Evening Prayer With Bob

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ~ Luke 5:3 (NRSV)

Image: Carl Schmidt, Jesus Teaching from a Boat

But no one can tame the tongue a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.~ James 3:8-10

Image: Leonardo da Vinci’s “Studies of the Heads of Two Warriors,” drawn around 1505.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, *

The dullard does not know, nor does the fool understand, that though the wicked grow like weeds, and all the workers of iniquity flourish,

Image: Hieronymos Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. 

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion us into one united people. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your law, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. ~ Prayer for Our Country, Book of Common Prayer, p. 820

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." ~ Luke 4:5-7

Image: Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Kramskoy, 1872

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure. ~ Collect for Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, p. 223

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. ~ Matthew 13: 45-46

Image: Pearl of Great Price, artist unknown.

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 6:1

Image: The Prayer, Constantin Brancusi, 1907

I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, ~ John 12: 47-48 (NRSV)

Image: Wassily Kandinsky, The Last Judgment (1912)