Daily Worship

Scene: Two friends walking along the lakeside, deep in conversation

Jock Stein August 11, 2025 2 1
Jock Stein, Preacher, Piper, Poet
Image credit: Unsplash
Listen to this daily worship

Psalm 50: 1-2 (NRSVA)

1 The mighty one, God the Lord,
    speaks and summons the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.

Jenny:  This place is magic – the water, the hills, the atmosphere.

Jimmy: And seeing the sunrise . . . no wonder the Bible says God shines like the sun, and the godly ruler blessing his people like the light of dawn.

Jenny:  And no wonder some ancient peoples worshipped the sun as a God.

Jimmy: Not all. Do you know the story of Patchacutec?

Jenny:  No, tell me.

Jimmy: Patchacutec was one of the Inca Emperors. The Incas worshipped the sun, but P wasn’t so sure. Being a curious guy, he got his servants to put him ashore on Lake Titicaca for three days – I guess they left him food as well – and when he got back he made an announcement: “Listen! For three days I watched how the sun travelled over the sky in a single clear direction, from its rising to its setting. If the sun was a god, he would have danced all over the sky. There must be a higher power controlling the sun.”

There’s a little more to the story. In spite of Patchacutec’s experiment, the Incas kept up their sun worship. Now P was quite a warrior, and after he defeated another army he would question the defeated general, and then bring him in chains in the victory procession. But on one occasion, he took the defeated leader alongside him, and said, “This man is my brother – he is the only person I have ever met who believes in one High God.”

 

PRAY:

 

God, we thank you not only for the beauty of what we see in the world, but for its order. The order that lets us do science, and understand just a few of the secrets of the universe. The order that good laws and good public servants give us in our society. A time for sunrise, and sunset; a time to be born, and a time to die; our times in your hands.

We rejoice because you, the High God over all, came into our world and allowed its disorder and disobedience to put you on a cross in the person of Jesus. Because he rose again from death, we too shall rise. So as we thank you for all that is beautiful in the world, we give thanks most of all for the beauty of your love in Christ, Amen.

And remember in prayer those who work outdoors, and those seeking God.