Whales and Glory

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 -- Week of Proper 21, Year One
Saint Michael and All Angels

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)

EITHER the readings for Tuesday of Proper 21, p. 986)
Psalms 89:1-18 (morning) 89:19-52 (evening)
2 Kings 17:24-41
1 Corinthians 7:25-31
Matthew 6:25-34

OR the readings for St. Michael and All Angels, p. 999
Morning Prayer: Psalms 9, 148; Job 38:1-7; Hebrews 1:1-14
Evening Prayer: Psalms 34, 150 or 104
Daniel 12:1-13 or 2 Kings 6:8-17
Mark 13:21-27 or Revelation 5:1-14

I chose the readings for St. Michael and All Angels

I woke up with a vivid memory of a dream. So I wrote that before doing my reading and Morning Reflection. The dream was about seeing and encountering some whales. One whale -- a smaller, pale green one -- came up to the beach and let me snuggle it, putting its snout into my arm and shoulder socket and letting me hold it, lying on the sand. Another -- a larger, round rainbow colored one -- rolled over me a couple of times on the beach. There were lots of whales all around, and a local told about a place nearby where there were even more, very large whales. He had dived with them.

So Psalm 148 with its praise of God's creation resounded with special vividness as I read it. "Alleluia! Praise God from the heavens; sing praise in the heights. Praise God, all you angels; sing praise, all the heavenly host. Praise God, sun and moon; sing praise all you shining stars. ...Praise God from the earth, you sea-monsters and all deeps..."

And the Job reading is the beginning of God's answer to Job from the whirlwind: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ...Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?..."

I know I have often read this and felt some of the sense of terror and intimidation (maybe even bullying) that I might imagine Job experiencing. But after the dream with the whales, it was a delightful speech, a glorious and wonderful manifestation of God's loving glory and God's care for the creation. I kept reading beyond verse 7. "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? -- when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?" And I was back on the beach in my dream, marveling in the wonder of the sea, it's boundaries and the wonderful frolic of the whales. (One of Kathy's favorite verses is "...and there is that Leviathan whom you made for the sport of it." Psalm 104:26)

And the opening of Hebrews speaks in joyful celebration of the incarnation of God's Son. "He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word." The Son is greater than the angels, says the author of Hebrews. "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you'?"

We have been made one with the Son. We too are heirs of Christ and children of God. We have been raised to the intimacy and glory of the divine. God invites us to share the divine life and fellowship, and God's Spirit dwells in us. We share the power of the sustaining word. We are frolicking with whales, singing with the angels, blown wonderfully by the whirlwind, sharing in God's delight and creativity. It is God's gift to us to be friends of God, children of God, heirs of God, incarnations of Christ's Body, filled with the Spirit and made one with the divine. That's one whale of a life God gives us.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas