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BEARING HIS LIKENESS

Opening Prayer

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP 224)

TEXT

1 Corinthians 15:35-49 NIV

But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

READ

What an incredible gift!

To know that it was through a human body God chose to enter the world; it was through a human body that he chose to suffer and die for that world; it is through a gloriously risen body that he brings us the promise of new heavenly bodies when we join him forevermore.

Think about what implications this has for those with broken bodies, bodies with missing parts, bodies that no longer function?

What does this say to those whose bodies are racked with pain, that bear the scars of abuse or torture, the unformed waiting to be born?

What does this mean for you?

 

Prayer of Intercession

Creator and Savior, we thank you for your generosity in granting us the riches of your glory in eternity. Since you have guided us back into your ways, O Lord, we will never go astray again, but go straight ahead until we reach our eternal rest in that promised land of blessedness.

—Francis de Sales, 1567-1622

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WHAT IS THIS? Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus. Each morning our community gathers around a Scripture, a reflection, a prayer, and a few short questions, inviting us to reorient our lives around the love of Jesus that transforms our hearts, homes, churches, and cities.

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