Today's Scripture Reflection
Lois McDonald, Parish Administrator
“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high . . . ?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 
Micah 6:6-8

Today in the church calendar, we honor Eva Lee Matthews, a monastic who served the poor. She was born in Glendale, Ohio, on February 9, 1862. When she was 15, her family moved to Washington, DC, when her father, Thomas Stanley Matthews, was elected a senator and then later appointed as a US Supreme Court Justice. She was a devout Episcopalian and knew early on that she wanted to serve God.

Eva attended Wellesley College and later returned to Ohio to serve at a mission that helped the less fortunate of Cincinnati. It was there that she and a co-worker formed the order of the Community of the Transfiguration to assist the poor, especially mothers and children. She became the leader of this order and envisioned the community fashioned after the life of Mary and Martha of Bethany. By the 1920s, members of this small community engaged in charity work in China, Hawaii, and various cities in Ohio. Eva Matthews died on July 6, 1928, and the Community continues to this day in service to God.

Today’s lectionary reading is appropriate for this feast day. Written in the form of a call and response, it asks the question, “What does God require of us when we come to Him? Burnt offerings? Rams? Rivers of oil? Our firstborn children?” The response echoes loudly and clearly, “God has told you—do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.”

Eva Matthews had much in this world to give God – money, education, social and political influence, and a lifetime of church attendance and Bible study – but she clearly understood what God required. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly. Indeed she had a Kingdom view. She once wrote, “The vision of the King is his beauty is given that the light may shine through us and guide others to know, love, and glorify him.”

In Christ,
Lois
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"Let Us Pray"
Collect for Eva Lee Matthews
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Eva Lee Matthews, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, on God, now and for ever.
"Something More to Chew On"
Tim Hughes - God of Justice
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