Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 28 Listen: (5:54) Read: Luke 10 Listen: (5:40)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 28.2-4

2 Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor. 3 Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest. 4 These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash.

From John: With so much strife, derision, and contempt in our public discourse, we return today to this guided prayer from 2021 about the priestly garments of peace. Peace is not neutral or weak. Peace does not surrender but stands calmly in God’s truth, protecting the vulnerable, warning the sinful, and guiding the humble. Dress yourself in peace with this prayer.

Reflection: Garments of Peace — Guided Prayer

By John Tillman

In Ephesians, Paul gives a metaphor of spiritual armor for spiritual battles but in the Old Testament we get a literal God-ordained “anti-armor” which priests will wear. These are not garments for a spiritual war. Instead, they are garments for the spiritual work of making peace with God.

Pray this prayer over the garments described for the priests and ask God to make you a peacemaking priest of God.

Garments of Peace
Dress us, Lord, that we may serve.
Fit us for your work.

For our breastpiece, Lord, keep the burden of your mission close to our heart
Aaron’s heart felt the weight of the names of Jacob’s children
May our hearts be weighted with loving concern for our communities.
May our hearts beat with love for our brothers and sisters in the faith.
May our hearts break with compassion for the suffering and oppressed.
May our hearts love through actions aiding those around us.

For our ephod, Lord, mark us as yours, called and set apart for your work.
May it carry our breastplate of burden.
May it show the beauty of your grace.
May it glint with colors showing your love for all people.
For our robe, Lord, give us righteousness.
Remove our filthy rags. Wash and dress us in your robes.
Let the sound of your righteousness go before us,
The tinkling echoes of your mercy, as bells on Aaron’s hem.

For our woven tunic, Lord, make us one with you.
Weave your Spirit into our lives.
Seamlessly cover us with your dignity and honor.
Let us walk before you, with the golden threads of your life gilding the material of our lives.

For our turban, Lord, guard our minds.
May we have affixed on our foreheads and in our thoughts
The immutable truths that we are loved by you, holy to you, and will be used by you.
Let no thought or desire cause us to forget we carry your name and your love

For our sash, Lord, bind our vestments as one.|
Let us hold firmly to all your gifts:
The burden of our mission
The beauty of your calling
The joyful sound of your righteousness
The seamless covering of your Spirit
The firm security of your love for us.

Make us a holy priesthood, in garments of peace, not holding ourselves above others, but lifting them up and carrying them to you.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Love the Lord, all you who worship him; the Lord protects the faithful, but repays to the full those who act haughtily. — Psalm 31.23

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Priests of Life and Peace

God’s purpose is not to end the priesthood. Instead, through Christ’s sacrifice, he instituted a new priesthood for all who follow Jesus.

Read more: At The Mercy Seat

Aaron and the priests met with God to confess and atone for their own sins and the sins of the people.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 25 Listen: (4:20) Read: Luke 7 Listen: (7:14)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Exodus 26 Listen: (4:18) Read: Luke 8 Listen: (8:09)
Read: Exodus 27 Listen: (2:52) Read: Luke 9 Listen: (8:05)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 25.19-22

19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. 21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. 22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

Reflection: At The Mercy Seat

By John Tillman

The presence of the Lord went with Israel from the time they left Egypt. The pillar of cloud and fire was the visible sign of God’s presence.

In the instructions for the Ark of the Covenant, God defined a new physical representation of God’s presence. The Spirit of God would “rest” or sit above the mercy seat between the wings of the angels on the cover of the Ark.

The Ark was the centerpiece of the Tabernacle and the liturgy of worship that began in the wilderness journey. Before this time, followers of God sacrificed to him wherever they were, building altars and offering worship in place after place, even in foreign lands. The Tabernacle and the Ark represented a shift. God was still God out on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. But after the Ark and Tabernacle, God called all the people to worship under one roof, at one place, and in one specific way.

The Ark’s mercy seat was a throne for God’s presence. At the mercy seat, God’s people, represented by Moses, Aaron, and the prophets to follow, met with God. Moses met with God for guidance, wisdom, and to seek God’s will. Aaron and the priests met with God to confess and atone for their own sins and the sins of the people.

The access to the Ark was tightly controlled. Very few people ever directly entered God’s presence there. But today, every follower of Jesus has this level of access. Jesus made a new covenant that tore open the curtain hiding the mercy seat.

Instead of a gold-covered lid, Christ’s mercy seat is a blood-soaked hilltop. Instead of hovering between angels’ wings, Jesus hung between two thieves. Instead of us bringing blood to atone for our sin, the atoning work is finished in Jesus. Instead of a representative going to the mercy seat once a year, we can go directly to him at any time.

Through the Holy Spirit, go to Christ’s mercy seat today. Like Moses, speak to God face to face.

Make Jesus the centerpiece of your daily and weekly liturgy of worship. Find forgiveness and mercy. Find friendship and acceptance. Find guidance and wisdom. At Christ’s mercy seat, fulfill your priestly and prophetic role. Confess the sins of your nation, then speak to your community the commands and wisdom of Jesus.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Then, speaking to all, he said, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.” — Luke 9.23

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Mercy Seat and Manger

The mercy seat and the manger represent God’s throne. In the gold-covered room, we glimpse his glory and worth. In the humble manger, he shows us ours.

Read more: Bread and Oil

In the Tabernacle and the Temples, only priests could eat the bread or tend the lamps. But Jesus tore down the curtains and barriers.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 23 Listen: (4:44) Read: Luke 5 Listen: (5:04)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 23.2

2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd…

Reflection: Being a Crowd Unfollower

By Erin Newton

Following the crowd promises security and power, in the form of conformity. The temptation to follow is rooted in one’s insecurities.

In the story, Wicked, the main character Elphaba is born with green skin—a condition she is relentlessly ridiculed for. When her chance comes to ask the wizard to change her appearance, she is encouraged, “You can have all you’ve ever wanted.” To which she softly replies, “I know.” But what she has come to learn is that she doesn’t (can’t) want it anymore. To get what she had always wanted would mean following the crowd—and abandoning her convictions.

The truth learned in this Broadway show (now movie) is a timeless, biblical truth—following the crowd is not always in step with righteousness.

What’s the difference between finding community and just following the crowd? Aren’t both just finding a place to belong in a group of people? And even better, like-minded people?

Studies show that we are a lonely generation, brought on by global events and various other factors that are part of our everyday lives. Many of us work remotely, attend school at a distance, work long hours, and are hindered by a lack of finances, impending health crises, and even social anxieties. But we want to belong. We want to be known by others.

Crowds are the easiest places to fit in. You find a crowd, you join, and voila! Loneliness is, seemingly, solved.

But in cases where the crowds are doing the wrong thing—fitting in just makes you an accomplice.

The latter half of Exodus is a series of laws and instructions for God’s people. I found this one interesting and refreshing. The instruction is simple and evergreen. (Not like those festival laws or dress codes or dietary restrictions.) This law will last for eternity.

Crowds are not inherently bad. Following actually has biblical support. “Follow me,” Jesus said, and the Gospels recount many crowds in his presence.

Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. You can be in a crowd. You can even follow along. But what is that crowd doing? What are your affiliations known for?

Many groups today will vie for our allegiance. It’s best to know your crowd before joining, but sometimes the crowd veers off the narrow path. Are we prepared to not follow?

Jesus calls us to abandon some of the groups we are in and follow him.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

Another said, “I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home.” Jesus said to him, “Once the hand is laid on the plow, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” — Luke 9.61-62

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: A Bad Day Fishing

Every time we see him fishing in the scriptures, he is failing at it…we see Peter fishing on the worst days of his career.

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Links for today’s readings:

Read: Exodus 22 Listen: (4:23) Read: Luke 4 Listen: (5:27)

Scripture Focus: Exodus 22.16

2 “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.

Reflection: Justice That Protects Even Criminals’ Lives

By John Tillman

The life of the criminal matters to God.

Thieves who broke in at night had less protection under the law than those who broke in during the day. The homeowner who killed a daytime thief was guilty of bloodshed but was innocent of bloodshed if he killed a nighttime thief.

This law’s logic has several important moral considerations.

First, it prioritizes life over property. Even though the daytime thief is violating property rights, he is not threatening life and his life still has value that must be protected.

Second, it prevents abuse of the law to excuse murder. Without this law, a murder could easily be covered up by claiming that the victim was a thief. Limiting the force homeowners could use protected against corrupt use of force and held them accountable for responding with more force than necessary.

Third, it allows greater force in more dangerous circumstances. During the day, the entire community could help catch a thief. This provided justice to the homeowner without endangering life. But at night, the homeowner was more vulnerable. Allowing greater force at night provided more protection when homeowners needed it.

These laws don’t apply directly today. Our communities and justice systems are different. We have different advantages (like bright exterior lighting) and disadvantages (like weak bonds with our neighbors). But we can apply principles to our lives and justice systems.

It is unjust to respond with violence to non-violent crimes. The use of force by citizens and by officers of the law must be proportional to the threat and limited by the circumstances.

Those who use violence or deadly force must be held accountable. They must not automatically be exonerated just because the victim was a criminal.

Committing a crime does not justify violent, inhumane, or abusive treatment. The lives of criminals, even in the act of committing a crime, have value to God.

God judges nations by the justice they enact, and he looks most closely at how the poor, the foreigners, the outcasts, and the vulnerable get justice. These groups need protection from criminals. But they also need to be protected from a justice system that assumes their criminality and responds with brutality,

Carry out these principles in your life and work to see them implemented in your community. Let us ensure that we maintain justice that protects life, including the life of the criminal.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Hope in Mercy, Not Wrath

It is hypocritical for those of us delivered from destruction only by the mercy of God to desire only destruction for our enemies.

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