Rembrandt van Rijn, Baptism of the Eunuch, Museum Catherijne Convent, Utrecht, 1626
First Reading: Acts 8:26-40
“How can I, unless someone guides me (NRSV, Acts 8:31a)?”
Let us pray.
Father, how gracious you are to all of us in every situation. At each moment, you reveal yourself to us through your one spoken Word, uttered to all in every place and time. You have as well given us your written Word passed down to us through the centuries. Your truth is contained in the wisdom of the ages shared by the whole human family. If this were not enough, in the fullness of time, our Lord Jesus Christ, has come among us, your Word in the flesh, indeed truly the way, the truth and the life, present among us to teach, to comfort, to heal and even to die with us.
Father, how gracious you are to all of us in every situation. At each moment, you reveal yourself to us through your one spoken Word, uttered to all in every place and time. You have as well given us your written Word passed down to us through the centuries. Your truth is contained in the wisdom of the ages shared by the whole human family. If this were not enough, in the fullness of time, our Lord Jesus Christ, has come among us, your Word in the flesh, indeed truly the way, the truth and the life, present among us to teach, to comfort, to heal and even to die with us.
Father, our situation in life and history, the heavy burden of the sin of the world, and our own personal selfishness and sin, make it difficult fully to grasp your Word in every situation even though every moment, without fail, is always saving.
Your truth, Father, spoken to us all in the depth of our being through the Word, abounds throughout creation in ways we often least expect. May every one of us, Lord, come to a deeper understanding of who you are and what you challenge us to become. May we also encourage one another so that we may each one benefit from the truth revealed to all but only understood in part by any one of us. May each of us, in ways not always yet determined, share in mediating your Word to one another.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
