I Wish I could come back full circle. And, the readings of the last few offices have spoken volumes to me.

As I prayed the offices of the last two offices in the BCP, I couldn't help thinking about the capitol city riots and COVID.

The readings of the last few days have given me lots to ponder. Last night's readings at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+77%2C+Hosea+8%2C+Galatians+5%3A2-26&version=GNT and this morning's readings at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+79%2C+80%2C+Hosea+9%2C+Matthew+12%3A1-21&version=GNT spoke to me a great deal.

With everything that's going on in the world around us, it's easy to identify with the psalmist when he says in psalm 77 that he cries aloud and prays to God in time of trouble, stays up all night worrying, and desires mercy and compassion. He spends the rest of the psalm praising God for the most part. I get that.

The first reading, from Hosea spoke to me about the capitol city riots. Specifically, the verses that speak about enemies swooping down and those that claim to worship God abandoning what is good rang true. Just like with the ancient peoples worshiping Baal, people of modern times have picked their idols.

The good news is that, as St. Paul writes in Galatians, we are released from the law. Why would we again submit ourselves to it. Read, "Why would we insist that we have to do any works to try to earn salvation or any act to be Christian." When he writes that we are dead to sin, I used to read that we could no longer be found in sin if we wanted to be Christian; now, I read that we are dead to sin in that it holds no power over us when we slip and fall. Sin knows us not; to sin—if it were a person—we would be considered dead by it, disowned. We are free. When we err, we are no longer caught in it's wicked snare.

This morning's readings again spoke to me. The psalmist again asks for mercy for the great suffering in the world. We too are experiencing suffering. The prophet warns in the first reading that we are to experience great tribulations if we continue down the road on our diverging path from God and what is good. God is angry, or maybe it's just the prophet, and I wondered to myself, "When people lament today, 'Why does God allow such suffering to continue,' do they really invite the wrath of God to strike down all the wicked?"

Lastly, in Matthew, Jesus talks to us about how the spirit of the rules is more important than observing the letter of the rules.  Yes, we are not to work on the Sabbath, but we sometimes have to pull a sheep out of a hole.  And, helping another human being is more important than observing the rules.