According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
The Sabbath is a divine gift. The Deuteronomistic version of the Ten Commandments explains that the Sabbath is a mark of freedom; a free person, not a slave, gets a day off from work each week. This explanation differs from that in the version of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. In Exodus 20:11, the Redactor explains the rationale for the Sabbath as emulating God.
The Sabbath is a divine gift. God liberates us. God frees us to be out best possible selves, communities, congregations, et cetera. In turn, obedience is hardly an onerous requirement. Even during persecution, we are free to cry out to God for deliverance. And we, as those who follow God, can follow it. St. Paul the Apostle is identifying our suffering with that of Jesus. If we suffer with our Lord and Savior–if we take up our cross and follow him–God will not abandon us either. Our triumph may come in the afterlife, but it will come.
The Sabbath is a divine gift. Yet many people, out of misguided piety, transform it into a burden. With that comment I turn my attention to the reading from Mark 2. People have to eat on the Sabbath, do they not? Yes, plucking grain on the Sabbath is work, but the Law of Moses does not forbid all work on the Sabbath. For example, circumcision must occur on the eighth day of a boy’s life, according to the Law of Moses. If that day falls on the Sabbath, so be it. Also, the Jewish tradition understands that keeping some commandments may require violating others, due to circumstances. Prioritizing and ranking commandments is, therefore, necessary.
Yet some people did not receive that memorandum, so to speak.
Lambasting long-dead Pharisees is easy. Examining ourselves spiritually may be challenging, though. Do we have our precious categories, which we maintain strictly and piously, to the detriment of others? Does our piety ever harm anyone or delay someone’s restoration to physical, emotional, or spiritual wholeness? Does our piety ever cause or prolong the suffering of others? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” we practice misguided piety.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 28, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE THIRTIETH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF JAMES SOLOMON RUSSELL, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, EDUCATOR, AND ADVOCATE FOR RACIAL EQUALITY
THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES, ANGLICAN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT GUNTRAM OF BURGUNDY, KING
THE FEAST OF KATHARINE LEE BATES, U.S. EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF RICHARD CHEVENIX TRENCH, ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN
THE FEAST OF SAINT TUTILO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND COMPOSER
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
God (YHWH, Elohim, or whichever other name one prefers to use; a Christian term is God the Father) is one. God is sovereign. God is just. These characteristics come from the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible, before I turn to Romans 8 and John 3.
The readings from Romans 8 and John 3 add Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the mix. Thus, we have all the ingredients for the formula of the Trinity. The word “Trinity” never appears in the New Testament. The ingredients of it do, however. The current, orthodox form of that doctrine is the result of successive councils and rebuttals against heresies during the first few centuries of Christianity.
I have read enough books and portions of books to know that every Trinitarian heresy began as a well-meaning attempt to explain the Trinity. So, I choose not to play that game. No, I embrace the mystery and focus on its meanings. One meaning is that, although God is one, God is complex, not simple.
In Christian terms, spiritual birth via the Holy Spirit is essential. This may be quiet or dramatic. Itay include an event one can mark as the time of spiritual renewal or it may sneak up on someone. I belong the company of people who have, within their active memory, always known God via Jesus. The dates I can mark on a timeline are mostly sacramental. They include one baptism, one confirmation, and three reaffirmations, with each of the last four occurring in the presence of a bishop in Apostolic Succession.
Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher tells us that Trinity Sunday is:
not the feast of a doctrine but…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now-completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father thorugh the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
So, on Trinity Sunday, as well as all other days, may we thank God for the
now-completed mystery of salvation.
And, with the author of Psalm 96, may we ascribe glory and might to God. May our words, thoughts, and actions glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 27, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE PHILIPPINES, BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINTS NICHOLAS OWEN, THOMAS GARNET, MARK BARKWORTH, EDWARD OLDCORNE, AND RALPH ASHLEY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601-1608
THE FEAST OF PETER LUTKIN, EPISCOPAL COMPOSER, LITURGIST, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
THE FEAST OF STANLEY ROTHER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN GUATEMALA, 1981
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
I will not try to make sense of the Trinity, for doing so has led to the creation, repetition, and perpetuation of major heresies. Anyway, my growing mysticism makes me increasingly comfortable with not explaining the unexplainable, in human terms. Therefore, I choose to focus on a prominent theme: We all depend entirely on God. A corollary is that the Holy Spirit (part of the Trinity, however that works) bestows renewed vigor and life to communities, peoples, and individuals.
John 7:38 provides a quote of uncertain origin–certainly not from the Hebrew Bible:
Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.
—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition
The Greek text can mean that the heart is Christ’s heart or the believer’s heart. I prefer a theocentric interpretation, for God, not people or human experience, belongs at the center of theology. The Holy Spirit flows from the heart of Jesus. This passage, in context, is primarily about God, not people. And, consistent with the Gospel of John, Jesus is the ultimate source of living water.
What may this living water gushing out of Christ’s heart perform through you, O reader, for the glory of God and the benefit of others? What may the Holy Spirit work through various groups and organizations for the same purposes? To play with the metaphor of living water, many people, peoples, and places are thirsty for such water. They need the living water of the Holy Spirit for restoration to occur. They require this living water to achieve their destiny, which God defines. How may you and various groups and organizations function as vehicles of the living water of the Holy Spirit?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 25, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Truth, in the Johannine sense, means “activated integrity.” Truth is also that which is reliable, according to The Anchor Bible Dictionary. This makes sense. How can anything be true if it is unreliable?
May we–you, O reader, and I–consider “activated integrity.” We read of it in the selection for a replacement for Judas Iscariot in Acts 1. We read about the perfect love that casts our fear in 1 John 4. The type of fear that perfect love expels belies activated integrity. We read of an example of the praise of God, who embodies activated integrity, in Psalm 47. And the restoration of wholeness after the breaking of it (Psalm 133; Acts 1) is an expression of activated integrity.
Divine love, we read in 1 John 4, casts out the fear that has to do with punishment. Some fear is healthy and encourages safety. For example, I fear touching hot surfaces. And when I walk at night, I carry a flashlight and watch where I step. I fear stepping into a hole, an anthill, et cetera. Acting based on some fears is a reasonable safety precaution. In contrast, the fear in 1 John 4 holds people and groups back from their spiritual potential. These fears often stand between someone and practicing the Golden Rule. Politicians and media outlets frequently encourage such fear and exaggerate dangers for their own cynical, opportunistic, and nefarious purposes–winning elections based on distortions and damn lies, boosting ratings, perpetuating policies contrary to the Golden Rule, et cetera. Often they do so while citing God and/or family values.
Jesus taught us to love one another, not to live in fear and distrust of each other. He taught us to take up our crosses and to follow him, not to scapegoat and victimize people. So, may divine, perfect love cast out the unreasonable fear in you, O reader. May it also expel such fear from me. May such love fill the void the expelled fear leaves behind. May divine love overflow in you and in me.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 24, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT OSCAR ROMERO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN SALVADOR; AND THE MARTYRS OF EL SALVADOR, 1980-1992
THE FEAST OF SAINT DIDACUS JOSEPH OF CADIZ, CAPUCHIN FRIAR
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RAWSON, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF PAUL COUTURIER, APOSTLE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
THE FEAST OF THOMAS ATTWOOD, “FATHER OF MODERN CHURCH MUSIC”
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
The readings for this Sunday bear a striking thematic similarity to those for last Sunday. So be it.
1 John 4:10 speaks of Jesus as the expiation for our sins. In this context, “sins” means moral failings. Generally, in Johannine thought, sin is failing to recognize the divine revelation in Jesus, as in John 20:22-23. The First Epistle of John, however, uses both the moral and theological definitions of sin. Expiation is an
atoning action which obliterates sin from God’s sight and so restores us to holiness and the divine favor.
—The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, E-J (1962), 200
Then that epistle continues:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
–1 John 4:11, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
In the lections, we can read of different ways of loving one another. In Acts 11:19-30 alone, we read of evangelism, of the encouraging role of St. (Joseph) Barnabas extending a welcome to a former persecutor (St. Paul the Apostle), and of raising funds for the church in Jerusalem.
How is God calling you, O reader, to love one another like Jesus in your context–when you are, where you are, and according to who you are? Think and pray about this matter, I urge you.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2024 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR AND ISAAC THE GREAT, PATRIARCHS OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF MEISTER ECKHART, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN AND MYSTIC
THE FEAST OF SAINT METODEJ DOMINIK TRCKA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1959
THE FEAST OF UMPHREY LEE, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
THE FEAST OF SAINT VICTORIAN OF HADRUMETUM, MARTYR AT CARTHAGE, 484
THE FEAST OF SAINT WALTER OF PONTOISE, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND ECCLESIASTICAL REFORMER
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
A common thread running through the readings for this Sunday is asking and receiving. For example:
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
–1 John 3:21-23, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
In other words, if we want what God desires, and if we pray for that, we will receive it. That makes sense. This message contradicts Prosperity Theology, an old heresy popular in certain quarters these days. If I, for example, need reliable transportation, praying for that is morally and spiritually acceptable. And I may receive a Chevrolet, not a Cadillac. I will, however, get from Point A to Point B safely and reliably. On a related note, the good life, in terms of the Book of Psalms, includes having enough for each day, not necessarily being wealthy.
Elsewhere in the New Testament, one can read about having the mind of Christ. That concept applies to the material for today. We have Jesus as, among other things, our role model. We, as Christians, must follow his example. We must love as he loved. When we consider that Christ’s love led to his execution, we realize that this mandate is serious business, not a mere slogan. The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, the Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, says to
love like Jesus.
Bishop Wright understands that this is serious business, not a mere slogan.
Think, O reader, what may happen to you if you were to love like Jesus in your context and to pray for causes consistent with the will of God? How would that change you? How would it change your community, your nation-state, and the world? What repercussions might you face for loving like Jesus? How many professing Christians would oppose you?
During my research for my M.A. thesis, I found a case in point. J. Robert Harris was the pastor of the Fort Gaines Baptist Church, Fort Gaines, Georgia, in the early and middle 1950s. He left that position under a cloud between August and November 1955. The chatty local newspaper never mentioned his departure, which followed either his firing or his forced resignation. (I read two versions of the story.) Harris had publicly supported the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and involved an African-American youth in his church’s vacation Bible school. Harris became the pastor of the Plains Baptist Church, Plains, Georgia, which he served until his resignation in the late 1960s. Failing health was the official cause of the resignation. However, the pastor’s recent sermon in favor of civil rights had been unpopular with his congregation. Harris had once preached a sermon in which he had asked his flock, in so many words:
If being Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
In the case of J. Robert Harris, the answer was affirmative. He loved like Jesus and ran afoul of other professing Christians entrenched in racist social norms.
Loving like Jesus makes one a radical in a world with upside-down standards. Loving like Jesus entails living the Golden Rule. Loving like Jesus entails living both versions of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5 and Luke 6). Loving like Jesus entails bearing much fruit (John 15:8).
Psalm 22 speaks of God acting. In Hebrew thought, the actions of God reveal the divine character. Likewise, my actions reveal my character. And your actions, O reader, reveal your character. Is it a godly character?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 22, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT DEOGRATIAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CARTHAGE
THE FEAST OF EMMANUEL MOURNIER, FRENCH PERSONALIST PHILOSOPHER
THE FEAST OF JAMES DE KOVEN, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF THOMAS HUGHES, BRITISH SOCIAL REFORMER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM EDWARD HICKSON, ENGLISH MUSIC EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL REFORMER
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday on more than one lectionary.
YHWH is the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23. In that text, only divine goodness and steadfast love either pursue or accompany the psalmist. The enemies, not invited to the divine banquet, do not harm the psalmist.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd in John 10. He knows his sheep, who, in turn, recognize him. And the Good Shepherd sacrifices himself for his sheep.
Yet many in the “the world”–kosmos, in Greek–fail to recognize God and Jesus. These spiritually blind people live according to the values which the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) and the Beatitudes and Woes (Luke 6) contradict. Many of these spiritually blind people are conventionally religious, by the standards of their cultures or subcultures.
“Sacred violence” is a value of the kosmos, the morally disordered world. Notice the absence of “sacred violence” in Psalm 23 and John 10, O reader. God does not smite the psalmist’s foes. God does, however, force them to watch a grand banquet to which God did not invite them. And the perpetrators of the violence in John 10 are not acting out of divine love. These two readings contradict some disturbing stories of violence committed in the name of God and allegedly in obedience to divine commands. Elijah’s massacre of the prophets of Baal Peor (1 Kings 18:40-41) comes to my mind immediately.
I, having read the full canon of the Bible–all 73 books–reject the stereotype of God changing character between Testaments. Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance in both the Old and the New Testaments. Beautiful passages about divine mercy exist in both Testaments. Likewise, so do harrowing passages about divine judgment.
I am a Christian. Therefore, my concept of God hinges on Jesus of Nazareth. I read stories about Jesus dying violently, not having people killed. I read about Jesus expressing righteous anger, something everyone should do. Yet I read no stories about Jesus ordering hatred or violence. So, God, as I understand God, does not order hatred and violence either. No, God is love. God triumphs over hatred and violence with love.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 21, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIA OF VERONA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC TERTIARY AND MARTYR, 1574
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK GJANI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Multiple contexts for correctly interpreting scripture exist. These include history, science, culture, and other passages of scripture. Given the range of time and of Biblical authors, some internal contradictions exist. That is unavoidable.
In the case of our reading from the First Epistle of John, however, we find our context within the Johannine tradition and that document itself. 1 John 3:6 tells us:
Anyone who abides in Jesus does not sin; anyone who sins has not seen him, nor has he known him.
—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
Yet we read in 1 John 1:8 that those who claim to lack sin deceive themselves. The truth–in Johannine terms, activated integrity–is not in them. Recall, O reader, what I wrote in last Sunday’s devotion: In the Gospel of John, sin is the failure to recognize the divine revelation of God in Jesus. Elsewhere in the Bible–as in the Gospel of Matthew–sin is a moral failing.
While I am defining words, I add “righteousness” to the list. Righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation.
A complicating factor in First John is that the text mixes the two definitions of sin. When we consider all the germane verses from the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John, we arrive at a synthesis: We all have moral failings. If we are penitent, God forgives us and restores us to right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation. Jesus eradicates the power of our moral failings over us, both collectively and individually. And, given that the Johannine understanding of sin is failing to recognize the divine revelation in Christ (John 20:22-23), nobody who is in Christ sins, according to that definition of sin. Such a person has no theological license to wallow in habitual moral failings, regardless of what certain members of the original audience of First John may have thought.
I hope that is a clear explanation.
A friend (now deceased) interceded for others by praying for “God’s best” for them. Bill’s prayer has become my petition for others and myself.
God’s best precludes habitual moral failings. God’s best entails breaking such habits, both collectively and individually. We all have habitual moral failings, both collectively and individually. And we are all subject to moral blind spots, both collectively and individually. Furthermore, moral perfectionism is an impossible standard. However, we–both collectively and individually–can improve, with divine assistance. Despite the power of negative habits and habitual moral failings, we can admit that grace is not a license for them.
God is always with us; we are never on our own and alone.
I remember a story about a Nazi guard taunting a Jew in a concentration camp.
The guard had forced the Jew to clean the especially disgusting toilets. That guard asked the Jew:
Where is your God now?
The Jew replied:
Beside me, in the muck.
God is beside us–collectively and individually–in the muck of the world and our lives. Do we recognize God in our presence? If so, how do we respond?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPAL THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF THE POOR
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SIMON WILLIAM GABRIEL BRUTÉ DE RÉMUR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF VINCENNES
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Biblical authors did not always define certain words the same way. For example, “sin” meant a moral failing in Matthew 18:18 yet a theological failing in John 20:22-23. In the Johannine theological context, sin was the failure to recognize the revelation of God in Jesus. Hence, a Christian did not sin, in Johannine theological terms (1 John 3:6). Also, forgiving sins was a task for the faith community empowered by the Holy Spirit. This faith community, empowered by the Holy Spirit, continued the work of Jesus.
The First Epistle of John tells us that the love of God entails keeping divine commandments, which are not burdensome. The Gospel of John has Jesus say that those who love him will keep his commandments (14:23). The most basic commandment of Jesus is the Golden Rule. That should not be burdensome, should it?
God forgives sins, whichever definition one uses. So should the communities of the people of God. Repentance must precede forgiveness, especially if one defines sins as moral failings. Forgiveness without prior repentance is cheap grace–something meaningless and not transformative.
Just as repentance must precede forgiveness for forgiveness to mean anything, truth must precede reconciliation, something else Jesus brings and God grants. In the Johannine lexicon, truth means “activated integrity.” It is not a philosophical abstraction; no truth is something lived. The hard work of being honest must precede the graces of reconciliation and forgiveness. This is a lesson which many people–including certain politicians and many of their supporters–prefer to ignore. They seek to brush difficulties of the collective and/or individual past under the proverbial rug. They seek the cheap graces of painless forgiveness and faux reconciliation without prior repentance and the acknowledgment of reality. And they often do so in the name of Jesus, unfortunately. They, therefore, mock God, truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPAL THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF THE POOR
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SIMON WILLIAM GABRIEL BRUTÉ DE RÉMUR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF VINCENNES
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Isaiah 24-27, part of Third Isaiah, is a proto-apocalypse. Daniel contains a fully fully-developed apocalypse in chapters 7-12, which date to the Hasmonean period. Revelation (the Apocalypse of John) and some pseudepigraphal works are fully-developed apocalypses, too. Isaiah 24-27 contains many of the features of those later writings.
The apocalyptic genre is optimistic, for it proclaims that God will win in the end. The proto-apocalypse in Isaiah 24-27 is optimistic in so far as it speaks of the metaphorical resurrection of Judah while using the language of destroying death and reviving corpses.
The assigned readings, taken together, speak of an illness. A conquered people may move into a better future. And the resurrection of Jesus makes renewed individual and collective life in God possible.
As I write these words, I live in troubled, cynical times. Anti-democratic forces, competing in elections around the world, have much popular support. Sometimes they win elections. Many candidates who speak favorably of family values engage in political bullying and celebrate cruelty and insensitivity. Many such candidates frequently win elections, too. The great web of mutuality that protects members of society–the most vulnerable ones, especially–continues to fray under the assault by a selfish variety of individualism. The morally neutral act of remaining informed regarding current events becomes an occasion of inviting excessive stress into one’s life. Hope seems to be in short supply. Positive statements about the Kingdom of God may ring hollow. One may feel like the women at the empty tomb of Jesus–afraid. I do.
And, when we turn our attention to death itself, we may experience the depths of despair and the harsh reality of someone’s loss. The light may go out of our lives, as it did for Theodore Roosevelt on February 12, 1884, when his mother and first wife died.
I understand my grief well enough to know not to resort to platitudes. I comprehend that death stings. I know from the past and from current events that the world has long been and continues to be rife with delusion and injustice. I, as a student of history, grasp that history does not repeat itself, but that history rhymes. It rhymes because many people fail to learn the lessons of the past.
THE FEAST OF SAINT LEONIDES OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 202; ORIGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN; SAINT DEMETRIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT ALEXANDER OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST
THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL OF CYPRUS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MARTYR, 760
THE FEAST OF ROBERT WALMSLEY, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER
BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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