Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Psalm 137 • Jeremiah 31:27-34 •  Romans 11:25-36 • John 11:28-44

At the beginning of our Eucharistic prayer, we greet each other with the affirmation that the Lord is with us. We offer our hearts by lifting them up.  We give thanks and praise to the Lord our God.

Our hearts, thanks, and praise to God are gifts we offer at the Holy Table. But, they are not the only gifts we offer. Each of us has other unique gifts, which God is perfecting in us for our ministries. Paul tells us in Romans 11 that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” He is referring to God’s covenant with our ancestors as unbreakable throughout the generations. However, on a personal level, I am confident in knowing that my ministry and service to God are for my lifetime, and . . . perhaps, beyond. 

I, and you, can know that God’s calling is not without the gifts that manifest as God’s transformational love. It is God’s power in us. It is God’s promise to us.

Paul closes Romans 11 with, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever.  Amen.”

Our Eucharistic prayer acknowledges this all-encompassing and creation presence of God immediately before we say the prayer our Lord taught us. 

“By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.  AMEN.”  (BCP, 403). 

— Betsy Daniel