DAY 106: Built Upon the Foundation

DAY 106

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Sunday 28 June 2020

Built Upon the Foundation

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us to be so joined together in the unity of the Spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, Prayer for the Sunday closest to June 29.

She was a member of the church I was serving in New Hampshire, but had a second home in Mississippi a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico where she spent her winters. When Hurricane Katrina hit she was still in New Hampshire as she didn’t want to be on the Gulf coast when it made landfall. Her home had survived other hurricanes, and she felt confident it would make it intact through this one as well. When she finally went to assess the situation all that was left was a cement slab. Not a trace of the building, and all her furniture, art on the walls, personal items in dresser drawers, nice china in the cupboard, clothing in the closet, everything – vanished.

The prayer for last Sunday spoke of God keeping his church, his household, through his lovingkindness, ‘hesed.’ The prayer for this Sunday draws as well on the imagery of a household and focuses on its foundation. “… you are no longer foreigners and strangers,” says God’s Word, “… but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22.

The foundation of the writings of the prophets and apostles and their faithfulness to God is what we have beneath us, a secure place, where, as we expose ourselves to it, we are being built up by the Holy Spirit into a dwelling place for God that cannot be destroyed by any storm of life. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:0.

Reflective question: What is the condition of the foundation of your life? Pray about what you can do to strengthen it as well as to build on it things pleasing to God during this pandemic.

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Reflective hymn:

“God Has Spoken by His Prophets” – George Briggs (1875-1959)

God has spoken by His prophets, spoken His unchanging Word,  

Each from age to age proclaiming God, the one, the righteous Lord.

In the world’s despair and turmoil one firm anchor holds us fast,

God is King, His throne eternal, God the first and God the last.