingdom of God as [if] a little child.

A moment of self-reflection: Am I a cup half-full or cup half-empty sort of person? Do I see the image above as a sunset or a sunrise? Am I able to imagine and inhabit the mind and heart and innocence of a child who truly trusts, adores, and clings to a beloved parent?

Let us seek to find and hold the ability to love unconditionally as does a child. When we actively and consciously pursue the love and presence of God, through Jesus and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we will more easily accept and work through all that life provides. Whatever the tests may be, the difficult and the easy, whatever the twists and turns in the trials of faith, God is as faithful to us as the Parent in the Children’s Hour. Let us be as faithful, loving children to our God, between the dark and the daylight in each and every day, until we enter into the eternal Light of new life in Christ.

And there will I keep you forever,

Yes, forever and a day,

Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,

And moulder in dust away! *

*~ The Children’s Hour, 1st and last stanzas, from the poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882, published in the September 1860 Edition of The Atlantic magazine. To read the rest of this poem click on: The Children's Hour

**An interesting aside is the concept of Satan who appears in the texts of Abrahamic traditions (primarily, but not limited to, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) variously translated as "The Adversary", the "Devil", or "The Accuser".

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ God of Grace and Majesty, through all the darkness and pain, Job stayed faithful and did not sin. Grant us even a small portion of Job’s deep faith and patience, and greater awareness of Your presence and love, to live each day as Your trusting and beloved children.

Creator God Almighty

RESPONSE: Pity and Redeem us, O Lord

~ God of Grace and Majesty, release all who govern on this Earth, in this Nation, and in this Community, from any hardness of heart or evil intent, that through actions of integrity, equity, and generosity, they may find their own moral substance in the well-being of all people. We pray especially for: Donald, our President; Tom, Chris, and Lisa, our Members of Congress; John, our Governor; Matt, our County Executive; and Mike, our Mayor.

Creator God Almighty