Scripture Focus: Psalm 134
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Student Writers Month is here: The student writers featured from July 15 to August 9 have received free coaching, ministry training, and seminars by special guests in addition to this publishing opportunity, the ability to re-publish their work elsewhere, and a stipend/scholarship for their work. A portion of all donations during these dates will be applied to the students’ stipends/scholarships. Find out more about the students at this link or give a one-time or recurring gift at this link.
From John: The student writer assigned to today’s passage had to back out due to a medical reason. Please pray for her. Her name is Pamela Baker. Erin wrote this piece in Pamela’s stead and we will still grant Pamela a stipend/scholarship for this year as well as invite her to repeat the program next year.
Reflection: Faith of the Night Shift Workers
By Erin Newton
I have been “blessed” to live in a household where one of us works the night shift—that grueling upside-down world of sleeping past the sunshine and eating “lunch” around 2 am. I add dubious quotation marks around “blessed” because that shift is typically not conducive to one’s health, family or friend relationships, and overall mental health. God has truly blessed some people with the gift to handle inverted schedules well. We praise God for such a mercy.
There are some who work “around the clock.” They are the grocery clerks or the on-call investigators, the airplane pilots or warehouse staff, the parents of young children or the bedside caregivers of the elderly. They are also the hospital chaplains called to the bed of a critical patient. They are the church pastors leaving the dinner table to sit with the family whose loved one just died. They are the counselors answering a late night phone call from a client standing on the precipice of disaster. In a metaphorical way, they are people “who minister by night in the house of the Lord.”
So much of our typical lives revolve around the work and ministry done in the daytime. We have “office hours” that guarantee periods of rest. We close up shop for the night, and 24/7 businesses seem more like a rarity these days. Working with daylight is, quite frankly, easier. It is no surprise that we schedule our ministry for these hours.
Does the work of the Lord also have “office hours”?
The psalmist highlights this rare feature of the human-divine relationship: The house of the Lord is never closed. Praise rings out from those who have taken up the mantle to tend to God’s house even in the dark hours of the night. Why? Because God never sleeps, and he is always available for us.
Our praise to God also never sleeps. While our bodies force us to take time to recuperate and recharge, we know that around the world praise continues to ring out to our God.
There is no silent hour before the throne of God. Our brothers and sisters who minister in the nighttime establish the work that we pick up the next morning.
Let us rejoice in the never-ending, around the clock, praise (by words and deeds) that is lifted up to our God. Let us also be thankful for those who minister in the nighttime.
Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: “I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; but will have the light of life.” — John 8.12
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Today’s Readings
Isaiah 60 (Listen 3:55)
Psalms 132-134 (Listen 2:42)
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