Daily Devotion for 25 July 2025 (7th Friday after Pentecost)

• Psalm 63
• Psalm 149
• 1 Samuel 9:1–27
• Acts 21:37—22:16
• Apology of the Augsburg Confession IV:75–85

Festival

Today we celebrate the Festival of St. James the Elder, Apostle. St. James, and his brother St. John, sons of Zebedee, were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Together with St. Peter and his brother St. Andrew, James and John were called to be disciples of Christ. Along with Peter and John, James formed a sort of ‘inner circle’ amongst the Twelve. In Acts, it is recorded that James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I, thus making James the first among the Twelve to die a martyr.