Above: Historic American Sheet Music, “I’m goin’ to fight my way right back to Carolina”
Music B-633, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
Image Source = Duke University via the Library of Congress
(http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/dukesm:@field(NUMBER+@band(b0775)))
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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The Assigned Readings:
Zechariah 14:1-21
Psalm 103 (Morning)
Psalms 117 and 139 (Evening)
Titus 2:7-3:15
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Some Related Posts:
A Franciscan Blessing:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/a-franciscan-blessing/
Titus 2-3:
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My discomfort with Zechariah and Titus continues. (See http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/devotion-for-february-2-lcms-daily-lectionary/.) As for the former, God’s reign of holiness arrives only after rapes, battles, and plagues. And, in Titus, instructions for slaves to obey their masters coexist with a beautiful summary of God’s saving love. When one thinks that Christ might return soon, reforming one’s society and emancipating slaves seems unimportant, I suppose. But that was nearly 2,000 years ago. History has rendered its verdict, has it not?
To be holy is to be “called out.” In the name of being holy many people have committed and/or condoned violence. In the name of being holy many people have looked down upon their neighbors. In the name of being holy many people have obsessed over minor details–such as ritually pure pots, long skirts, and short hair–while ignoring social injustice, such as racism and economic exploitation.
The kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity (Titus 3:4, The New Jerusalem Bible)
requires us to move, by grace, toward thinking of our fellow human beings in those terms. Thus the length of a skirt or one’s hair ought to matter less than whether the courts are corrupt or economic exploitation is a current problem. I think of Philip Yancey’s comments about the Bible college he attended in the 1960s. Civil rights were not on the agenda, but his hair had to be short and women’s skirts had to be long. And, judging from pictures of Jesus, the Lord’s haircut would have kept him out of the college.
Holiness ought to be a high standard, not a petty one.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 12, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ALFRED LEE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
THE FEAST OF ALAN PATON, NOVELIST AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIUS I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM OF OCKHAM, PHILOSOPHER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, SOCIAL ACTIVIST
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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