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Daily Prayer - 2018-02-17

Presence

I reflect for a moment on God's presence around me and in me.
Creator of the universe, the sun and the moon, the earth,
every molecule, every atom, everything that is:
God is in every beat of my heart. God is with me, now.

Freedom

Lord, you created me to live in freedom.
Mostly I take this gift for granted.
Inspire me to live in the freedom you intended,
with a heart untroubled and with complete trust in you.

Consciousness

Knowing that God loves me unconditionally,
I look honestly over the last day, its events and my feelings.
Do I have something to be grateful for? Then I give thanks.
Is there something I am sorry for? Then I ask forgiveness.

The Word of God

Luke 5:27-32

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."

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Some thoughts on today's scripture

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  • Where are the Levis in my world? The drug-pushers, paedophiles, wife-batterers, rapists, those who cheat on tax or social welfare, those who are headlined for hatred in the tabloid press. Lord, these are the sick who need you as physician. Can I help you to reach out to them?
  • In prayer we know our place before God. We know we are needy, all of us in different ways. We need the physician for the weakness and ills of the spirit, as well as needing the doctor for the ills of the body. Jesus can enter our lives only if we know that we deep down really need him - otherwise he would not have come. He looks out always for the space in our personalities which need strength, healing, forgiveness. In prayer let your eyes meet his - and receive the light of strength, healing and forgiveness.
  • Tax collectors seem to have been collectors of individual taxes through tolls, with agents sitting at tax booths collecting monies on behalf of the imperial authorities. Religiously committed citizens scorned them. Jesus refers, ironically, to the scribes and Pharisees as 'righteous' whereas Jesus is the 'doctor' who brings true righteousness (union with God) through his teaching and healings. Self-righteousness is not confined to people who lived at the time of Christ!
  • I need never feel unworthy of being in the presence of Jesus; I can be all the more ready to receive his word when I know my need. It was for the needy that he came, finding a home among the poor.
  • The Pharisees strove to live good lives but went astray when they used their own lives as the measure against which to judge everyone else. How judgemental am I if I notice others who have gone astray - as I see it? I pray for compassion and quietly ask for God’s blessing for those in need.
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Conversation

Lord, you have engraved my name
on the palm of your hand.
Even if others forget me,
you never will.

Conclusion

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end.

Amen

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