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Lectionary
16 TRINITY: 7 - 13 SEPTEMBER. 2008
THEME: ‘FAITH IN
ACTION.’
READING: JAMES 1: 22 – 27
The
Christian faith at its best demands a way of life guided by a
specific ethos, a specific ethic, and a set of values,
principles, norms, attitudes and practices. Although
meditations and liturgies are important, faithfulness to the
Gospel is dependent on the degree to which a professing
Christian applies what he or she claims to believe in daily
life. It is not enough for anyone to proclaim to the world
that one believes in Jesus Christ. It is not enough to affirm
the creeds of the Early Church and the doctrines of one’s
denomination. More importantly, one’s professed faith must be
manifested in the way one lives daily – especially in ones
dealings with those who are less fortunate and less endowed.
Jesus reminds that the greatest commandment has two
components: To love God with your whole being, and to love
your neighbour as yourself. There is no greater commandment
than this one. But who is my neighbour? According to this
teaching, my neighbour is anyone who is vulnerable, anyone who
is forced by circumstances beyond their control to be helpless
and endangered. The responsibility to help is vested in each
one of us, in accordance with our ability and our endowment.
God will judge each one of us according to our response to the
needs of those who are vulnerable in our midst (Revelation
22:12).
Jesus reminds us: “Not everyone who says to
me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only
he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will
say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many
miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you;
away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7: 21-23).
Submitted by Prof. Jesse Mugambi
PRAYER
Go
before us, Lord, in all that we do, with your most gracious
favour, and guide us with your continual help, that in all our
works, begun, continued and ended in you, we may glorify your
holy name, and finally by your mercy obtain everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Jeremiah 7: 1 – 7; Matthew 7: 21 – 29; Jeremiah 32: 6 –
15; Galatians 2: 20 – 3: 9; Luke 7: 1 – 10; Hebrews 11
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