According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Jesus and His Disciples

Image in the Public Domain

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Genesis 3:9-15

Psalm 61:2-5, 8 (LBW) or Psalm 28 (LW)

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

Mark 3:20-35

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O God, the strength of those who hope in you: 

Be present and hear our prayers;

and, because in the weakness of our mortal nature

we can do nothing good without you,

give us the help of your grace,

so that in keeping your commandments

we may please you in will and deed,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 24

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O God, from whom all good proceeds,

grant to us, your humble servants,

that by your holy inspiration we may think the things that are right

and by your merciful guiding accomplish them;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 64

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In the great mythology of Genesis 3, the knowledge of good and evil is not intellectualized and academic.  No, this is lived knowledge.  One can have this knowledge of good and evil only by performing good and evil.  The consequences for humans include the inevitable estrangement from God, who had required only obedience.  This estrangement from God is the opposite of what we read in the selected psalms and in the epistle lection.  In Christian terms, the point of the Incarnation and the Atonement is to reverse that estrangement.  Thus, as one can read in the Epistle to the Ephesians, Christ breaks down the walls of estrangement have from each other.  Nevertheless, O reader, as you may observe, even Christians rebuild these walls of estrangement and separation.  How ironic is that tendency?

The lection from Mark 3 brings us to the topic of the unpardonable sin.  The textual context is invaluable in understanding the unpardonable sin–blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  The context of the inability to discern between good and evil–in this case, manifested in attributing the deeds of Jesus to an alliance with Satan–indicates estrangement from God.  This estrangement is of human origin.  Those who, for any reason, persist in this estrangement from God cut themselves off from God, who reaches out to them.  Many of them may not know of their estrangement from God.

In textual context of the Gospel of Mark, we can read 3:1-6, in which Jesus scandalously healed a man with a withered hand in a synagogue on the sabbath.  That story tells us that some conventionally pious people–other Jews–sought to accuse Jesus of violating the Sabbath for healing that unfortunate man on that day.  In Mark 3:1-6, all the educators are Jewish, so we read of an intra-Jewish dispute.  Verse 5 tells us that Jesus felt anger toward those accusers and grieved their hardness of heart.  Verse 6 informs us that plotting for the death of Jesus ensued immediately.  So, Mark 3:20-35 plays out in the context of a conspiracy to kill Jesus–in the name of God, of course.

Religion–regardless of its label–is what adherents make of it.  If one seeks justification for killing people, one can find it.  One may have to distort that religion to locate that mandate or permission slip, but seeking usually culminates in finding.  And if one is prone to being merciful and compassionate, one can find justification for that in religion, too.  As David Bentley Hart astutely and correctly observes, there is no such thing as generic religion.

In Mark 3, the religion is Second Temple Judaism.  The existence of capital offenses in the Law of Moses is a fact.  Yet so are cultural considerations of antiquity relative to the first century of the Common Era.  Lest we Christians rush to judgment against Judaism, the Law of Moses, or those conspiring Pharisees and Herodians, may we not neglect the logs in our proverbial eyes and the violent sins of our tradition.  We have the blood of victims of crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, and wars of religion on our collective hands.  David Bentley Hart contextualizes this violent past by (a) explaining that the drivers of it were usually political, and (b) that the religious moral vision exposes the sinfulness of such violence.  That is a nuance–one worth considering while never minimizing the devastation of such violence.

Lambasting long-dead Pharisees and Herodians is easy.  Condemning long-dead Christians for killing in the name of Jesus (himself executed horribly) requires minimal moral effort, too.  But think, O reader:  Is there someone whose death you would cheer?  Have you ever applauded anyone’s execution, murder, or any other mode of death?  If so, are you any different from those whom you deplore for plotting or committing violence, especially in the name of God?  If so, you may be estranged from God.  This estrangement need not persist, though.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF LUTHER D. REED, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS BURGENDOFARA AND SADALBERGA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESSES, AND THEIR RELATIVES

THE FEAST OF MARC SAGNIER, FOUNDER OF THE SILION MOVEMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMIT AND PENITENT

THE FEAST OF REGINALD HEBER, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SIDNEY LOVETT, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND CHAPLAIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY

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Adapted from this post

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Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.

Above:  A Gavel

Image in the Public Domain

Photographer = Airman First Class Grace Lee, United States Air Force

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For the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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Almighty and Merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that

thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service;

grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life,

that we fail not to attain thy heavenly promises;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 206

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Ezekiel 34:1-24

Psalm 66:1-10, 16-20

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1

Matthew 7:1-6

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—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), 353

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One can read “eternal,” “eternity,” and “eternal life” throughout the Bible.  The confusing element is that the authors did not agree about what whose terms meant.  Frequently “eternal” is a synonym for “everlasting” and “eternity” means the afterlife, timelessness, or a very long time.  I, as a Johannine Christian, take my definition of eternal life from John 17:3–knowing God via Jesus.  Eternal life can continue into the afterlife, according to this verse.  Notice the blessing I quoted from The Book of Common Prayer (1979), O reader; it reflects Johannine theology.  When we turn to St. Paul the Apostle, dictating an epistle to the Corinthian church, we find that he understood eternal life to mean spending one’s afterlife with Jesus.

I hope you, O reader, do not think I am being needlessly pedantic in this post.  (I am capable of unapologetic pedantry, though.  It is consistent with my orientation toward details.)  No, in this post, I strive to understand what the authors were trying to say before I interpret what they said.  God

rules from his eternal fortress

in the Mitchell J. Dahood translation of Psalm 66.  Nevertheless, God

rules by his might for ever,

according to the Revised Standard Version.  “Eternal” equals “forever” in Psalm 66, but not in 2 Corinthians and John.  Eternal life can begin before death in John, but not in Paul.

The readings from Ezekiel and Matthew are germane.  Repentance holds off divine judgment in Ezekiel 33.  That is important background for Ezekiel 34, in which how we think of and treat others inform how God will evaluate us.  Likewise, we read in Matthew 7:1-5 that God will apply to us the standard we use to judge others or not judge them.  This teaching, a cousin of the Golden Rule, reminds me of the penalty for perjury in the Law of Moses–to suffer the fate one would have had an innocent person suffer.  Given that repentance holds off divine judgment, the lack of repentance does not hold off divine judgment.  Then one cannot move into the metaphorical eternal, heavenly building from 2 Corinthians 5:1.

Judgment in these matters is God’s purview.  We human beings, although not completely uninformed, know far less than God does.  May we strive to take up our crosses and follow Jesus daily.  May we encourage others to do the same.  May we also support them when they do.  And may we, by grace, have a minimum of hypocrisy as we follow Jesus.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 23, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, RENEWER OF SOCIETY AND PROPHETIC WITNESS IN JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JAKOB BÖHME, GERMAN LUTHERAN MYSTIC

THE FEAST OF MARTIN RINCKART, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA MARIA OF THE CROSS, FOUNDRESS OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF SAINT TERESA OF FLORENCE

THE FEAST OF WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, SEMINARY PROFESSOR, AND HYMN WRITER

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If you should keep record of iniquities, Yah,

Above:  The Sermon of the Beatitudes, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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O God, whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things in heaven and earth;

we humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things,

and to give us those things which may be profitable for us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 196

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Jeremiah 23:16-32

Psalm 40:1-11

2 Corinthians 4:1-10

Matthew 5:27-37

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Mutuality is a value the Law of Moses teaches.  We depend entirely on God.  Self-sufficiency is a lie and a delusion.  In that context, we depend on each other, are responsible to each other, and are responsible for each other.  We have no right to exploit, victimize, or objectify one another.  We have no right to make a mockery of the spirit of the law while superficially satisfying its letter.

I choose to bypass the explanation of cultural contexts and to land on the main ideas in this post.  Cultural contexts come and go, but timeless principles last forever.  Mistaking a culturally-specific example of a timeless principle is a road to legalism, which misses the spirit of the Law.  Many false prophets (as in Jeremiah 23) may think they are genuine articles.  Many of them are legalists.  They are still on the way to destruction.

Jesus had a way with commandments; he made them more rigorous without falling into legalism.  He did not, of course, advocate for self-mutilation (Matthew 5:29-30).  Eyes and hands do not cause sins.  However, hyperbole is a legitimate rhetorical device.

Scripture is one context within which to read and interpret scripture.  Therefore, I propose that, if you, O reader, read this post and despair for yourself, that you need not do that for long.  Repentance is a daily spiritual task, and divine mercy exists.  To quote Psalm 103:3-4 (Mitchell J. Dahood, 1970):

Lord, who could survive?

But with you there is forgiveness,

that you might be revered.

Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 19, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALPHEGE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND MARTYR, 1012

THE FEAST OF DAVID BRAINERD, AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY AND MINISTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT EMMA OF LESUM, BENEFACTOR

THE FEAST OF MARY C. COLLINS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MISSIONARY AND MINISTER

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS PETRI, SWEDISH LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, HISTORIAN, LITURGIST, MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND “FATHER OF SWEDISH LITERATURE;” AND HIS BROTHER, LAURENTIUS PETRI, SWEDISH LUTHERAN ARCHBISHOP OF UPPSALA, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND “FATHER OF SWEDISH HYMNODY”

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Above:  The Holy Kinship of Saint Anne

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Third Sunday in Lent, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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Almighty God, who hast been the hope and confidence of thy people in all ages;

mercifully regard, we beseech thee, the prayer with which we cry unto thee out of the depths,

and stretch forth the right hand of thy majesty and defense;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 150

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Genesis 22:1-19

Psalm 57

2 Corinthians 4

Matthew 20:17-28

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Regarding the near-sacrifice of Isaac and my rejection of a traditional interpretation of that story, I choose not to repeat myself in this post.  If you wish, O reader, follow the germane tags.

One theme in this group of readings is persistence in following God.  When foes have their proverbial knives out, remain firm in faith.  Even a superficial reading of martyrology reveals that the knives, et cetera, have frequently been literal.  (Consider the case of St. James Intercisus, who won the crown of martyrdom in what is now Iran in 421.  “Intercisus” means “cut into pieces.”)

The servant is not greater than the master.  This is a lesson from Matthew Matthew 20:17-28.  Attentive readers of the Gospels may know that Sts. James and John, sons of Zebedee, were first cousins of our Lord and Savior.  One may realize, then, that their mother (St. Mary Salome), was Christ’s aunt (sister of St. Mary of Nazareth).

Modern-day helicopter parents and snowplow/lawnmower parents have nothing on St. Mary Salome, assuming that she asked the question.  One can read in Mark 10:35-45 that Sts. James and John made the request themselves.

To imagine that following Jesus is a path to an easy life full of riches is to labor under a false impression.  (Prosperity Theology is a heresy.)  This a lesson, history tells us, that both brothers learned.  We read in hagiography that one became a martyr and the other, although he died of natural causes (old age, mainly), suffered for his faith.  Sometimes living one’s faith leads on one’s death.  If living one’s faith does not lead to one’s death, it will, nevertheless, lead to some negative consequences in this life.  The servant is not greater than the master.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 25, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT DISMAS, PENITENT BANDIT

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trample the wicked to a pulp.

Above:  The Transfiguration

Image in the Public Domain

Judgment and Mercy

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

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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 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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Malachi 3:19-24/4:1-6

Psalm 99

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Luke 9:18-36

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How well can we understand the judgment and mercy of God?  Christianity dwells on divine mercy yet the New Testament contains plenty of judgment.  Need I remind anyone of Revelation?  Furthermore, anger and fantasies of violence recur throughout the Psalms.  We read of the Day of the LORD in Malachi.  In that passage we read, according to TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985), that the faithful will

Who do we say God is?  Who do we say Jesus is?  We cannot escape all spiritual veils, for we know in part and carry cultural blinders.  Yet we can, by grace, recognize Jesus sufficiently to follow him to Jerusalem, so to speak.

God will tend to judgment and mercy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 22, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT DEOGRATIAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CARTHAGE

THE FEAST OF EMMANUEL MOURNIER, 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

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2020/03/22/devotion-for-transfiguration-sunday-year-c-humes/

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I the LORD, in My grace, have summoned you,

Above:  Journey of the Magi

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Feast of the Epiphany, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only begotten Son to the Gentiles;

mercifully grant, that, we, who know thee now by faith,

may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead;

through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord,

who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit,

ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 123

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Isaiah 42:1-12

Psalm 145

2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6

Matthew 2:1-12

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And I have grasped you by the hand.

I created you, and appointed you

A covenant people, a light of nations–

Opening eyes deprived of light,

Rescuing prisoners from confinement,

From the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

–Isaiah 42:6-7a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The assigned readings for this feast day speak of God’s love for all people and of our human responsibilities to each other and to God.  Notice, O reader, that the audience for Isaiah 42:5f is collective, not individual.  We who carry Western individualism wherever we go need to check it at the door when reading texts that do not come from that assumption.  Psalm 145 tells us that God is just in all His ways, that God sustains those who fall and lifts up all who are bent double.  That example tells us what our character should approach, does it not?

Herod the Great was a terrible man.  He, a client king within the Roman Empire, had relatives and strangers killed, so he could maintain power.  The young Jesus constituted a threat to Herod, whose political legitimacy was questionable.  The client king appeased certain religious authorities by sponsoring the expansion of the Second Temple, but that long-term construction project could not hide his perfidy.  Herod was a negative example.

Jesus is the ultimate positive example, though.  He is the one into whose likeness we, by grace, are coming to resemble more and more as time passes.  He is the one we must proclaim, if we are to lead Christian lives.  Christ is the light that properly shines through our lives in the darkness of the world.

Does that light threaten us or attract us?  Does it shine in our lives?  Is it apparent in both our words and our deeds?  I mean “our” and “us” both collectively and individually, for the audience for Isaiah 42:5f was a covenant people, and society consists of people.  When enough people change their lives, society changes.  But does it change for better or for worse?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 13, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF YVES CONGAR, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT HELDRAD, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF JAMES THEODORE HOLLY, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF HAITI, AND OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN BISHOP IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF SAINTS PLATO OF SYMBOLEON AND THEODORE STUDITES, EASTERN ORTHODOX ABBOTS; AND SAINT NICEPHORUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCH

THE FEAST OF SAINT RODERIC OF CABRA AND SOLOMON OF CORDOBA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 857

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Above:  Jesus Exorcising the Gerasene Demoniac

Image in the Public Domain

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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 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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Exodus 3:1-15 or 2 Samuel 7:1-16

Psalm 50:10-15

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

Mark 5:1-20

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Judgement, mercy, and responsibility are both individual and collective.  My Western culture traditionally favors the individual over the collective.  My culture is more comfortable with discussing individual responsibility than collective guilt and punishment.  Yet, O reader, consult some of today’s assigned readings.

1. Mercy on enslaved Hebrews entailed punishment of Egyptians who, despite not being directly involved in slavery, benefited from it.
2. Divine judgment of King David, as it played out after 2 Samuel 7, affected innocent subjects adversely.
3. The owners of the swine herd paid a high economic price for the healing of the Gerasene demoniac (regardless of what psychiatric label we would assign to him today).
4. Likewise, benefits of grace have also been collective.  We human beings have always influenced each other.  Grace in one life has led to grace in other lives.  Light in the darkness has shed light on people who were merely present.

Those who read the Bible in languages with different forms of second-person pronouns for the singular and the plural have an advantage over those of us for whom “you” and “your” are both singular and plural.  [I live in the U.S. South, where many people say “y’all,” the contraction of “you all.”  The plural form is “all y’all.”  For the purposes of this post, however, I focus on formal linguistic forms.]  The Bible is replete with the plural “you” and “your,” as I note when I consult a passage in the Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée (1978), with tu, ta, ton, vous, votre, vos, and tes.  Think, O reader, about prophets addressing populations, Jesus speaking to crowds and small groups, and authors of epistles writing to congregations.  May we cast off our cultural blinders and digest the Bible as it is.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 22, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2019/07/22/devotion-for-proper-10-year-b-humes/

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Above:  Landscape with the Parable of the Sower, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Image in the Public Domain

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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 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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2 Kings 2:1-12

Psalm 50:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Mark 8:34-9:13

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Pietism is an error-ridden system of thought.  One of its gravest mistakes is the rejection of ritualism, often due to a misinterpretation of Psalm 50.  The sacrificial system, commanded in the Law of Moses, is not the problem in Psalm 50.  No, the divorce between sacrifices and morality is the offense.  Mistaking sacrifices and other acts of public piety for a talisman is wrong.  People need to walk the walk, in other words.  Their acts of public piety will be genuine.

Speaking of sacrifices, the context of the Transfiguration in Mark 8-9 is the foretelling of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The prose poetry of the account tells us of Elijah (representing the prophets) and Moses (representing the Law) appearing with the glorified Jesus.  This is, in context, an apocalyptic scene, as anyone steeped in the culture of Palestinian Judaism would have known.  The attempt to institutionalize such a moment is always misguided, for one should keep on moving with Jesus, toward Jerusalem.  Faith is a journey, not a permanent shrine.

My journey will not be identical to yours, O reader, nor should it be.  Our journeys will properly contain many of the same landmarks, though.  The destination will also be the same–God in Christ.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 19, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES ARTHUR MACKINNON, CANADIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF CHARITIE LEES SMITH BANCROFT DE CHENEZ, HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/devotion-for-transfiguration-sunday-year-b-humes/

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Above:  Simeon’s Song of Praise, by Aert de Gelder

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For the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970

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O God, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ became man that we might become the partakers of the sons of God:

grant, we beseech thee, that being made partakers of the divine nature of thy Son

we may be conformed to his likeness;

who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 118

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Isaiah 40:1-11

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Luke 2:25-35

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Waiting can be difficult.

How difficult must waiting for the Babylonian Exile to end have been for many exiles born in a foreign empire?  How difficult must have been waiting for Simeon the priest?  And how great was the day they say that for which they had been waiting!

Each of us waits for at least purpose.  May it be a purpose of which God approves.  If it is, may we never lose heart.  May we always trust in, listen fo, and watch for God.  May we not become so fixated on something that we fail to recognize when God is working.  And may we, if God wills, see that goal of which God approves come to fruition.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 10, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES OF NISIBIS, BISHOP; AND SAINT EPHREM OF EDESSA, “THE HARP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS GETULIUS, AMANTIUS, CAERAELIS, AND PRIMITIVUS, MARTYRS AT TIVOLI, 120; AND SAINT SYMPHOROSA OF TIVOLI, MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT LANDERICUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOR MARTIN JOHNSON, U.S. MORAVIAN CONDUCTOR AND MUSIC DIRECTOR

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10 Items or Fewer,

Above:  The Journey of the Magi

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Feast of the Epiphany, Years 1 and 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970

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O God, who by the leading of a star revealed thy newborn Son to those far off:

mercifully grant that we who know thee by faith, may in this life glorify thee,

and in the life to come behold thee face to face,

through the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 119

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Isaiah 60:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Matthew 2:1-12

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I am an unapologetic pedant.  I wince whenever I hear or read people use “viable” in lieu of “feasible.”  I know that signs above express lanes in grocery stores should read

instead of the ubiquitous

10 Items or Less.

The misuse of “impact” in lieu of verbs such as “influence” and “affect,” minus the traditional physicality (either a collision or becoming wedged in somewhere) is an assault on proper English.  Likewise, the use of “impacted” for “affected,” as well as “impactful,” are inexcusable.  Any use of “they,” “them,” “their,” and “themselves” other than as plural words bothers me, for I respect the distinction between the plural and the singular.  And I know that Magi and shepherds never belong together in manger scenes.  If we reconcile the accounts from Matthew 2 and Luke 2 (a dubious proposition, according to many New Testament scholars), we must place about two years (Matthew 2:16) between them.

The Feast of the Epiphany is, on one level, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ going out to the goyim.  On another level, it is about the goyim coming (in the case of the magi, traveling) to Christ.  The reading from Isaiah 60, with the full reversal of exile and the goyim going to Jerusalem, fits into this theme well.  The Gospel of Christ is unveiled, plain to see, and like a light shining in the darkness, which has yet to understand and overpower it (John 1:5).

I stand within a theological tradition that affirms Single Predestination.  God predestines some people to Heaven and uses the witness of the Holy Spirit to invite the others.  The damned are those who condemn or have condemned themselves; God sends nobody to Hell, but everyone.  This theology is consistent with the Epiphany.  The Jews are the Chosen People, yes, but we Gentiles are like limbs grafted onto the tree of Judaism.

Will we, like the magi, obey God?  Or will we, like Herod the Great, pursue our own agendas instead?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 26, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ALFRED THE GREAT, KING OF THE WEST SAXONS

THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER, ENGLISH EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF FRANCIS POTT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF HENRY STANLEY OAKELEY, COMPOSER

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