This site is built to share the experience of reading “Treasury of Daily Prayer.” Stop in often and leave a comment, ask a question or propose an answer. Taking time each day in God’s Word, we can help each other by sharing the insights and questions that come from reading through the Treasury.
1st Reading: Acts 20:28-35 Epistle: Titus 1:1-9 Gospel: Luke 10:1-9
Color: White 
Hymn of the Day: 586 Preach you the Word, and plant it home
St. Titus, Pastor
Saint Titus was a companion and secretary of Saint Paul, mentioned in several of the Pauline epistles. Titus was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch and accompanied them to the Council of Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-3).
He appears to have been a Gentile — for Paul sternly refused to have him circumcised, because the Gospel frees Christians from the requirements of the Mosaic Law — and to have been chiefly engaged in ministering to Gentiles.
At a later period, Paul’s epistles place him with Paul and Timothy at Ephesus, where he was sent by Paul to Corinth for the purpose of getting the contributions of the church sent to the poor Christians at Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8:6; 12:18).
He rejoined Paul when he was in Macedonia, and cheered him with the tidings he brought from Corinth (2 Corinthians 7:6-15). After this his name is not mentioned until after Paul’s first imprisonment, when he was engaged in the organization of the church in Crete, where Paul had left him for this purpose (Titus 1:5). The last mention of him is in 2 Timothy 4:10, where he appeared with Paul at Rome during his second imprisonment. From Rome he was sent into Dalmatia.
According to tradition, Paul ordained Titus bishop of Gortyn in Crete. Titus died in the year 107 A.D., about 95 years old.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org "Titus (Biblical)"
Given the added name of Chrysostom, which means "golden-mouthed" in Greek, Saint John was a dominant force in the fourth-century Christian church. Born in Antioch around the year 347, John was instructed in the Christian faith by his pious mother, Anthusa. After serving in a number of Christian offices, including acolyte and lector, John was ordained a presbyter and given preaching responsibilities. His simple but direct messages found an audience well beyond his home town. In 398, John Chrysostom was made Patriarch of Constantinople. His determination to reform the church, court, and city there brought him into conflict with established authorities. Eventually, he was exiled from his adopted city. Although removed from his parishes and people, he continued writing and preaching until the time of his death in 407. It is reported that his final words were: "Glory be to God for all things. Amen."
Source: www.LCMS.org Commemorations Biographies
Basil the Great of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa
Basil and the two Gregorys, collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers, were leaders of Christian orthodoxy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the later fourth century. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers; Gregory of Nazianzus was their friend. All three were influential in shaping the theology ratified by the Council of Constantinople of 381, which is expressed in the Nicene Creed. Their defense of the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and Holy Trinity, together with their contributions to the liturgy of the Eastern Church, make them among the most influential Christian teachers and theologians of their time.
Source: www.LCMS.org Commemorations Biographies
David
David, the greatest of Israel’s kings, ruled from about 1010 to 970 B.C. The events of his life are found in 1 Samuel 16 through 1 Kings 2 and in 1 Chronicles 10-29. David was also gifted musically. He was skilled in playing the lyre and the author of no less than 73 psalms, including the beloved Psalm 23. His public and private character displayed a mixture of good (for example, his defeat of the giant Goliath, 1 Samuel 17) and evil (as in his adultery with Uriah’s wife, followed by his murder of Uriah, 2 Samuel 11). David’s greatness lay in his fierce loyalty to God as Israel’s military and political leader, coupled with his willingness to acknowledge his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness (2 Samuel 12; see also Psalm 51). It was under David’s leadership that the people of Israel were united into a single nation with Jerusalem as its capital city.
Source: www.LCMS.org Commemorations Biographies
1st Reading: Jeremiah 31:15-17 Epistle: Revelation 14:1-5 Gospel: Matthew 2:13-18
Color: Red
Hymn of the Day: 969 Sweet flowerets of the martyr band 764 When aimless violence takes those we love
Holy Innocents, Martyrs
King Herod ordered the execution of all young male children, “from two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16-18), in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi.
These infants’ deaths were regarded by the early church as the first Christian martyrs.
“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children.” (Matthew 2:17-18a)
1st Reading: Revelation 1:1-6
Epistle: 1 John 1:1-2:2
Gospel: John 21:20-25
Color: White
Hymn of the Day: 523 O Word of God incarnate
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
John was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of Saint James the Greater, another of the Twelve Apostles.
He is also known as St. John the Apostle and St. John the Evangelist. John is widely believed to be the author of the fourth gospel and the three New Testament epistles of John. He is also identified with Saint John the Divine, the author of the Book of Revelation.
John and his brother James the Greater were originally fishermen who, together with their father, fished in the Lake of Genesareth. John was first a disciple of John the Baptist and later one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.
Peter, James and John were the only witnesses of the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1) and of the Agony in Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:37) Only he and Peter were sent into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal (the Last Supper) (Luke 22:8). At the meal itself, his place was next to Jesus on whose chest he leaned (John 13:23-25). John alone remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary with Jesus’ mother, Mary, and the pious women and took Mary into his care.
After the Resurrection, John and Peter were the first of the disciples to run towards the tomb and John was the first of the apostles to believe that Jesus had truly risen. (John 20:2-10)
After Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the early church. He is with Peter at the healing of the lame man in the Temple (Acts 3:1ff). With Peter he is also thrown into prison (Acts 4:3). He is also with Peter visiting the newly converted in Samaria (Acts 8:14).
Paul refers to John along with Peter and James the Just as “pillars of the church.” (Gal. 2:9)
Tradition says John out lived all the other apostles and the only apostle not to meet with martyrdom, dying at about 100 A.D.
1st Reading: 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 Epistle: Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60 Gospel: Matthew 23:34-39
Color: Red
Hymn of the Day: The Son of God Goes Forth to War
St. Stephen, Martyr
St Stephen, one of the original seven deacons in Jerusalem appointed by the Apostles. He was charged with blasphemy and stoned, thus becoming the first Christian martyr. Saul of Tarsus (later St. Paul) was present at his execution.
Acts of the Apostles tells the story of how Stephen was tried by the Sanhedrin (priests) for blasphemy against Moses and God (Acts 6:11) and speaking against the Temple and the Law (Acts 6:13-14). He was stoned to death (34-35 A.D.) by an infuriated mob encouraged by Saul of Tarsus (as St. Paul was known before his conversion to Christianity): "And Saul entirely approved of putting him to death" (Acts 8:1).
Katharina von Bora Luther
Katharina von Bora (1499-1552) was placed in a convent when still a child and became a nun in 1515. In April 1523 she and eight other nuns were rescued from the convent and brought to Wittenberg. There Martin Luther helped return some to their former homes and placed the rest in good families. Katharina and Martin were married on June 13, 1525. Their marriage was a happy one and blessed with six children. Katharina skillfully managed the Luther household, which always seemed to grow because of his generous hospitality. After Luther’s death in 1546, Katharina remained in Wittenberg but lived much of the time in poverty. She died in an accident while traveling with her children to Torgau in order to escape the plague.
Source: www.LCMS.org Commemorations Biographies
Frankly and simply put, the Reformation would not have happened without the faithful teamwork that Katie brought to their marriage.
*
Adam was the first man, made in the image of God and given dominion over all the earth (Gen 1:26). Eve was the first woman, formed from one of Adam’s ribs to be his companion and helper (2:18-24). God placed them in the Garden of Eden to take care of the creation as his representatives. But they forsook God’s Word and plunged the world into sin (3:1-7). For this disobedience God drove them from the Garden. Eve had to suffer the pain of childbirth and be subject to Adam; Adam had to toil amid thorns and thistles and return to the dust of the ground. Yet God promised that the woman’s Seed would crush the serpent’s head (3:8-24). Sin had entered God’s perfect creation and changed it until God would restore it again through Christ. Eve is the mother of the human race, while Adam is representative of all humanity and the Fall, as St. Paul writes, “For in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
Source: www.LCMS.org Commemorations Biographies
Interesting comparison to the Expulsion from the Garden and the Annunciation to Mary
The presence of God (God’s angel) caused fear in both of them, one hides the other is told not to fear.
The greeting for Eve is “what have you done?” but for Mary is it “favored one.”
The declaration by God is expulsion from communion in the garden for Eve and the greatest communion between God and man in the conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Both were told of birth ahead, both would suffer in birth, but Cain would give birth to murder and Jesus would give life to those dead in sin.
From Eve we would inherit sin the leads to eternal death, from Mary’s son, Jesus, we would be offered life that leads to eternal communion with God; finally destroying the sin the separated us in the beginning.
*something to note, most of the artwork pieces of Adam and Eve include belly buttons 
Lego did not.
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 | NAMI Noah’s Ar… on Noah, November 29th |
 | trinityhawaii on One Thing All Lack |
| trinityhawaii on Ascribe/Tattoo |
 | Adamz Aku on One Thing All Lack |
