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Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

To Live in God's Presence

Dear God, I know you are with me now. I know you are with me any time I call on you, or even think about you. Let me remember, every minute of every day, that you are with me, watching me, ready to help, protecting my soul even when the things of this world give me pain.

Let my every minute be lived in your presence. Let my every action be an offering of love to you. Let my every word be a prayer.

Mason Barge 3/2/14

To Speak in Sympathy

Lord God, I pray that you will give me the strength to speak up for the woebegotten and those isolated in any way, even when no other person will; let me refrain from the unkind silence created in a hard heart, the unkind silence that clouds the bright sunshine of human sympathy and truth. Give me strength to be the first to speak the tender word of healing and friendship; make your Spirit powerful in my heart, that I may not remain silent when Christian love requires that something be said. And give me a sense of purpose, that I might actively forge the bonds of love among my brothers and sisters in Christ; this I ask in His name,

Mason Barge 6/28/2014

Closing Prayer

And finally, grant me O Lord, I pray, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in me and shed its light on those around me, and that by its brightness I may share a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Genesis 33 (TLB)

The Story of Jacob [11] - Jacob Meets Esau

hen, far in the distance, Jacob saw Esau coming with his 400 men. Jacob now arranged his family into a column, with his two concubines and their children at the head, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. Then Jacob went on ahead. As he approached his brother he bowed low seven times before him. And then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him affectionately and kissed him; and both of them were in tears!

         *         *         *

“And what were all the flocks and herds I met as I came?” Esau asked. And Jacob replied, “They are my gifts, to curry your favor!”

         *         *         *

So Esau started back to Seir that same day. Meanwhile Jacob and his household went as far as Succoth. There he built himself a camp, with pens for his flocks and herds. (That is why the place is called Succoth, meaning “huts.”) Then they arrived safely at Shechem, in Canaan, and camped outside the city. (He bought the land he camped on from the family of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for 100 pieces of silver. And there he erected an altar and called it “El-Elohe-Israel,” “The Altar to the God of Israel.”)

Notes on the Scripture

Jacob and Esau have had a stormy relationship, but they are happily and peacefully reunited. The nature of their relationship will continue to their descendants. Esau is the forebear of the nation of Edom, the Edomites, whose history will intersect with that of the Hebrews for thousands of years. By the time of Christ, Esau’s most notable descendant will be none other than Herod the Great (and thus all the later Herod), the client king of Rome over all of Judea and thus the Jews’ ruler.

There were surely periods of rivalry and even hatred between the two tribes. Numbers 20 tells us that the Edomites refused to let the Israelites under Moses pass through their territory when traveling from Egypt to Canaan. They raised an army specifically to close their border to the Hebrews.

At the time of today’s passage, notice that Esau retires to “Seir.” Archaeologists have traced this land to the east side of the Jordan, and have followed the Edomites over time as they were pushed south and then west. By the time of Herod, Edom occupied a nook in the south of Canaan, and was known as Idumea. A large contingent of Idumean Zealots joined the Jewish revolt against Rome, crushed in 70 A.D.; and the tribe was thereafter lost to the flow of history.

Jacob and the Angel by Giordano Luca, ca. 1694.

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“Tell the Truth”

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