Reflections for Proper 4, Pentecost 3 – June 2, 2024

Brothers and Sisters:

The Psalmist prayed, “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”  Ps.119:18. The scriptures in the bible contain wonderful truths about life. But by far, the most wonderful thing, contained in the bible, is God’s love for us.

In an effort to encourage his congregation to be more diligent in the reading and study of the Bible, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, a young Scottish pastor, wrote, “If you are led by the Spirit, you will love the Bible.”  He urged them to learn something new out of the Bible every day, to be wiser in their Bibles than in the newspaper.  What good, he asked, will all that you ever read in the newspaper do, when you are dying?  He was writing long before the electronic media made news available in dozens of different ways, but the message is simple, we need a daily diet of the “good news” in our daily devotional life to enable us to remain spiritually healthy.

Let me encourage those who do not have a discipline of daily Bible Reading to get hold of one of the many aids provided in the form of Bible Reading Notes to assist them in developing the practice.  I know that there are several persons who make use of “FORWARD DAY BY DAY” which in addition to setting out the readings for each day, gives a short commentary on one of the readings.  I would also like to recommend, NEW DAYLIGHT, which provides four months of daily Bible readings and comment, and is available in print or by daily email.  Quite popular too is OUR DAILY BREAD which is readily available in Christian Bookshops and provides readings for the whole year.  Let us talk to one another and see how we can involve more and more members of all ages in this practice.

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