The BreadCast

(Heb.10:19-25; Ps.24:1-6; Mk.4:21-25) "Since we have a great high priest who is over the house of God, let us draw near in utter sincerity and absolute confidence." Let us shine our light without fear, for it is the light of the Lord and cannot be removed. "Let us hold unswervingly to our profession which gives us hope, for He who made the promise deserves our trust." Do you think He will fail you in your commitment to Him? No, His love is always first to come; you need but follow. And let us "encourage one another," brothers and sisters, even as Jesus does us all in our gospel today. Let us "rouse each other to love and good deeds," calling one another to shine our light, the light that is in each of our hearts by the grace of our Savior. "Our hearts sprinkled clean from the evil which lay on our conscience and our bodies washed in pure water," ready we are to do His will in this world; "the blood of Jesus assures our entrance into the sanctuary," and so, with our place in heaven set firm, we hesitate not to put our love "on a stand" and let it pierce the darkness all around. "We should not absent ourselves from the assembly," brothers and sisters. We should not think we need not gather together in His name. For we cannot take strength alone to fight our battles in this world; apart from one another we will be worn down by sin, by pride. Our light is not our own but is meant to be shared; indeed, it belongs to the whole community for it belongs only to the Lord. And it can only grow and increase when given in measure to others; otherwise it will be taken from us. So let us draw near our Lord as we draw near each other in the sharing of our gifts. Let us be as "he whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain," and our gifts will be acceptable one to another, and our lives will be acceptable to God. And we shall "ascend the mountain of the Lord" and "stand in His holy place" – the place He makes for us by His sacrifice… "We shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God our Savior," if we seek His face alone. Do not be afraid. Hide not your light. Enter His presence, do His will, accepting the grace He imparts to our lives. He calls you to join in His sacrifice. ******* O LORD, all the world is ours if we but come to Jesus for the cleansing of our sins. YHWH, let us be the race that seeks your holy face and to shine your holy light to all around us. This world is your own and we are in your hands, and none of us can ascend to you if we come not through your only Son. Let us come to Him with confidence and joy and seek to serve one another and the salvation of all. Then we shall be seeking you; then we shall be serving you – then we shall be standing again in His stead, and so find your holy blessing and receive it more and more. O LORD, let us give ourselves as Jesus has done. Let us be His very flesh and blood. Bless your Church, O God, with His love, with His light shining in every member. Let us not hide in fear but freely offer the gifts you impart to each of our lives for the service of the whole Body. The more we give the more we shall receive, for the more we give the more we share in your love. Let us not fail to shine forth your light as you call us to do.

(Heb.10:11-18; Ps.110:1-4; Mk.4:1-20) "I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds." He will plant His seed firmly upon "good soil," and it shall yield fruit abundantly. Let us be open to receive His word each day. Today we hear Jesus' well-known parable of seed sown in four places: "on the path," "on rocky ground," "among thorns," and "on good soil"; and the Lord makes clear that only in the last place will the seed bear a profitable yield. And, of course, the Lord hereby calls each of us to consider what place we make for the seed with our lives. Clearly, "what the sower is sowing is the word," and just as clearly, our hearts are the ground into which that word is sown. Therefore, the question is: What kind of hearts have we for the word of God, for His love? The seed does not change; in every place it is sown the same. It is only the soil which changes, and thus determines its fruitfulness. Are our hearts barren of the Spirit, or wrought with stones or choking thorns… or do we make a welcome place for the love of God to take root in our lives and grow? Though our tree shall be known by its fruit, only we really know where our heart stands with God, and so this question Jesus would bring to our minds, not to condemn us for our emptiness or hardness of heart, but that we might turn to Him and bear fruit in His light, that He might take away the "sins and… transgressions" that keep us void of life. Do you know the Spirit at work in your hearts, brothers and sisters, at work in your souls? Is His word taking root in you and being nourished by the waters of the Lord? "To you the mystery of the reign of God has been confided," and so, what a pity it would be to turn from His instruction, or fall short at all in preparing a place for the Lord to reside. The Spirit burning in our hearts, the blessing of His pure light, is all we should thirst for in our lives. "Like the dew" before the dawn He comes; each morning you should find yourself wet with that dew and set to do good works in His name. Yes, brothers and sisters, upon the heart of each of His children, the Lord God writes His name, places His law, His love, by the blood of His only Son. He thus makes us one with His infinite presence, ever giving growth to our tree. With His word piercing our souls, our soil is prepared to receive His seed. Let us therefore open our hearts to His light touch – His finger, His breath, His word, inscribing His NAME at the center of our being – and we shall grow in Him even unto the kingdom. ******* O LORD, let us be cleansed of our sin by your Son that we might be good soil to receive the Word He offers and bear fruit in your NAME. YHWH, our sins and transgressions remember no more; the blindness of our minds and hardened of our hearts take from us forever. By the sacrifice of your Son this is accomplished in our lives. Let us be good ground to receive His Word and bear fruit in His Name. Jesus sits forever at your right hand, O LORD; He remains there ever to cleanse us from our sin. His sacrifice is complete and whole; let it be made effective in our lives. Rule over us, O LORD our God, through the scepter of your only Son. By the power that is His from you, let our days be ordered as holy flowerbeds. Good soil indeed let us be, not choked by the world or weakened by the flesh or robbed of the Spirit by the devil – let our hearts be set on you alone and in you and in your Son find growth and bear fruit. May His blood water us well and His light shine through us always.

O wise doctor of the Church who ate the bread of angels in your long hours of prayer and study and writing and shared with us the knowledge you gained of the sublime truth of God, shedding the light of reason upon the faith we hold so dear – teach us this day to know God that we might better love and serve Him, that we might not be blind to His presence in our midst, to the holiness to which He calls us. Pray we shall enter into His Cross, His love, His obedience; pray we, too, might have knowledge, true knowledge of His grace and the everlasting life which is ours in Him… and pray the Lord send us holy teachers to fill your shoes.

(Heb.10:1-10; Ps.40:2,4,7-11; Mk.3:31-35) "I have come to do your will, O God." But what is this will of God? How do we know it? How shall we live it? The will of God is known through the obedience of the Son, in His sacrifice for our sins; and all who seek to do the will of God must follow in His way, offering themselves freely, innocently, to the Lord for the sake of the Body of Christ. "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Jesus asks the crowd. Who enter into His fold, becoming children of God the Father? "Whoever does the will of God." Whoever does the will of God is the only answer He could make. Whoever is as His mother and says, "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it done unto me according to your word"; whoever is as His brother apostles and suffers martyrdom for the faith, unafraid to speak out in His name; whoever is like the simple sheep surrounding Him in the gospel today, listening so obediently to the heavenly words He utters… these are "brother and sister and mother" to Him. Oh what a glorious family to be among! Brothers and sisters, we no longer have "only a shadow of the good things to come" but rather a "real image of them" in the flesh and blood of the only Son. The salvation of our God is abstract and fleeting no more, for the Lord has come in a body to make ever so real for us the glory of God. Our hearts should leap up at His presence; our ears should be "open to obedience" to hear and heed His voice. Our mouths agape, we should wonder at His presence among us and desire only to become one with Him who holds our very lives in His sacred heart, in the Spirit upon the flesh He is. Oh have we not "waited, waited for the Lord"? And how should we not act now that He has "stooped toward" us, now that He has humbled Himself to become man? A spirit of exultation should fill us, for by His presence with us He "put[s] a new song into [our] mouth, a hymn to our God." Our hearts are set on fire with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and we can no longer "restrain [our] lips," but must declare even with our precious Lord: "I have come to do your will," to join in your blessed sacrifice – to know the glory of kinship with you, my God, by whom we are all called. O Lord, "I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth in the vast assembly." I declare it on these pages. Please gather me this day into your holy family. ******* O LORD, help us to join your Son in doing your will by laying down our lives in this world. YHWH, let us do your will. This alone we ask of you. Let us do your will that we might join with your Son, our Brother, and be sanctified by the offering of His body for our sakes. Let us join with Him in seeking to do your will, in offering our bodies as sacrifice, in declaring your goodness to all souls. Put a new song into our mouths, LORD, one that proclaims your glory. Let us be filled to overflowing with your presence in our souls that we cannot but speak of your kindness and your truth, your faithfulness and your salvation. Here am I; I come to do your will. Let this be our song. Let us be cleansed of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus – let our body be as His own. O that we might be your holy family, LORD, that we might be as Mary and the apostles, giving our complete "yes" to your call. May your Son open His arms to gather us into your presence.

O holy virgin and spiritual mother to the poorest of girls, whom you protected and guided in wisdom and love, keeping them from the snares of the world and raising them in Christ; you who fulfilled so well the twofold call to love God and save souls – pray for those who so easily go astray this day in a world of great corruption, where souls are in danger of being captured by the wiles of Satan and sin; and pray, too, that there shall be many who desire as you have, with the living love of God, to bring them into His fold.

(Heb.9:15,24-28; Ps.98:1-6; Mk.3:22-30) "His death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions." By his death Jesus has disarmed the devil; the Lord has destroyed Satan's power by His holy sacrifice. Because of Jesus' innocent blood, "Satan has suffered mutiny in his ranks and is torn by dissension," for none of his adversarial accusations can stand before such pure love. "He cannot endure, he is finished"… and with him, sin also dies, for there is no longer anyone to accuse us of our sin. It is as if Jesus says, "Kill me if you will," and once having done so, Satan has nothing left in his arsenal. Once taking all our sins out of his bag and piercing the Savior through with their cumulative strength, what more power has he to effect death? Death has its day, and life – the life that is the love of the Son – has triumphed over it: our sins' effects have come full force against our Lord and Maker, and "His right hand has won victory" over them. And so this great promise the Lord can make, this astounding statement He brings to our ears: "I give you my word, every sin will be forgiven mankind and all the blasphemies men utter." Though the sin against the Spirit will not be forgiven – for how can he who calls salvation condemnation find the grace of God; how can lies find discourse with Truth? – yet all the sins man has committed in his ignorance and lust will be washed clean in Jesus' blood when any soul comes humbly to Him. And in consequence of this blessed mercy, "those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance," for our Savior has "entered heaven itself that He might appear before God now on our behalf." Yes, He serves as mediator now, interceding before the Father against our transgressions, that He might prepare for us a path to His kingdom. His cross and His sacrifice stand as our ladder unto heaven. "The Lord has made His salvation known" by the offering of His Son, and to "all the ends of the earth" "His holy arm" is revealed. He has appeared once in weakness to take away our sins, but "He will appear a second time not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him." And so, as we are washed clean of sin in His blood, we must stand ready for His final coming, for our promised reward, "sing[ing] praise to the Lord." ******* O LORD, cast all the demons far from us that we might worship you in faith and truth and come to your kingdom. YHWH, we should be offering you and your Son songs of praise, not blaspheming against your goodness toward us. For He has come to deliver us from sin, to cast Satan from our midst that we might enter your kingdom and glorify your NAME – let us not doubt or deny the grace you send us; let us not court condemnation with a hardened heart. There is a pride from which we suffer, LORD, a pride and a fear. We are unable to humble ourselves before your majesty or receive the love you bring. Our hands are grasping and our hearts impure, and so we do not see how much we need the salvation wrought by your Son. Help us to turn from our sin, to seek the blood of Jesus upon our souls, that we might become pure and innocent as children before you, living only in the truth, and so, joyfully singing your praise.

O blessed disciples of Paul and shepherds of the Church who imitated so well your father in the faith who imitated only the Lord Jesus Christ and thirsted for His Cross – pray this holy Apostle be our father, too, and you with him, that we too might embrace the Cross; teach us the sound doctrine handed on to you that we may hand it on and all souls might fight the good fight and run the race with Jesus unto eternal life. Pray for all the shepherds of the Church that they be faithful as you have been to rightful authority.

(Neh.8:2-4a,5-6,8-10; Ps.19:8-10,15; 1Cor.12:12-30; Lk.1:1-4,4:14-21) "He opened the scroll so that all the people might see it." These words are spoken of Ezra the scribe who "brought the law before the assembly" of all Israel as he stood above them preparing to read the word of God, but it surely more distinctly refers to Jesus the Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, who reveals Himself to the souls in the Nazareth synagogue today. As "Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all might understand," so the Word is perfectly read and interpreted for us in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus came "into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage" in Isaiah which speaks of Him: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me…" Thus is "fulfilled in [the people's] hearing" the salvation promised from all time; the presence of the Word is with us in flesh and bone. Brothers and sisters, the eyes of all are filled with vision of His light, of His glorious being in our midst; all ears are filled with the sound of His voice, like gently rolling thunder soothing our hearts. And so we see. And so we hear. And so His Church has eyes and ears of the Lord, for we become "Christ's body and individually parts of it." Our feet now walk with Christ and our hands serve Him, and all for the blessing and honor and upbuilding of the whole. If I write this to you now and you hear, do I write for myself alone? Is it even I who write at all? Are not all things in the Body in the Lord, taking strength from Him and nourishing in turn all its parts? What are we apart from the Body – we could not stand alone! Does the Lord not reveal these things to us in the opening of Scripture before our eyes? Is He not whole and one with all? In our first reading all wept at the words come from the mouth of Ezra, and all celebrated together this day of feasting. All stood as one when the book was raised, and all were prostrate as the name of the Lord was praised. The Body is one, as St. Paul tells us, and none go off on their own: "If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy." Brothers and sisters, "the ordinances of the Lord are true, and all of them just." Let us live as one in the WORD of the Lord, "the words of [our] mouth and the thoughts of [our] heart find[ing] favor before" our God, that the world might see the truth and the light of Christ alive in His Body. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Body of Christ" from The Whole Whale, eighth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, your Spirit be upon us to accomplish your will in Jesus' Name. YHWH, your Law is perfect and is perfectly revealed in the presence of your Son. He it is who fulfills in our hearing, in our sight, the glory of your Word. Here is the Word made flesh for us to taste, and so to become as His Body. High above us Jesus stands to shine the light of your wisdom upon all souls. By His presence in our assembly all eyes are enlightened, for by Him your command is made clear. And what gifts are thus given to your Church, O LORD, by the Spirit upon us now. How shall our eyes take in the vision you share with us in Him? How shall we hear of the joy He proclaims? How shall we come out of our prisons and embrace the grace of His message, dear LORD, we who have dwelt so far from your will? Refresh our souls this day, dear God, with the flesh and blood of your Son. Let us become one with Him and declare your truth to the world.

O you who persecuted the Church of God but then preached the faith in earnest, you upon whom abundant mercy fell, whose weakness became strength as each day in bearing extraordinary torments you grew closer to God – show us the way to Heaven. Pray we fall continually from our horse, from our pride, and allow the Lord to change our lives. Pray repentance be our constant food, that the love of Jesus and His forgiveness we shall ever know in greater measure.

(Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Ps.117:1-2,Mk.16:15; Mk.16:15-18) "Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation." One would not have expected these words to be spoken so profoundly to the heart of St. Paul. For he, then known as Saul, had spent such time and with such vigor had persecuted the followers of Christ. Why does the Lord shine His light all about him? Why does He speak to him and reveal Himself to him? Why is it this man who is picked to bring the Name of Jesus to all the nations? Perhaps it was his very vigor in persecuting His followers Jesus admired. Perhaps his sincerity and commitment to this cause in the name of God He knew He could use for the cause of justice and right. Perhaps he is a sign to us all that none is beyond the redemption the Lord offers. We know only that he who was persecuting the Church now works to build it up. We know only the story of this great Apostle to the world. "Recover your sight," Ananias says to this Saul, and so Paul, once blinded by the light of the Lord, now has his eyes open to see. So he who once went about with scales on his eyes, he whose vision was once so prevented from realizing the truth of the Jesus in his midst… he who was once so like his brother Pharisees, now sees. And what he sees is not simply Ananias standing before him. What he sees standing before him in this faithful disciple of Jesus, is Christ Himself. And he realizes whom he has been persecuting, and repents. And so he is baptized. And so his mission, one wrought in the suffering of Christ, begins. "Praise the Lord, all you nations; glorify Him, all you peoples!" are the words of our psalmist, but they could as easily be the exhortation of the Apostle Paul. Having himself believed in the Good News proclaimed to all creation and accepted Baptism into its way, he himself now brings so many others to walk along the same path. Great signs accompany him, and his words to our ears are as those of Jesus to him, for now he is such a strong part of the Body of Christ, persecuted by this world and calling it to salvation. On this day all our hearts should turn to the Lord, that we might join Paul and profess our faith in His Name. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Carie Fortney. Music by Carie Fortney; used by permission. ******* O LORD, help us to believe and so turn to your Son to be saved. YHWH, let all men turn to you as has your great Apostle. Reveal yourself to the eyes and ears of all souls who seek God, all who are zealous for the truth. Why should we continue so blind? Let all be baptized into the way of your Son and so be blessed with His power and His love. Let us not be afraid to lay down our lives for you, O LORD. Let us not turn away from what we must suffer for your Name and that of your Son. In this we should find our joy; proclaiming the Gospel to all Creation should be the food that sustains us. Let us be the sign of your presence in this world. Lay your hands upon us, LORD, that we might be healed. Send your disciples to us to teach us of your way and your truth. Let us enter into that way with them and declare to all that Jesus is the Messiah and in Him all souls are saved and brought to light.