Above: Cardinal Gibbons on Accepting Membership in the National Child Labor Committee, Circa 1913
Photographed by Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940)
Image Source = Library of Congress
(http://www.loc.gov/search/?q=child+labor&in=original_format%3Astill+image)
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-nclc-04865
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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:
Daniel 2:1-23 (November 21)
Daniel 2:24-49 (November 22)
Psalm 143 (Morning–November 21)
Psalm 86 (Morning–November 22)
Psalms 81 and 116 (Evening–November 21)
Psalms 6 and 19 (Evening–November 22)
Revelation 18:1-24 (November 21)
Revelation 19:1-21 (November 22)
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Some Related Posts:
Daniel 2:
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/week-of-proper-29-tuesday-year-1/
Revelation 18:
Revelation 19:
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Daniel prophesied the fall of the Chaldean Empire of King Nebuchadnezzar (Nebuchadrezzar) II (reigned 625-605 BCE), the rise and fall of successive empires, and the founding of God’s rule on earth. The founding of God’s rule on earth is one of the topics of Revelation 18 and 19. I find the more interesting topic of those chapters to be the different responses to the fall of “Babylon” (the Roman Empire). The righteous exult, as they should. But those who had made common cause with the corruption, injustice, and violence of the late empire lament its passing.
Richard Bauckham, in The Bible in Politics: How to Read the Bible Politically, 2d. Ed. (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2011), provides excellent analysis:
Rome is a harlot because of her associations with the peoples of her empire for her own economic benefit. The Pax Romana is really a system of economic exploitation of the empire. For the favours of Rome–the security and prosperity of the Pax Romana–her lovers pay a high price. Her subjects give far more to her than she gives to them.
–pages 90-91
The riches came from the exploitation of people (page 91) and the condemnation applies to successive states throughout history (page 93). Furthermore, there is a hermeneutical trap:
Any reader who finds himself…viewing the prospect of the fall of Rome with dismay should therefore discover with a shock where he stands, and the peril in which he stands.
–page 99
Bauckham concludes with the following:
…there is much to suggest that modern Western society, in its worship of the idol of its ever-increasing material prosperity, is trafficking in human lives. Chief among its mourners may be the multinational companies, the advertising industry, and the arms trade. But one should also be aware of the hermeneutical trap John laid for us all.
–page 102
The towel draped across my shower curtain rod says:
MADE IN BANGLADESH.
How old was the person who made my towel? (Child labor is rampant in Bangladesh.) How long was his or her work day? What standard of living does he or she enjoy? I suspect that the answers would disturb my conscience. I know that there must have been reasons (not all of them innocent) that the towel cost so little to purchase. I am, simply by belonging to my First World society, complicit in the exploitation of Third World people. Every time I shop for a towel, a clock radio, or a pair of tennis shoes, for example, I risk deepening my complicity.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God;
I call upon you all the day long.
–Psalm 86:3, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)
Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 5, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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