August 16, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 1, 33, 89:1-18
Judges 13:15-24
Acts 6:1-15
John 4:1-26

II. Selections
Psalm 33:22
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

Judges 13:21
The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.

Acts 6:15
And all who sat in the council looked intently at [ Stephen], and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

John 4:10
Jesus answered [ the Samaritan woman], "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

III. Meditation: Open our eyes

As Manoah did not recognize your angel
until the angel had left him;
as the council refused to accept
what they saw in the face of Stephen;
as the Samaritan woman did not know
to whom she was speaking;
so we fail to apprehend your presence,
or willfully ignore what we see,
until it is too late.

Forgive us, and open our eyes;
and let your steadfast love be upon us,
even as we hope in you.