You/We Belong to God
Thrive
Then Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are
my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your
wages be?" Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah,
and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were lovely, and Rachel was
graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, "I will serve you
seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It is
better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man;
stay with me." So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to
him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife
that I may go in to her, for my time is completed." So Laban gathered
together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he
took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. (Laban
gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came,
it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me?
Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?" Laban
said, "This is not done in our country — giving the younger before the firstborn.
Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return
for serving me for another seven years." Jacob did so, and completed her
week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
Genesis 29:15-28
Jacob
Encountering Rachel with her Father’s Herds
FÜHRICH, Joseph, Ritter von
1800-1876
Österreichische Galerie
Belvedere
Vienna,
Austria
|
Notes: |
Although this painting describes the activities of the passage just before the lectionary reading for today from Genesis, it tenderly depicts the love that Jacob felt for Rachel. The artist, Joseph Fuhrich, was a member of the so-called Nazarene school of Christian artists, mostly German, who lived and practiced in Rome. "[He] was as Catholic in his art as in his life. He was fond of avowing his principles on art with great emphasis; he declares that religion, art, and nature are harmoniously combined...that he does not admit that ecclesiastical art is its own end, but that its end is to be serviceable in God's house, not as mere decoration, but as a means of instruction, in order to manifest to the heart as far as possible by means of the senses the life of faith." (Shahan, 311) |
Our duty is wakefulness, the fundamental condition of life
itself.
The unseen, the unheard, the untouchable
is what weaves the fabric of our
see-able universe together.
~
Robin Craig Clark
Every happening, great and small,
is a parable whereby God speaks to us,
and the art of life is to get the message.
~
Malcolm Muggeridge
Jeanne
and I saw Tarzan at the Arvada Center on Wednesday.
What
an amazing production!
Jeanne
Gibbard with Friendly Critters at the Arvada Center.
Chris Daniels and the Kings
Bonfils-Stanton
Foundation Amphitheater
Lakewood’s Heritage Center
Wednesday,
July 23, 2014
A
lovely evening …
…
and a lovely setting!
Vicki
Hall, Connie McKenna, Virginia Miller
Connie
and Carolyn tried out some of the dancing.
William,
I took this one of the drummer for you!
On
Friday, a doe was resting on a lawn near my house as her twin fawns romped
nearby.
Faith steals upon you like dew:
some days you wake and it is there.
And like dew, it gets
burned off in the rising sun of
anxieties, ambitions, distractions.
~
Christian Wiman
July 27, 2014 Seventh Sunday after
Pentecost — Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Proper 12
Previous OPQs may
be found at:
He put before them another parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed
in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is
the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and make nests in its branches."
He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a
woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was
leavened.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone
found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that
field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;
on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and
bought it.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea
and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down,
and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end
of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
"Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And
he said to them, “ herefore every scribe who has been trained for the
kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his
treasure what is new and what is old.”
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Agnus Day, by
James Wetzstein
Agnus Day appears with the permission
of www.agnusday.org
Genesis
29: 15-28
Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b or
Psalm 128
Romans 8: 26-39
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52