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:  The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Image in the Public Domain

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Job 38

Psalm 107:1-2, 23-32

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Mark 4:35-41

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O God our defender,

storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid. 

Rescue your people from despair,

deliver your sons and daughters from fear,

and preserve us all from unbelief;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25

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O Lord, whose gracious presence never fails to guide

and govern those whom you have nurtured

in your steadfast love and worship,

make us ever revere and adore your holy name;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 66

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We have two storms in readings today.  God addresses Job out of the tempest.  And Jesus calms a storm, symbolic of the forces of chaos and evil.  Christ is like a mythological storm god in his triumph over that tempest.

The God of Job 38 is not the God of Psalm 107.  The former refuses to answer the question posed.  The latter responds lovingly to those who cry out in need.  I prefer the God of Job 42:7-9 to the God of Job 38:1-42:6.   The former says (although not to Job, unfortunately) that Job was right, and the self-appointed defenders of God were wrong.  This discrepancy in the Book of Job proves multiple authorship of that book.

In Pauline theological terms, the flesh is like the Freudian id; the flesh is the seat of desire and sin.  In Christ, we cease to live in the flesh.  So, God, in Christ, is reconciling the world (kosmos; hostile to God) to the divine self.  The usual translation of 5:18a in English is something like what we read in The New American Bible–Revised Edition:

All this is from God….

Yet David Bentley Hart’s “ruthlessly literal” (to use his term) translation reads:

And all things come out of God.

Theocentrism suits Christian theology.  Too often we mere mortals find ways to place ourselves (or our experience, at least) at the center of theology.  Yet the reconciling, compassionate God, whom many of the faithful misunderstand, invites and implores us to respond faithfully.  In so doing, we cooperate with God in the divine project of reconciliation.  This project reconciles us to God, each other, and ourselves.  In so doing, we, in the words of 2 Corinthians 5:21,

become God’s righteousness.

For the umpteenth time, righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all creation.  Righteousness is interchangeable with justice in the Bible.  To become God’s righteousness is possible only via God.  To become God’s righteousness is to fulfill our potential in God.

Consider the context of 2 Corinthians, O reader.  Recall that the Corinthian house churches had a troubled relationship with St. Paul the Apostle and that those members belonged to quarreling factions.  Remember, too, that some members treated other members with contempt.  So, the call to reconciliation with God and to transformation into God’s righteousness constituted a challenge to the church in Corinth.

It is a challenge for the rest of us, too.  But God is in control; we are not.  So, to channel sage advice from Martin Luther, may we trust in the faithfulness of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 5, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF EMILY AYCKBOWM, FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE SISTERS OF THE CHURCH

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIANO DE LA MATA APARICIO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND EDUCATOR IN BRAZIL

THE FEAST OF PAULINE SPERRY, MATHEMATICIAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND ACTIVIST; AND HER BROTHER, WILLARD LEAROYD SPERRY, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, ETHICIST, THEOLOGIAN, AND DEAN OF HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

THE FEAST OF RUTH YOUNGDAHL NELSON, U.S. LUTHERAN RENEWER OF SOCIETY

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DERHAM, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCIENTIST

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Adapted from this post

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This is post #2900 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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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:  Parable of the Mustard Seed, by Jan Luyken

Image in the Public Domain

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Ezekiel 17:22-24

Psalm 92:1-5 (6-10), 11-14

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Mark 4:26-34

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God, our maker and redeemer,

you have made us a new company of priests

to bear witness to the Gospel. 

Enable us to be faithful to our calling

to make known your promises to all the world;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 24

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Almighty and everlasting God,

give us an increase of faith, hope, and love;

and that we may obtain what you have promised,

make us love what you have commanded;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 65

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The reading from Ezekiel concludes a chapter-long allegory of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah (reigned 597 B.C.E.); the installation, reign, and fall of King Zedekiah (reigned 597-586 B.C.E.); and the demise of the Kingdom of Judah.  Earthly kingdoms fall, but the Kingdom of God will never fall.  It is like a mighty cedar of Lebanon, with birds nesting in the branches.  This is the image one would have expected for the Kingdom of God in Mark 4:30-34.  Instead, the birds nest in a mustard plant–a giant weed.  The mustard plant takes root where it will–wanted or not.

The imagery of a cedar of Lebanon does occur in Psalm 92, in which a righteous man towers like such a tree.  In context, the focus is on the deep roots of the righteous, in contrast with the ephemeral wicked, who are like grass.  But the righteous remain and flourish.  Their well-being is in dependence upon God, which they acknowledge and accept.  So, by divine–if not always human–standards, the righteous flourish.  They always tap into the proverbial water of God and do not fall over easily.

The advice of St. Paul the Apostle to be delightful to God may be the main point of the lection from 2 Corinthians.  Responding faithfully to God delights God.  Righteousness–right relationship with God, self, others, and all creation–delights God.  Righteousness, which is interchangeable with justice, puts one at odds with many elements of the prevailing culture.  This statement is as accurate today as it was when the Beatitudes were new.  Righteousness reveals that the social order is upside down.  Therefore, righteousness threatens and confuses many people, so acclimated to the status quo that they perceive righteousness as turning the world upside down.

I have been writing scripture-based and lectionary-based lectionary posts consistently for more than a decade.  During those years, I made many points, changed my mind occasionally, and been consistent more often than not.  I have also repeated myself many more times than I have repeated.  Relatively seldom have I felt the desire to repeat myself on every key point, the omission of which may raise a question in someone’s mind.  I have not wanted to include a list of standard disclaimers in each post, for to do so would be ridiculous.  I have concluded that, if I were to go about anticipating and refuting every possible misunderstanding of what I have written, I waste my time and miss some possible misunderstandings, too.

Nevertheless, I perceive the need to repeat myself for the umpteenth time regarding a major point.

Serial contrariness in the name of God does not constitute fidelity to God.  The social order gets some matters correct.  The world–kosmos, in Greek–is also our neighborhood, not the enemy camp.  The late Reverend Ernest J. Stoffel, writing about the Revelation of John, frequently used the term

the triumph of suffering love.

That term applies in this context, also.  The triumph of suffering love–of Jesus and all faithful followers of God–can transform the world and make it a better, more caring and compassionate place.  The Kingdom of God is a weed in the perspective of many people.  But it is a glorious weed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 4, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT THE AFRICAN, FRANCISCAN FRIAR AND HERMIT

THE FEAST OF ALFRED C. MARBLE, JR., EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MISSISSIPPI THEN ASSISTING BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA

THE FEAST OF ERNEST W. SHURTLEFF, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GAETANO CATANOSO, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHGTERS OF SAINT VERONICA (MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY FACE)

THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, AND MARTYR, 1968 (ALSO JANUARY 15)

THE FEAST OF SAINT NDUE SERREQI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1954

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Adapted from this post

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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:  Christ and the Apostles

Image in the Public Domain

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Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Psalm 81:1-10 (LBW) or Psalm 142 (LW)

2 Corinthians 4:5-12

Mark 2:23-28

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Lord God of all nations,

you have revealed your will to your people

and promised your help to us all. 

Help us to hear and to do what you command,

that the darkness may be overcome by the power of your light;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 24

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O God,

whose never-failing providence sets in order all things

both in heaven and on earth,

put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things;

and give us those things that are profitable for us;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 62

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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

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Adapted from this post

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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:  Ash Wednesday Cross

Image in the Public Domain

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Joel 2:12-19

Psalm 51:1-13

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:2

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

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Almighty and ever-living God, you hate nothing you have made,

and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent. 

Create in us new and honest hearts, so that,

truly repenting of our sins, we may obtain from you,

the God of all mercy, full pardon and forgiveness;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17

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Almighty and everlasting God,

because you hate nothing you have made

and forgive the sins of all who are penitent,

create in us new and contrite hearts that we,

worthily repenting of our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,

may obtain from you, the God of all mercy,

perfect remission and forgiveness;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 32

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The prophet Joel, in the 400s B.C.E. interpreted a plague of locusts as divine punishment on the people for disobeying the Law of Moses repeatedly and habitually.  He also understood that repentance remained an option.

I do not share Joel’s first assumption.  I do not interpret natural disasters as acts of divine judgment.  Those who live in Kansas may expect tornadoes.  Those who reside near the Gulf of Mexico may expect hurricanes and tropical storms.  Those who live near fault lines may expect earthquakes.  Those who live near active volcanoes may expect volcanic activity.  Those who live in a flood plain may expect floods.  Such is nature.

The Hebrew prophetic tradition could not make up its mind when repentance remained an option and when God had stopped listening.  (I know; I read the Hebrew prophetic books carefully recently.)  However, I have made up my mind on part of the issue:  So long as one has breath, repentance remains an option.  Whether one can repent after death is a question I cannot answer.  The answer to that question is for God to provide.  I do not presume to know the balance of divine judgment and mercy.

Remorse for sins prepares the way for repentance of those sins.  Talk is cheap.  Nevertheless, some words are necessary and helpful.  Martin Luther was correct; language–especially sacramental language–has power.  And actions are where, as a cliché says, the rubber meets the road.

Lent is a season in which the Church (that part of it with good liturgical sense, at least) focuses on repentance.  We mere mortals need to repent individually.  Societies, cultures, kingdoms, empires, nation-states, and institutions need to repent collectively.  Even the best of us, who have mastered the Lutheran theological category of civil righteousness, have fallen far short of God’s standard.  The rest of us have fallen far short of the same standard, too.  Everyone above a very young age struggles with habitual sins we know better than to commit.

Fortunately, God welcomes penitents and knows that we mere mortals are, poetically, like dust.  May we be penitent dust daily.  And may we observe Lent in such a way that we grow spiritually during this season.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 29, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE

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Adapted from this post

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READING REVELATION, PART VI

Above:  Gymnasium and Roman Baths, Ancient Sardis

Image Source = Google Earth

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Revelation 3:1-6

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Sardis, the former capital of the ancient Kingdom of Lydia, was a center of the imperial cult.  An earthquake had severely damaged the city in 17 C.E., but the empire had invested in the city’s recovery.  This recovery had been rapid.  A temple dedicated to Emperor Tiberius was prominent in Sardis.

The church in Sardis may have been prosperous, but it was spiritually dead.  Yet some of its members were faithful.  They had the metaphorical white robes.

White robes, a prominent motif in Revelation, were an image borrowed from other literature, especially the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.  In 1 Enoch 12:15-16, the righteous and elect ones on the day of judgment wore “garments of glory” that never wore out.  These garments were symbols of immortality and righteousness.  In the Ascension of Isaiah 9:9, the saints, in the seventh heaven, received new garments and were like angels in glory.  2 Baruch 51:5 made a similar point.  In the canon of scripture, the faithful would put on a “second garment” (2 Corinthians 5:4) and put on immortality and imperishability (1 Corinthians 15:53-54).

I have been around a few spiritually dead congregations.  Maybe you, O reader, have been around some, too.

The spiritual death of congregations is sad.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 11, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP THE EVANGELIST, DEACON

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He has told you, O man, what is good

Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

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For Good Friday, Year 2

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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, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family,

for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed,

and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross;

who now liveth and reigneth wtih thee and the Holy Spirit,

ever One God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 161-162

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Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 69:1-21

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Matthew 27:33-50

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And for what the LORD requires of you:

Only to love goodness,

And to walk modestly with your God.

–Micah 6:8-9a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The Book of Micah dates to the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (759-698/687 B.C.E.).  The final version, however, comes from a time after the Fall of Jerusalem (587/586 B.C.E.).  Therefore, hindsight informs the text as much as the then-present tense does.  The Book of Micah proclaims divine judgment and mercy (in balance), as well as the moral imperative of mutuality in society.  To violate mutuality is to trample the vulnerable, which is to offend God.

Jesus died for more than one reason, including scapegoating by authority figures.  His unjust execution (a major point in the Gospel of Luke) constituted a violation of Micah 6:8-9a.  Societies, governments, and institutions00even relatively benign ones–have continued to victimize people.  Every time a court has convicted someone wrongly, an innocent person has died via capital punishment, a government has turned a blind eye to lynching, et cetera, has been an occasion of violating Micah 6:8-9a.

Our (however one defines “our”) name has yet to achieve wisdom.  We are guilty collectively.  Each of us is guilty individually, for each person belongs to the whole.  The Book of Common Prayer (1979) contains a prayer for forgiveness for

sins committed on our behalf.

Original sin taints human societies and institutions.  Even the best intentioned of us cannot avoid contributing to the furtherance of evil from which we benefit.

A note in The Jewish Study Bible offers some useful information about one line:

And to walk modestly with your God.

No English translation properly conveys the meaning of the Hebrew word usually rendered as “humbly” or “modestly.”  Other translations include “wisely,” “completely,” and “carefully.”  I gravitate toward “completely.”  Walking completely with God as a high calling, both individually and collectively.  It is also realistic, by grace.  Do we want to respond faithfully via our free will, itself a result of grace?

On Good Friday and all other days, may we ask ourselves how many more people will die because we–individually and collectively–refuse to respond faithfully.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 9, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PEPIN OF LANDEN, SAINT ITTA OF METZ, THEIR RELATIONS, SAINTS AMAND, AUSTREGISILUS, AND SULPICIUS II BOURGES, FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS ACROSS GENERATIONAL LINES

THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

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I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who was to come into the world.

Above:  Icon of the Raising of Lazarus

Image in the Public Domain

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

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O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee:

mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 126

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Ezekiel 37:1-14

2 Corinthians 5:1-15

John 11:1-27

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Ezekiel 37, a favorite text at Easter Vigils, is about the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian Exile, not the resurrection of the dead.  However, the other two readings do address the resurrection of the dead.

I choose to leave metaphysical speculations alone and focus on the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany:

–John 11:27b, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

I wonder why the Church, which has established and maintained a feast day (January 18) for the Confession of St. Peter, has not done the same for the Confession of St. Martha of Bethany.

Many people have an unduly negative impression of St. Martha based on Luke 10:38-42.  John 11 should balance opinions of her, though.

Can we, in the depths of despair, maintain faith, as St. Martha did.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 25, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR

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They ought to walk not in duplicity, but in simplicity.

Above:  Israeli Stamp of David

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 12:1-14 or 2 Samuel 11:26-12:15

Psalm 52

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Mark 6:1-13

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Repentance, as any theologically literate person should,know, is changing one’s mind and turning around.  Repentance does not necessarily negate temporal consequences of sins, however.   We still reap what we sow.  If we sow love rather than evil, we will reap love rather than evil.  We may still suffer for various reasons, ranging from the evil of others to the no cause we can discern, but we will suffer in the company of God, at least.

I choose to focus on a few aspects I noticed in some of the readings.

David was a troublesome character, as the story we began to read about him last week and finished this week made clear.  Yet he accepted the uncomfortable words from the prophet Nathan.  Other kings had yes-men for prophets, but David had Nathan.

One cannot use the imagery of the Jesus as the Passover Lamb to justify Penal Substitutionary Atonement and be intellectually honest.  If one pays attention, one notices that the blood of the original Passover lambs saved the Hebrews from the consequences of Egyptians’ sins, not their sins.

St. Augustine of Hippo, writing about our Lord and Savior’s instructions to his Apostles in Mark 6:6b-13, offered this gem of wisdom:

—The Harmony of the Gospels 2.32.75

May we refrain from walking in hypocrisy and duplicity before God and each other.  May we walk in honest piety and simplicity instead.  May we repent of hypocrisy and duplicity.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 23, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, FOUNDRESS OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HIGH SAVIOR; AND HER DAUGHTER, SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, SUPERIOR OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HIGH SAVIOR

THE FEAST OF ADELAIDE TEAGUE CASE, PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

THE FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP EVANS AND JOHN LLOYD, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF THEODOR LILEY CLEMENS, ENGLISH MORAVIAN MINISTER, MISSIONARY, AND COMPOSER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2019/07/23/devotion-for-proper-12-year-b-humes/

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Above:  The Plague of Flies, by James Tissot

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 8:1-15 or 2 Samuel 11:1-17

Psalm 50:16-23

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Mark 5:21-43

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Judgment and Mercy are both individual and collective.  They are individual in Psalm 50:16-23, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, and Mark 5:21-43.  They are, however, collective in Exodus 8:1-15 and 2 Samuel 11:1-17, in which innocent people pay the stiff penalty for the sins of others or another person–a monarch, in particular.

Collective punishment that affects the innocent is not fair, at least from one perspective.  I subscribe to that point of view.  I also acknowledge that life is not fair.  This is a truth with which more than one Psalmist wrestled and that the authors of layers of the Book of Job addressed in sometimes contradictory ways.  We mere mortals have the right to complain–to kvetch, even–about it to God.  In the Judeo-Christian tradition, with its richness, arguing with God has become an art form.

All that anyone of us does affects others, for good and for ill.  Of course, reward and punishment have collective components; we cannot segregate ourselves entirely in any given society.  This is objective reality.

May God deliver us from ourselves and each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 23, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, FOUNDRESS OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HIGH SAVIOR; AND HER DAUGHTER, SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, SUPERIOR OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HIGH SAVIOR

THE FEAST OF ADELAIDE TEAGUE CASE, PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

THE FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP EVANS AND JOHN LLOYD, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF THEODOR LILEY CLEMENS, ENGLISH MORAVIAN MINISTER, MISSIONARY, AND COMPOSER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2019/07/23/devotion-for-proper-11-year-b-humes/

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Above:  Ash Wednesday Cross

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The Collect:

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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The Assigned Readings:

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Psalm 51:1-17

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Matthew 6:1-21 or 6:1-6, 16-21

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Ash Wednesday is an ancient holy day.  Its origins are as old as the early Church, which created methods of disciplining sinners, as well as restoring them to the communion of the Church.  The record of Church history tells us that the penitential season of Lent, which grew to forty days in the sixth century, used to begin on a Monday, but came to start of Wednesday in the 500s.  One can also read that the reconciliation of the penitents occurred at the end of Lent–on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, depending on where one was, in the sixth century.

Interestingly, The Church of Ireland is unique in the Anglican Communion for having an Ash Wednesday ritual that does not require the imposition of ashes.

One function of the announcement of divine judgment is to prompt repentance–literally, turning one’s back to sin.  We cannot turn our backs to all our sins, given our nature, but (1) God knows that already, and (2) we can, by grace, improve.  Judgment and mercy exist in balance.  That God knows what that balance is, is sufficient.

That we do what we should matters; so does why we do it.  In Christianity and Judaism the issue is properly the faithful response to God; the issue is not the pursuit of legalism.  Stereotypes of Judaism (especially among many Christians) and Christianity aside, these are not legalistic religions when people observe them properly.  (There are, of course, legalistic Jews and Christians, hence the stereotypes.)  The standard of faithful response is love of God and, correspondingly, of one’s fellow human beings.  We have accounts of the unconditional and self-sacrificial love of God in the Bible.  The readings from 2 Corinthians and Matthew include commentary on that principle.  To paraphrase Rabbi Hillel, we should go and learn it.

May we do this while avoiding the trap of legalism, into which so many pious people fall easily.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 22, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK HERMANN KNUBEL, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN FOREST AND THOMAS ABEL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1538 AND 1540

THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIA OF CORSICA, MARTYR AT CORSICA, 620

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/devotion-for-ash-wednesday-years-a-b-c-and-d-humes/

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