9.13.21 National Cathedral Morning Prayer

[Music] [Music] good morning i'm leonard hamlin canon missioner of the washington national cathedral and once again i've been given this opportunity to meet you on this wonderful monday morning september 13th i welcome you on behalf of our dean as well as our bishop to this moment of prayer and reflection that our living in our lives on this day might be more of what god has created them to be so won't you join me in this word of prayer god we come thankful for all that you have set before us we thank you for your presence with us we thank you for your love towards us and now as you hold us as you are with us may we be present with you and present with all those that we will encounter on this day so we ask now that you would just fill us in the wonderful name of jesus we pray and for his sake amen as we gather on this morning wherever you might be of course receiving this particular moment our reading comes from the gospel of luke the seventh chapter the first through the tenth verses and in luke's gospel we find these words after jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people he entered capernaum a centurion there had a servant whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death when he heard about jesus he sent some jewish elders to him asking him to come and heal his servant when they came to jesus they appealed to him earnestly saying he is worthy of having you do this for him for he loves our people and it is he who has built our synagogue for us and jesus went with them but when he was not far from the house the centurion sent his friends to say to him lord do not trouble yourself for i am not worthy to have you come under my roof therefore i do not presume to come to you but only speak the word and let my servant be healed for i also am a man set under authority with soldiers under me and i say to one go and he goes into another come and he comes and to my servant do this and the servant does it when jesus heard this he was amazed at him and turning to the crowd that followed him he said i tell you not even in israel have i found such faith when those who had been sent returned to the house they found the servant in good health there is so much that comes to mind really on every reading but there are moments when in my own reflections and in my own time in the readings there are often hymns that come to mind when i'm listening to the readings and as i was wrestling with this reading there was a particular hymn as i often have read this passage of scripture that i heard once again where the hymn writer wrote all to jesus i surrender all to him i freely give i will ever love and trust him in his presence daily live i surrender all i surrender all all to thee my blessed savior i surrender all you may wonder why this hymn comes to mind because i had to ask myself how much does it really take to surrender how much does it really take from us to give in to turn over to move from one position to another to give up power and authority most of us will not do it willingly but truth is when need or circumstances are present within our life often difficult needs and difficult circumstances there are opportunities to see things like we've never seen them before if we look at the moments that we find ourselves in there's so much that is going on in the world that we can describe and classify as difficult moments we try to avoid them not think about them we look for moments where we do not have to deal with them but perhaps this is a moment that is calling us to surrender perhaps the way that we've always been doing things to do things in a different way to seek out different authorities in power to treat each other in ways that we have not treated each other in the past to value each other in ways that we should value to open doors for each other in the way that we should open doors how much would it take and does it take for us to surrender here is one who has authority this centurion who has authority and has authority not just over others but authority for others yet in this moment he's aware of his authority but he's also aware of his limits i remind you the centurion he had taken oaths he had made certain allegiances and had perhaps tried everything to heal this servant perhaps he had talked in different ways or looked out at different ways that's one way to be able to look at this but he heard about jesus and he decided to trust jesus perhaps even as he had tried the centurion had tried everything for this century for this centurion servant perhaps even the centurion had tried the roman physicians but i must be mindful of the fact that perhaps maybe even the roman physician says we don't treat folk like that that this servant isn't welcome in this place it's not far from thought it's part of history it's part of their that certain crowds could not be treated in certain hospitals persons could not do certain things that we have a way of looking at each other in ways that we should not we have a way of treating and valuing each other in ways that we should not but this centurion cared enough to say i will step out of my space in order to make sure that there's healing in your space the centurion was moved by his concern for this servant and he sent his request to jesus when you value others in the way when you love others in the way that jesus has called us to value and to love you will do things sometimes not for yourself but you will do them because of someone else's need there's a long list of needs that you have perhaps heard about last night and you're hearing about today but you said hey it's not touching me so i'm not worried about it it's not in my camp so i there's nothing for me to do but now is the moment to do something about it so jesus here jesus heard the centurion's plea in his request jesus went with them but when jesus was not far from the house the centurion had already sent other friends to say to him lord don't trouble yourself for i'm not worthy to have you come under my roof therefore i do not presume to come to you think of all that he had to surrender the humility the humble position that he had to take in order that he would say to jesus i'm one who's under authority and i know you know about authority but rather than come under my roof he simply says here speak the word what an example of faith a humbling and humility of spirit that this man this centurion for his servant moved from this position of authority so that the door would be opened for someone else we have to value sometimes not taking the high seat but taking the low seat i understood this perhaps best one time when reading about a famous conductor who was asked in a most difficult what is the most difficult position in an orchestra when everyone expected him to pick a particular instrument uh to talk about it in a certain way he simply responded by saying the most difficult position is sitting in the second chair so often the first chair is what is desired the highest seat to be seen by everybody but it's the second chair that has to follow the first chair's lead it's the second chair that sets the example it's the second chair that helps to pay attention to everyone that is around and even the other sections it's the second chair that has to give up doing it their way in order that they can follow the lead of the first chair today i know that many of us may be praying lord give me the first chair but today i ask you how well will we work on behalf of others when we've been given the second chair i invite you on this day to join me in that prayer that jesus taught his disciples when they were in need of power and need of so many things in life and wanted to recognize how jesus was so close to the father he invited them to pray the lord's prayer and so i invite you to join me in this moment 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 the power and the glory forever and ever amen here as we go about our day and we move forward into this day the second chair is the one sometimes who will call the needs out that they see around us and so let's follow the first chair he who is king of kings and lord of lords may the lord bless you may the lord keep you may the lord make his face to shine upon you and give you peace this we ask in the name of the father in the name of the son in the name of the holy spirit amen [Music] you

Channel: Washington National Cathedral

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Length: 15min 13sec (913 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021