Archive for September 2015
Above: Ruins of Corinth
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-00671
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The Collect:
Lord God, source of every blessing,
you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son,
who brought gladness and salvation to his people.
Transform us by the Spirit of his love,
that we may find our life together in him,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Song of Songs 4:1-8 (Tuesday)
Song of Songs 4:9-5:1 (Wednesday)
Psalm 145 (Both Days)
1 Corinthians 1:3-17 (Tuesday)
Luke 5:33-39 (Wednesday)
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The Lord draws near to all who summon him,,
to all who summon him in sincerity.
For his worshippers he does all they could wish for,
he hears their cry for help and saves them.
–Psalm 145:18-19, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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They should, therefore, dwell in unity and mutual respect, I suppose, but the opposite is true much of the time.
Two of the three readings contain references to disputes. (The lovers in the Song of Songs are in harmony with each other.) The question of fasting–that some people do it and others do not–arises in Luke 5. And in 1 Corinthians, that community’s notorious factionalism is at issue. Such divisiveness probably arose from well-intentioned attempts to discern and to act in accordance with the will of God and to hold to correct theology; that is my most charitable guess. However, again and again we human beings have proven ourselves capable of fouling up while trying to do the right thing. Then opinions become tribal boundaries. The result is an unholy mess.
The truth is, of course, that there is such a thing as objective reality, and that each of us is right about some details of it and wrong about others. Laying competing fundamentalisms aside and acknowledging a proper degree of ambiguity (in what Calvinist theology labels matters indifferent) is a fine strategy for working toward peace and faithful community.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEOBA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA, 1947
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/devotion-for-tuesday-and-wednesday-after-the-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Live Coals
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Lord God, source of every blessing,
you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son,
who brought gladness and salvation to his people.
Transform us by the Spirit of his love,
that we may find our life together in him,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 54:1-8
Psalm 145
Romans 12:9-21
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That sentiment fits well within the contexts of the previous post and this one. In readings for both God takes a people back–idolatrous Hebrews in Jeremiah and Hebrew exiles (soon to return to their ancestral homeland) in Isaiah.
Such generosity calls for faithful responses to God. One category of such responses covers how we treat each other. The excellent advice in Romans 12:9-21 fits neatly under the heading of the Golden Rule. St. Paul the Apostle’s counsel acknowledges total human dependence on God, human dependence on other people, and responsibility to and for others in society. It also contains a corrective measure against vengeance, one of the most powerful emotions.
The world would be a better place if more people were to seek common ground, respect others, and forgo repaying evil for evil. What we humans do matters. Often, when we think we are behaving righteously, our sinful deeds and attitudes belie that illusion. One might, for example, commit a violent act against a person whom one thinks has wronged one. That other person might indeed be in the wrong, but so is the perpetrator of the violence if the motive is revenge. Two wrongs do not make a right.
May we hold fast to the good, by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEOBA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA, 1947
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/devotion-for-monday-after-the-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: The Death of Simon Magus
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Lord God, source of every blessing,
you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son,
who brought gladness and salvation to his people.
Transform us by the Spirit of his love,
that we may find our life together in him,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 3:1-5 (Thursday)
Jeremiah 3:19-25 (Friday)
Jeremiah 4:1-4 (Saturday)
Psalm 36:5-10 (All Days)
Acts 8:18-24 (Thursday)
1 Corinthians 7:1-7 (Friday)
Luke 11:14-23 (Saturday)
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Like a generous host you give them their fill of good food from your larder.
From your lovely streams which bring such pleasure you give them water to drink.
–Psalm 36:9, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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That is true, of course, so idolatry is especially galling. Marriage, a literal matter in 1 Corinthians 7, is a metaphor in Jeremiah 3 and 4, where whoring becomes a metaphor for idolatry. A relationship with God is intimate, this language tells us.
One of the themes in the Gospel of Mark, no part of which we read today, is that those who think they are insiders might actually be outsiders. That theme applies to our Lord and Savior’s accusers in Luke 11; he was never in league with evil. The fact that a person who knew Jesus could not recognize that reality speaks badly of that individual. Jesus was no more in league with evil than Simon Magus could purchase the Holy Spirit, the offer to do which led to a quotable rebuke:
May your silver be lost for ever, and you with it, for you think that money could buy what God has given for nothing! You have no share, no part, in this: God can see how your heart is warped. Repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the LORD that this scheme of yours may be forgiven; it is plain to me that you are held in the bitterness of gall and the chains of sin.
–Acts 8:20b-23, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
From that incident came the word “simony.”
Grace is free yet not cheap. We can never purchase or earn it, but we can respond favorably to it. Grace demands concrete evidence of its presence, as measured in deeds, which flow from attitudes. Do we love our neighbors as we love ourselves? I prefer that standard to any Pietistic list of legalistic requirements.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEOBA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA, 1947
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/devotion-for-thursday-friday-and-saturday-before-the-second-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Eyes
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit
and revealed him as your beloved Son.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service,
that we may rejoice to be called children of God,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Numbers 27:1-11
Psalm 106:1-12
Luke 11:33-36
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Happy are those who uphold justice,
who do what is right on every occasion.
–Psalm 106:2, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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The reference to human eyes in Luke 11:33-36 might prove confusing. The assumption regarding eyes in that text was one common to the Hellenistic world in which the Gospel According to Luke originated. That assumption was that one’s inner darkness or light shone in the eyes. The concern of the text, therefore, is one’s inner life. Does light or darkness dominate? As Jesus said elsewhere in the Gospels, that darkness which comes from within a person, not that darkness which enters one from outside, defiles one.
The reading from Numbers 27 refers to the rebellion of Korah against Moses in Chapter 16. The perspective of the Book of Numbers is that Moses was God’s anointed, so to oppose Moses was to resist God. Numbers 16:31-35 describes the unfortunate fate of those rebels. Among those followers was Zelophehad, who had only female heirs. Other ancient cultures in the region had liberal inheritance laws permitting women to inherit even when male heirs existed. Ancient Israel was an especially patriarchal society, though, so an exception benefiting women, such as the daughters of Zelophehad, came into being.
Standards of justice are concrete, for particular cases define them. Does one seek to do the right thing? Does one succeed in that goal? Or does one create or perpetuate injustice? How one treats vulnerable people is a fine standard of justice.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP, SCOTTISH POET AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF PHILANDER CHASE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF VALENCIA
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/devotion-for-wednesday-after-the-first-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Deborah
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit
and revealed him as your beloved Son.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service,
that we may rejoice to be called children of God,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Judges 4:1-16 (Monday)
Judges 5:12-21 (Tuesday)
Psalm 106:1-12 (Both Days)
Ephesians 6:10-17 (Monday)
1 John 5:13-21 (Tuesday)
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Though God delivered them many times
they, for their part, went on planning rebellion
and so sank deeper into sin.
Yet he looked kindly on their distress
whenever he heard them cry.
To help them he recalled his covenant with them,
so deep was his devotion that he took pity on them.
He saw to it that they received compassion
even from those who had taken them captive.
Save us, LORD, our God,
gather us in from among the nations
so that we may acknowledge you as the Holy One.
and take pride in praising you.
–Psalm 106:43-47, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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I know that the portion of Psalm 106 I have quoted follows verse 12, but those verses seem more applicable to the readings from Judges 4 and 5 than Psalm 106:1-12. If I had quoted from the first 12 verses of Psalm 106 I would have selected verse 10, set in the context of the Exodus from Egypt:
He rescued them from their foes,
he reclaimed them from enemy hands.
–Harry Mowvley translation
The story in Judges 4 and 5 is consistent with a motif in that book:
- The Israelites have fallen into pervasive sin.
- YHWH permits a foreign group to oppress the Israelites.
- The Israelites cry out to YHWH.
- YHWH sends a leader or leaders to resist the oppressors.
- The oppression ceases.
- The Israelites follow God for a time.
- The cycle repeats.
As a note in The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) informs me, nowhere does the text of Judges 4 and 5 identify any of the human protagonists–Deborah the prophetess, Barak the army commander, and Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite–as the deliverer of the Israelites. Each of those individuals played a crucial role in the liberation, but God delivered the Israelites from oppression. That theme occurs elsewhere in the Book of Judges and other portions of the Bible, as in the Exodus and the end of the Babylonian Exile.
A motif in the Bible is that God works through people much of the time. These might be upstanding individuals or they might be scoundrels, at least on their bad days. Some of these instruments of God are not even believers. These realities point toward the power and sovereignty of God.
As much as I find Martin Luther to have been a morally troublesome character, his theology of relying on the faithfulness of God is beyond reproach. We who follow God are children of God, members of the household of God, so we ought to act boldly and confidently in righteousness. Such righteous confidence should banish faithless and selfish fears (distinct from well-reasoned fears, such as that of touching hot surfaces), enabling us to love our neighbors (both near and far) selflessly. We have the spiritual armor of God, of which St. Paul the Apostle or someone writing in his name imagined as being like the armor of a Roman soldier. Every piece of the armor is God’s. If it is good enough for God, it is good enough for mere mortals. After the reading from Ephesians 6 comes this advice:
Constantly ask God’s help in prayer, and pray always in the power of the Spirit.
–Ephesians 6:18, The Revised English Bible (1989)
After all, we depend on God’s power, not our own.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/devotion-for-monday-and-tuesday-after-the-first-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Family Record-Marriage Certificate, 1800s
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit
and revealed him as your beloved Son.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service,
that we may rejoice to be called children of God,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 (Friday)
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (Saturday)
Psalm 29 (Both Days)
1 Corinthians 2:1-10 (Friday)
1 Corinthians 2:11-16 (Saturday)
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The LORD’s thunder brings flashes of lightning.
The LORD’s thunder makes the desert writhe,
the LORD makes the desert of Kadesh writhe.
The LORD’s thunder makes the oak trees dance around
and strips the forests bare.
So in his Temple everyone shouts “Glory!”
–Psalm 29:7-9, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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Q: What is the chief and highest end of man?
A: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.
—The Westminster Larger Catechism
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Koheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, discovered that he enjoyed his wealth, but that he got nothing else out of it. That enjoyment of life’s blessings is a gift from God, he wrote.
Psychological studies have revealed the links between increased wealth and happiness. Up to a certain amount, more wealth means more happiness. Past that point increased wealth leads either to no additional happiness or to greater stress. Often people who are wealthy beyond the point at which more wealth does not increase happiness desire more money. Yet some of the most content people have had little and some of the most miserable people have been wealthy. Likewise, some of the poorest people have found poverty to be the cause of great misery and some of the wealthiest people have long known that money can stave off many indignities and sorrows.
The real issue is priorities. Wealth can insulate one from a sense of total dependence on God and of responsibilities to and for other people. This reality, I am convinced, explains many of the hard sayings regarding wealth in the Bible. Furthermore, wealth cannot shield one from all of life’s indignities and sorrows.
Another priority is choosing happiness. Being happy is a choice, regardless of one’s level of wealth, marital status, health, et cetera. Establishing the priority to notice the plethora of blessings from God and to revel in them is a positive course of action.
A negative course of action is to fail to recognize divine wisdom. St. Paul the Apostle wrote that such failure led to the crucifixion of Jesus. Christ was divine love incarnate, but that love proved threatening to human power structures built on violence and on artificial scarcity and exclusiveness. Those blinders prevented those who killed Jesus and those who consented to his death from recognizing their sin. Those people could have enjoyed God fully, but they failed to recognize God in their midst.
A habit I remind myself to nurture is to identify five blessings every day. (I should do better at this practice than I do, but often I become distracted.) To identify five blessings each day and to revel in them is a realistic goal. So is to do this for many consecutive days without duplicating any items on the daily lists. The main point of this spiritual exercise is to develop a mindset of gratitude to God and of awareness of the great number of blessings–to enjoy God more fully. Koheleth and St. Paul the Apostle would approve.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/devotion-for-friday-and-saturday-before-the-first-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Paul Writing His Epistles, by Valentin de Boulogne
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit
and revealed him as your beloved Son.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service,
that we may rejoice to be called children of God,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Psalm 29
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
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Bow down to the LORD in his holy splendour.
–Psalm 29:2, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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The author of Ecclesiastes was a realist. I, as a student and teacher of history, recognize the truth of 1:10-11 (TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures, 1985):
Sometimes there is a new phenomenon of which they say, “Look, this one is new!”–it occurred long since, in ages that went by before us. The earlier ones are not remembered; so too those that will occur later will no more be remembered than those that will occur at the very end.
If all is “futility” (to quote TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures) and “vanity” (to quote The New Revised Standard Version), to whom should we cling? Is life a morass of postmodern uncertainty or do we have access to a ground for sound theological epistomology? The author of Ecclesiastes advised trusting in God.
St. Paul the Apostle agreed with Koheleth. Human wisdom and power are nothing compared to God, St. Paul wrote. The power of God is saving those who are not perishing. The only proper boast is in God, whose wisdom is foolishness to many people and whose foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. God is reliable. As Martin Luther counseled, may we rely on the faithfulness of God.
This ethos contradicts much “received wisdom” in the United States of America, where rugged individualism is a perceived virtue. Reality belies rugged individualism, however. We rely on each other in society. For example, I drive my car to work. I rely on mechanics to keep my car in working order. (Fortunately, the vehicle is reliable, needing mostly routine maintenance.) I also rely on those who maintain the roads on which I drive to work. Beyond that concrete example, the social ethos of the Law of Moses is to acknowledge our total dependence on God, our responsibilities for each other, and our duties to each other. This ethos precludes exploiting any person.
Only God can inaugurate such a society, but we mere mortals can labor to approach it. We, after all, are society. If we were to take more seriously our duties to God, to each other, and for each other, I wonder how much better society would be. Such visions are not futile, if enough people, trusting in God, act faithfully.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/devotion-for-thursday-before-the-first-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Map of Ancient Israel
Image Source = Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1957)
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you gave us your only Son
to take on our human nature and to illumine the world with your light.
By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
Numbers 24:15-19
Psalm 72
Luke 1:67-79
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May his rule extend from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.
–Psalm 72:8, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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Balaam was a Hebrew prophet who consented to prophesy for hire, to say what his new, temporary employer wanted him to say. At the time many people thought that blessings and curses had power, so, in the context of Numbers 24, Balaam’s words mattered. God worked through Balaam, much to the chagrin of the prophet’s temporary employer. The Hebrews, Balaam proclaimed, would rule the Transjordan region. That prophecy might have been an addition to the original story of Balaam (complete with the talking donkey), for, at the time of King David, the Kingdom of Israel conquered Moab and Edom. If the prophecy in question is of later origin, my point remains unaltered. That point is that, according to the text, the Hebrews would triumph over their enemies and that the closest thing to the Kingdom of God on the Earth would win its battles.
The hope for a literal Kingdom of God on the Earth is ancient. Many authors of the Hebrew Scriptures echoed it repeatedly, as in Psalm 72, a coronation text. In time the aspirations of Psalm 72 became messianic. The prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1:67-79 fit in well with the desire for a different world order.
My reading in Biblical studies has taught me much about the Kingdom of God. It has been partially present on the Earth for a long time. Attempting (as I have done) to identify how long the Kingdom of God has been present on the Earth is probably not the best intellectual exercise to undertake, for, strictly speaking, God has not, at any point in the human past, been closer to or farther away from us than at any other point in the human past. The Kingdom of God, therefore, has not been nearer to us or more distant from us at any point of time than at another. Nevertheless, we await the fully unveiled Kingdom of God.
As we wait for, as members of many preceding generations have awaited the fully realized Kingdom of God, may we never lose sight of the partially realized Kingdom of God among us and our roles in it. May we love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves. May we put away fear, hatred, bigotry, and everything else that separates us from accomplishing the goal of beloved community. May we respect the image of God in each other then act accordingly. Whenever we help the least of those among us we aid Christ. Likewise, whenever we refuse to help the least of those among us, we refused to aid Christ.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 20, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 20–THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF NELSON WESLEY TROUT, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN U.S. BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/devotion-for-january-9-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Blue Marble, December 17, 1972
Image Source = NASA
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you gave us your only Son
to take on our human nature and to illumine the world with your light.
By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
Daniel 2:1-19 (Thursday)
Daniel 2:24-49 (Friday)
Psalm 72 (Both Days)
Ephesians 4:17-5:1 (Thursday)
Ephesians 5:15-20 (Friday)
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Thanks be to the Lord GOD, the God of Israel,
for he alone does marvellous things.
Thanks be to the glorious name of God for ever,
his glory fills the earth.
Amen and amen.
–Psalm 72:18-19, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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The prophecy of Daniel 2:44 seems problematic:
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
“The days of those kings” refers to the era of the successors of the empire of Alexander the Great. The conqueror had died after a brief reign.
So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory, and after his death they all put on diadems, and so did their sons after them for many years, multiplying evils on the earth.
–1 Maccabees 1:8-9, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
The last of those successor empires, the Ptolomaic Empire, based in Egypt, had ended in 30 B.C.E., becoming a province of the Roman Republic, which was transforming into the Roman Empire. What, then, could the divine kingdom of Daniel 2:44 be? Ancient Jewish speculations offered two possibilities–the Messiah and the people of Israel. Christian interpretations have included the Messiah and the Church. The latter is possible if one includes the Roman Empire as a successor kingdom to the empire of Alexander the Great, for Rome did spread Hellenism, the cultural legacy of Alexander, far and wide.
I cannot forget, however, a lament of the excommunicated Roman Catholic theologian Alfred Fermin Loisy (1857-1940). Jesus promised us the Kingdom of God, Loisy wrote, and all we got was the Church. If we understand the Kingdom of God as having been present on the Earth in a partially evident way for a long time Loisy’s lament becomes less potent yet remains relevant. Christian history contains much that brings no glory to God–the Crusades, bigotry, discrimination, slavery, misogyny, legalism, anti-intellectualism, a suspicion of science, et cetera. Much of that litany of shame exists in the category of current events. Nevertheless, much of Christian history (as well as the Christian present day) is also positive, in the style of the readings from Ephesians, where we find the theme of imitating Christ. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the incarcerated and the hospitalized, welcoming the stranger, et cetera–in short, recognizing the image of God in others then acting accordingly–bring glory to God. In those and other deeds the partially unveiled Kingdom of God becomes visible and God’s glory fills the Earth.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 20, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 20–THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF NELSON WESLEY TROUT, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN U.S. BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/devotion-for-january-7-and-8-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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