Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 20 verse 28:
"Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son."
Some have noted that about 95 percent of the time the Daily Lessons come from the prescribed readings of the Episcopal Daily Office. So I never really know what I'm getting until the morning of.
Today, I get Paul saying goodbye to a people he loves and cares for. For those who caught yesterday's news about my planned departure from Second B, you can see that this hits close to home.
Paul is going away, and he will not be coming back. So he calls the elders of the church together to give them instructions on the care for the "flock". He tells the elders to keep watch over themselves and the sheep and later he tells them to watch for wolves who after he is gone would come to do harm. "The Holy Spirit has made you overseers of this flock," he tells them. In other words, they've been called and fitted for the task. They have within them what it will take to watch over these sheep for such a time as this.
To entrust someone you love into the care of another is the ultimate act of faith. Jesus did it with the disciples, whom he entrusted to the care of the Holy Spirit. Paul did it with the church of Ephesus whom he entrusted to the same. Now, I do so likewise.
These sheep are dearly loved. So dearly loved that the very blood of the Son of God was poured out for them. Take care of them, friends. Take care of yourselves and also them. Take care.
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