Ember Saturday in Whitsun Week
Posted on June 11, 2022 by under
Scripture: Ezekiel 20:40-44 (NKJV)
20:40 For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel,” says the Lord God, “there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me; there I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your sacrifices, together with all your holy things. 41 I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles. 42 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers. 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. 44 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.’”
Devotion
We give thanks each Ember Week for the gifts God gives to meet our bodily needs by sharing our blessings with those in other lands with whom we are in fellowship. God’s promise in today’s reading is declared in this expression of unity in Christ. When the restoration of Israel is prophesied, we always see the historical events falling short of the promise. There is always something more glorious in view: the collecting of all who are scattered among the nations of the world who will call on the name of the Lord (Acts 10:34–48).
St. Paul thus tells us that all the events and teaching in the Old Testament were recorded for our sake (1 Cor. 10:11), recorded as examples for us, so that we learn from them how to walk uprightly as those who are saved by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, just as they were. Even as the Lord says He receives His people as a sweet aroma, He reminds them to remember the things that defiled and exiled them. When they loathe what they have been, they will understand how truly rich His grace is. “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways.” We learn the same each Lent; in the power of the resurrection (ours through Baptism, 1 Pet. 3:21) the Holy Spirit teaches us to live as those who
believe it.
Prayer: O God, Who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Ember Saturday in Pentecost
O Lord, we beseech Thee, deign to pour forth into our minds, the Holy Ghost, by whose wisdom we were created, and by whose providence we are guided, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
