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WE PRAY

Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WE READ

God is with us. That’s God’s declaration in today ’s passage from Haggai. God is with us. As you read Haggai, you’ll notice that God’s presence among the returned exiles is promised not because they’ve put first things first, but because of God ’s faithful compassion. God ’s faithful compassion always invites us to examine our selfish and sinful nature. Jesus ’words in today’s passage from Matthew echo God’s desire to dwell with and protect God’s people. The image Jesus uses is stark; he longs to gather his people to shelter them under his wing, but God ’s desire to dwell with God’s people isn’t reciprocated. Perhaps one of the texts Jesus evokes with his desire to gather Israel under his wing comes from Psalm 31. If only God ’s people would cry out for salvation as the psalmist did! Between the willingness to turn and seek refuge in God’s presence and the religious leader ’s refusal of God’s protection is an in-between place marked by patient waiting. The faithful in Thyatira are encouraged to hold on to the faith they have until Jesus returns. This reminds us that even though we may not be able to recognize God ’s work around us, it doesn ’t mean that God isn’t among us.

Psalm 31

1 I take refuge in you, LORD.
Please never let me be put to shame.
Rescue me by your righteousness!
2 Listen closely to me!
Deliver me quickly;
be a rock that protects me;
be a strong fortress that saves me!
3 You are definitely my rock
and my fortress.
Guide me and lead me
for the sake of your good name!
4 Get me out of this net
that’s been set for me
because you are my protective fortress.
5 I entrust my spirit into your hands;
you, LORD, God of faithfulness—
you have saved me.
6 I hate those who embrace
what is completely worthless.
I myself trust the LORD.
7 I rejoice and celebrate
in your faithful love
because you saw my suffering—
you were intimately acquainted
with my deep distress.
8 You didn’t hand me over to the enemy,
but set my feet in wide-open spaces.
9 Have mercy on me, LORD,
because I ’m depressed.
My vision fails because of my grief,
as do my spirit and my body.
10 My life is consumed with sadness;
my years are consumed with groaning.
Strength fails me
because of my suffering;
my bones dry up.
11 I’m a joke to all my enemies,
still worse to my neighbors.
I scare my friends,
and whoever sees me in the street runs away!
12 I am forgotten, like I ’m dead,
completely out of mind;
I am like a piece of pottery, destroyed.
13 Yes, I’ve heard all the gossiping,
terror all around;
so many gang up together against me,
they plan to take my life!
14 But me? I trust you, LORD!
I affirm, “You are my God.”
15 My future is in your hands.
Don’t hand me over to my enemies,
to all who are out to get me!
16 Shine your face on your servant;
save me by your faithful love!
17 LORD, don’t let me be put to shame
because I have cried out to you.
Let the wicked be put to shame;
let them be silenced in death’s domain!
18 Let their lying lips be shut up
whenever they speak arrogantly
against the righteous
with pride and contempt!
19 How great is the goodness
that you’ve reserved
for those who honor you,
that you commit to those
who take refuge in you—
in the sight of everyone!
20 You hide them
in the shelter of your wings,
safe from human scheming.
You conceal them in a shelter,
safe from accusing tongues.
21 Bless the LORD,
because he has wondrously revealed
his faithful love to me
when I was like a city under siege!
22 When I was panicked, I said,
“I’m cut off from your eyes!”
But you heard my request for mercy
when I cried out to you for help.
23 All you who are faithful, love the LORD!
The LORD protects those who are loyal,
but he pays the proud back
to the fullest degree.
24 All you who wait for the LORD,
be strong and let your heart take courage.

Haggai 1:1–15

1 The LORD ’s word came through Haggai the prophet in the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month on the first day of the month, to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak ’s son:
2 This is what the LORD
of heavenly forces says:
These people say, “The time hasn’t come,”
the time to rebuild the LORD’s house.
3 Then the LORD ’s word came through Haggai the prophet:
4 Is it time for you to dwell
in your own paneled houses
while this house lies in ruins?
5 So now, this is what
the LORD of heavenly forces says:
Take your ways to heart.
6 You have sown much,
but it has brought little.
You eat, but there ’s not enough to satisfy.
You drink, but not enough to get drunk.
There is clothing, but not enough to keep warm.
Anyone earning wages puts those
wages into a bag with holes.
7 This is what the LORD
of heavenly forces says:
Take your ways to heart.
8 Go up to the highlands
and bring back wood.
Rebuild the temple so that I may enjoy it
and that I may be honored,
says the LORD.
9 You expect a surplus,
but look how it shrinks.
You bring it home, and I blow it away,
says the LORD of heavenly forces,
because my house lies in ruins.
But all of you hurry to your own houses.
10 Therefore, the skies above you
have withheld the dew,
and the earth has withheld
its produce because of you.
11 I have called for drought on the earth,
on the mountains, on the grain,
on the wine, on the olive oil,
on that which comes forth
from the fertile ground,
on humanity, on beasts,
and upon everything that
handles produce.
12 Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak ’s son, along with all who remained among the people, listened to the voice of the LORD God and to the words of Haggai the prophet because the LORD their God sent him. Then the people feared the LORD.
13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave the LORD’s message to the people:
I am with you, says the LORD.
14 The LORD moved the spirit of Judah ’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and the spirit of the high priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and the spirit of all the rest of the people. Then they came and did work on the house of the LORD of heavenly forces, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

Revelation 2:18–29

18 “Write this to the angel of the church in Thyatira:
These are the words of God’s Son, whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and whose feet are like fine brass. 19 I know your works, your love and faithfulness, your service and endurance. I also know that the works you have done most recently are even greater than those you did at first. 20 But I have this against you: you put up with that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. You allow her to teach and to mislead my servants into committing sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to change her heart and life, but she refuses to change her life of prostitution. 22 Look! I’m throwing her onto a sickbed. I am casting those who have committed adultery with her into terrible hardship—if they don’t change their hearts from following her practices—23 and I will even put her children to death with disease. Then all the churches will know that I ’m the one who examines minds and hearts, and that I will give to each of you what your actions deserve. 24 As for the rest of you in Thyatira—those of you who don’t follow this teaching and haven’t learned the so-called “deep secrets” of Satan—I won’t burden you with anything else. 25 Just hold on to what you have until I come. 26 To those who emerge victorious, keeping my practices until the end, I will give authority over the nations—27 to rule the nations with an iron rod and smash them like pottery—28 just as I received authority from my Father. I will also give them the morning star. 29 If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Matthew 23:27–39

27 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. 28 In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.
29 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors ’days, we wouldn’t have joined them in killing the prophets. ’31 You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, complete what your ancestors did. 33 You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, look, I ’m sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city. 35 Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. 36 I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. 38 Look, your house is left to you deserted. 39 I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord ’s name.”

WE THINK

  • What stands out to you from today’s reading?
  • Are you confused or stumped by what you’ve read?
  • Is there anything you encountered that makes you think, “I don’t know about that…”?
  • What resonated with you as particularly meaningful?
  • In the Haggai passage, the returned exiles tend to their houses before rebuilding the Temple. When Haggai points this out, the people repent and turn their attention to rebuilding the Temple. What areas of your life have you tended to instead of making yourself a hospitable place for the presence of God to rest?

WE FEEL

  • In general, what emotions seem to be dominant at this moment?
  • How have those emotions affected the relationships you have with those around you?
  • What are you doing, or have you done, to submit those emotions to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
  • Reflect upon a time when you were confident of God’s presence with you. What was that like?
  • Reflect upon a time when you made it through a situation without confidently knowing God ’s presence was with you. As you reflect, were there signs that God was with you that you only now see in hindsight?

WE BELIEVE

We believe in the God who lifts us out of the pit, who turns mourning into dancing, and dresses our despair in joy. We believe that when the foundations crumble and the temple stones fall, God is still building something more glorious than we imagined. Though our strength fails and our works are incomplete, God ’s Spirit remains among us, calling us to wake up, to return, to live. We believe that what seems dead can be revived, and what is unclean can be made holy. We believe that we are not alone in the upheaval of the world—God is with us, not in fear, but in faithfulness. And we believe that the gospel will go forth, even through trial, even to the ends of the earth. In every shaking, in every silence, in every season—we believe: God is not finished.

WE PRACTICE

When feeling anxious, discouraged, or under pressure (as the psalmist or the church in Thyatira might), pause and take refuge in God through a breath prayer based on Psalm 31:20 and Matthew 23:37:
Inhale: Hide me in your shelter…”
Exhale: “…under your wings.”
Do this for 2–5 minutes, several times a day today, especially when you feel under siege—emotionally, spiritually, or relationally. Or, try using this prayer before a stressful task, after difficult news, or anytime you feel weary or overwhelmed.

PRAYER

Oh God, help us to rely on you, seeking shelter under the protection of your wings. Teach us to trust your presence, even when we cannot see it. Amen.