St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer:  Friday – Daughters of the King, Brotherhood of St. Andrew, Marthas, worship volunteers (acolytes, ushers and greeters, chalice bearers) and all over volunteer groups who work so tirelessly and joyfully for the Kingdom of God and the Body of Christ at St. Paul’s.

(as always click HERE  for ways you can say the Daily Offices online)

With the news from Charleston weighing heavily on my mind and heart this morning, I was struck by two things from reading Morning Prayer.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves

Such familiar words from our confession of sin, words that we might gloss over, or that have become so rote we don’t really hear ourselves utter them any more. Certainly this is a sin we all struggle with. Would that we could see everyone as our neighbor, but more than that – truly love them as we love ourselves. What a world we would have if we could do so! Maybe we just start there.

Brothers what should we do? Peter said to them  “repent and be baptized”.

What a sermon! What a response! Could you imagine finishing a sermon and people standing and asking what should we do? People that do not know God, do not know about Jesus? Or even people that do? Peter says “save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” And then they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Repentance and the turning that comes with it should result in prayer, fellowship, study, the breaking of bread. We need more of that. And we need to love our neighbors and welcome them to the same.