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:  Icon of the Baptism of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 42:1-7

Psalm 45:7-9

Acts 10:34-38

Mark 1:4-11

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Father in heaven, at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan

you proclaimed him your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. 

Make all who are baptized into Christ

faithful in their calling to be your children

and inheritors with him of everlasting life;

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), 15

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Father in heaven, as at the baptism in the Jordan River

you once proclaimed Jesus your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit,

grant that all who are baptized in his name may

faithfully keep the covenant into which they have been called,

boldly confess their Savior,

and with him be heirs of life eternal;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 21

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Justice is a theme that unites the readings from the Hebrew Bible.  Psalm 45, a wedding text for a Hebrew king, lists the maintenance of justice as a royal duty.  Second Isaiah’s servant of God is a personification of the Jewish people–a covenant people’s duties include maintaining and practicing justice, also known as righteousness–right relationship with God, self, others, and creation.

Much of Christian tradition interprets the servant in Isaiah 42:1f as Jesus, of whom we read in the lessons from the New Testament.  There we read of sinless Jesus accepting St. John the Baptist’s baptism for repentance–as David Bentley Hart translated the germane word:

the heart’s transformation.

That seems odd, does it not?  Why would sinless Jesus do such a thing?

I harbor no objections to competing answers to that question, so long as they remain close to the text.  Indeed, as a review of my blogging on the Baptism of Jesus reveals, I have a record of writing about different answers.  I let those posts stand.  I also take a different path in this post.  Why not?  More than one answer to the same question may be true.

Those others who accepted the baptism which St. John the Baptist offered needed the transformation of their hearts.  This rite was more than a ritual that started his ministry.  The baptism of Jesus was more than a ceremony in which he identified with the rest of us.  It was more than a way of associating himself with St. John the Baptist’s movement.  It was all of the above and more.  Jesus revealed who he was in God.  Yet throughout the Gospel of Mark, those closest to Jesus remained oblivious to who Christ was.  Yet stray evil spirits understood well.

The Gospel of Mark has two bookends about the identity of Jesus in God.  We have one in chapter 1.  The other bookend is the crucifixion.

The identity of Jesus was in God.

Likewise, my identity, your identity, and our identities are in God.  Both collective and individual identities are in God.  We human beings are in God.  We human beings bear the image of God.  Whenever we–collectively or individually–trample groups and individuals, we dishonor the image of God in each other.

Q:  What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

A:  It means that we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), 845

My regimen of daily prayer includes a petition for all individuals and groups of people, that God’s best for them will be their reality.  This is a holistic request; it includes both tangible and intangible aspects of life.  I also pray that we will, by grace, cooperate with God in this effort.  I understand not cooperating with God in this effort as constituting the definition of sin.

Jesus was–is–the Son of God, with a capital “S.”

I am a son of God, with a lower case “s.” My mother is a daughter of God, with a lowercase “d.”  God is the ground of our identities, properly.  I need to repent of not grounding my identity solely in God.

I also confess that I frequently experience difficulty recognizing the image of God in many of those with whom I have profound differences.  I admit freely that I fall short of spiritual perfection.  Yet, by grace, I recognize progress and growth.

I still need transformation of my heart.  And I trust in Jesus, who revealed his identity in God at the River Jordan long ago.  I trust in Jesus, the full identity of whom in God became apparent, even to many formerly oblivious people, at Calvary.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 3, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONIO FRANCESCO MARZORATI, JOHANNES LAURENTIUS WEISS, AND MICHELE PRO FASOLI, FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY PRIESTS AND MARTYRS IN ETHIOPIA, 1716

THE FEAST OF SAINT GERVINUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF HENRY ELIAS FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN INDUSTRIALIST; AND HIS WIFE, ROSA ELVIRA FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA EUSTOCHIO VERZERI, FOUNDER OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

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Adapted from this post

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LXIV

Above:  St. Simon Peter

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 9:32-11:18

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I refer you, O reader, to the other posts here at BLOGA THEOLOGICA in which I have written about the constituent parts of Acts 9:32-11:18.  In this post, I focus on broader themes, not narrower ones.

The power of God that flowed through Jesus through St. Simon Peter, according to Acts 9:32-42.

Jewish-Gentile relations require some attention.

As we have already established in this series, Judaism allowed for divine acceptance of righteous Gentiles.  Earlier in Luke-Acts, Jesus healed the slave of a Roman centurion who had favorable relations with the Jewish community of Capernaum (Luke 7:1-10).  Yet, obviously, in Acts 10:1-11:18, some Jews were less accepting of Gentiles than other Jews were.

We need to read Acts 10:1-11:18 on three levels:

1. the timeframe in which 10:1-11:18 is set,
2. the timeframe of circa 85 C.E, and
3. the timeframe of today.

The problem of social relations between Christians converted from Judaism and Christians converted from paganism underlies the narrative, cf. 10:10-16, 28-29; 11:2-14; and Ga[latians] 2:11-21.

—The Jerusalem Bible (1966), 217

The present-day lens of Acts 10:1-11:18 was circa 85 C.E.  St. Paul the Apostle had argued valiantly and vehemently on the behalf of Christians converted from paganism, that they did not have to obey the Law of Moses.  Decades after his martyrdom in Rome, the debate continued to rage.

Alas, St. Simon Peter was inconsistent regarding accepting Gentiles after Acts 10-11 (Galatians 2:11-21).

I, not content to chastise long-dead people and feel spiritually smug and self-righteous, look in the spiritual mirror instead.  In my cultural context, which people do I exclude wrongly?  And which people do I favor including yet get quiet about because of what others may think, say, or do?  You, O reader, should ask yourself the same questions.  Likewise, communities and institutions should ask themselves these questions, also.  For example, many congregations proclaim that everyone is welcome.  How accurate is that sentiment, though?

I realized then that God was giving them the identical thing he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God’s way?

–Acts 11:17, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Who am I to stand in God’s way?  Who are you, O reader, to stand in God’s way?  Who is anyone to stand in God’s way?  What is any institution or congregation to stand in God’s way?

Grace scandalizes by not discriminating.  Does that make you, O reader, comfortable or uncomfortable?  If it makes you uncomfortable, why does it do so?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 21, 2022 COMMON ERA

THURSDAY IN EASTER WEEK

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN ADAME ROSALES, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927

THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

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

THE FEAST OF GEORGE B. CAIRD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST THEN UNITED REFORMED MINISTER, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF GEORGIA HARKNESS, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, ETHICIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIMON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 341

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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:  Easter Celtic Cross

Image Scanned from a Church Bulletin

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Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:1-2, 15-24

Colossians 3:1-4

John 20:1-9 (10-18) or Matthew 28:1-10

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O God, you gave your only Son

to suffer death on the cross for our redemption,

and by his glorious resurrection

you delivered us from the power of death. 

Make us die every day to sin,

so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection;

through 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), 20-21

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Almighty God the Father, through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ,

you have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. 

Grant that we,

who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 47

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I have been writing lectionary-based devotions for more than a decade.  In that time, I have exhausted what I can write for the main service of Easter Day.

So be it.  Trying to explain the resurrection is pointless.  (I have heard people debate the mechanics of it, pointlessly.)  One may read an attempt by St. Clement I of Rome, circa 96 C.E., in his Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement).  That attempt is pious yet inadequate.  No explanation is adequate.

Therefore, O reader, I refer you to the assigned readings (especially from the New Testament) and wish you a happy Easter–all fifty days of it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 16, 2022 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT BERNADETTE OF LOURDES, ROMAN CATHOLIC VISIONARY

THE FEAST OF CALVIN WEISS LAUFER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST

THE FEAST OF ISABELLA GILMORE, ANGLICAN DEACONESS

THE FEAST OF MIKAEL SUMA, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, FRIAR, AND MARTYR, 1950

THE FEAST OF PETER WILLIAMS CASSEY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL DEACON; AND HIS WIFE, ANNIE BESANT CASSEY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL EDUCATOR

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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:  Icon of the Baptism of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 42:1-7

Psalm 45:7-9

Acts 10:34-38

Matthew 3:13-17

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Father in heaven, at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan

you proclaimed him your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. 

Make all who are baptized into Christ

faithful in their calling to be your children

and inheritors with him of everlasting life;

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), 15

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Father in heaven, as at the baptism in the Jordan River

you once proclaimed Jesus your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit,

grant that all who are baptized in his name may

faithfully keep the covenant into which they have been called,

boldly confess their Savior,

and with him be heirs of life eternal;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 21

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The people of God–Jews and Gentiles–have a divine mandate to be a light to the nations, for the glory of God and the benefit of the people.  The ethics of the Law of Moses and the teachings of Jesus value and mandate equity and justice, both collectively and individually, as a matter of conduct and policy.

The servant in Isaiah 42:1-7 is the personification of the people of Israel, in the context of the Babylonian Exile.  Yet much of Christian Tradition interprets that servant as Christ.  Read Isaiah 42:6-7, O reader:

I have 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.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures 

I have checked this text in five French translations.  “You” is singular in all of them, for it refers to the personified servant.  Yet 43:6b-7a refers to “a covenant people.”

Possible reasons for Jesus, sinless, taking St. John the Baptist’s baptism for repentance for forgiveness of sins have long filled minds and commentaries.  Maybe Jesus was originally a disciple of St. John the Baptist, and authors of the four canonical Gospels attempted to obscure this potentially embarrassing fact.  Perhaps Jesus was identifying with sinful human beings.  (One may legitimately accept more than one rationale.)

Regardless of how one accounts for the baptism of Jesus, the baptized belong to that covenant people described in Isaiah 42:1-7.  To belong to the covenant people is to carry a demanding divine mandate to serve, to live in mutuality, and to keep the Golden Rule.  To belong to the covenant people, as Gentiles, is to carry the divine mandate to love like Jesus, for Christ’s sake and glory.  To belong to the covenant people is to carry a glorious and crucial calling.

Yet a certain bumper sticker rings true too often.  It reads:

JESUS, SAVE ME FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS.

I hear that saying and think:

Yes, I feel like that sometimes.

Perhaps you, O reader, feel like that sometimes, too.  Many of the members of the covenant community have behaved badly and betrayed the mandate in Isaiah 42:6b-7a.  That is sad, as well as counter-productive to the effort to aid people in their walk with God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 18, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER, APOSTLE

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Adapted from this post

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART I

Above:  Icon of St. Luke the Evangelist

Image in the Public Domain

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The whole of Luke’s gospel is about the way in which the living God has planted, in Jesus, the seed of that long-awaited hope in the world.

–N. T. Wright, Lent for Everyone:  Luke, Year C–A Daily Devotional (2009), 2

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The Gospel of Luke is the first volume of a larger work.  The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume.  One can read either volume spiritually profitably in isolation from the other one.  However, one derives more benefit from reading Luke-Acts as the two-volume work it is.

Each of the four canonical Gospels bears the name of its traditional author.  The Gospel of Luke is the only case in which I take this traditional authorship seriously as a matter of history.  One may recall that St. Luke was a well-educated Gentile physician and a traveling companion of St. Paul the Apostle.

Luke-Acts dates to circa 85 C.E.,. “give or take five to ten years,” as Raymond E. Brown (1928-1998) wrote in his magisterial An Introduction to the New Testament (1997).  Luke-Acts, having a Gentile author, includes evidence that the audience consisted of Gentiles, too.  The text makes numerous references to the inclusion of Gentiles, for example.  Two of the major themes in Luke-Acts are (a) reversal of fortune, and (b) the conflict between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of God.  The smoldering ruins of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 C.E. inform the present tense of the story-telling.

Many North American Christians minimize or ignore the imperial politics in the New Testament.  In doing so, they overlook essential historical and cultural contexts.  Luke-Acts, in particular, performs an intriguing political dance with the Roman Empire.  The two-volume work unambiguously proclaims Jesus over the Emperor–a treasonous message, by Roman imperial standards.  Luke-Acts makes clear that the Roman Empire was on the wrong side of God, that its values were opposite those of the Kingdom of God.  Yet the two-volume work goes out of its way to mention honorable imperial officials.

Know six essential facts about me, O reader:

1. This weblog is contains other blog posts covering Luke-Acts, but in the context of lectionaries.  I refer you to those posts.  And I will not attempt to replicate those other posts in the new posts.  Finding those posts is easy; check the category for the book and chapter, such as Luke 1 or Acts 28.
2. I know far more about the four canonical Gospels, especially in relation to each other, than I will mention in the succeeding posts.  I tell you this not to boast, but to try to head off anyone who may chime in with a rejoinder irrelevant to my purpose in any given post.  My strategy will be to remain on topic.
3. My purpose will be to analyze the material in a way that is intellectually honest and applicable in real life.  I respect Biblical scholarship that goes deep into the woods, spending ten pages on three lines.  I consult works of such scholarship.  However, I leave that work to people with Ph.Ds in germane fields and who write commentaries.
4. I am a student of the Bible, not a scholar thereof.
5. I am a left-of-center Episcopalian who places a high value on human reason and intellect.  I value history and science.  I reject both the inerrancy and the infallibility of scripture for these reasons.  Fundamentalists think I am going to Hell for asking too many questions.  I try please God, not fundamentalists. I know too much to affirm certain theological statements.
6. I am a sui generis mix of Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican theological influences.  I consider St. Mary of Nazareth to be the Theotokos (the Bearer of God) and the Mater Dei (the Mother of God).  I also reject the Virgin Birth and the Immaculate Conception with it.

Make of all this whatever you will, O reader.

Shall we begin our journey through Luke-Acts?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-THIRD DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC OF SILOS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF BATES GILBERT BURT, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN TUCKER TANNER, AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL BISHOP AND RENEWER OF SOCIETY

THE FEAST OF D. ELTON TRUEBLOOD, U.S. QUAKER THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF JOHANN CHRISTOPH SCHWEDLER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAL PIASCZYNSKI,POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940

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Follow me. Obey my commandments. Trust me. Love me.

Above:  St. Simon Peter, Sinking

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, 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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Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants:

and, that they may obtain their petitions,

make them to ask such things as shall please thee;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 199

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1 Chronicles 29:10-13

Psalm 91

Acts 10:24-28

Matthew 14:22-34

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God calls Jews and Gentiles alike.  God says, 

The God of the Bible is not under any human control.  Nobody can manipulate God.  Yet much of Christian practice has consisted of attempts to manipulate God.  Human psychology is not always of spiritual benefit.  I know this about myself; I have to check to see if I am attempting to manipulate God daily.  I am like St. Paul the Apostle in one way, at least; I know what I should do yet do not do it much of the time.  

Psalm 91 and Matthew 14:22-34, in particular, hammer home the imperative of trusting God.  If we mere mortals rely on ourselves, we will fail.  We will sink.  If we trust God, we still may not succeed, by human standards.  (Read the Book of Jeremiah, O reader.)  Yet we will accomplish what God has in mind for us.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 16, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERTO DE NOBOLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN INDIA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BERARD AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS IN MOROCCO, 1220

THE FEAST OF EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, U.S. UNITARIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF GUSTAVE WEIGEL, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ECUMENIST

THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE

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Above:  Peter’s Vison of a Sheet with Animals, by Henry Davenport Northrop

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, 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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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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Exodus 3:1-14

Psalm 81

Acts 10:1-22

Matthew 7:22-29

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Matthew 7:22-29 establishes the key note for this blog post:  Hearing then acting on the words of God are imperative and wise.  Doing so transforms people.

Doing so has transformed people.  Moses, a murderer and a fugitive from Egyptian justice, became a great leader of his people.  (Unfortunately, most of his people grumbled in the wilderness for a generation.)  St. Simon Peter came to accept Gentiles as equals before God.

How much are you, O reader, willing to let divine commandments transform you?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 15, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AND MARTYR, 1968

THE FEAST OF ABBY KELLEY FOSTER AND HER HUSBAND, STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS

THE FEAST OF BERTHA PAULSSEN, GERMAN-AMERICAN SEMINARY PROFESSOR, PSYCHOLOGIST, AND SOCIOLOGIST

THE FEAST OF GENE M. TUCKER, UNITED METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF JOHN COSIN, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF COSIN

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Above:  Icon of the Resurrection

Image in the Public Domain

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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:

Acts 10:34-43 or Job 19:7-27c

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 Corinthians 15:35-50

John 20:1-18

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I am usually at a loss for many words at Easter.  In this case, the readings are mostly self-explanatory.  For my comments on Job 19:7-17c, however, read the germane posts at this weblog.

Whenever I hear someone go on and on about the crucifixion of Jesus, especially regarding the Atonement, I have a critique.  That critique is to keep going.  Do not stop at the death of Jesus.  Dead Jesus cannot save anyone from anything.  No, the Resurrection completed the Atonement.

Christ is alive!  It’s true!  It’s true!

Happy Easter!  Enjoy all 50 days of the season.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2021

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GOOD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MILAN

THE FEAST OF ALLEN WILLIAM CHATFIELD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF IGNATIOUS SPENCER, ANGLICAN THE  ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND APOSTLE OF ECUMENICAL PRAYER; AND HIS PROTEGÉE, ELIZABETH PROUT, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF THE CROSS AND PASSION

THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM GAY BALLANTINE, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/devotion-for-easter-sunday-year-d-humes/

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How could I stand in God’s way?

Above:  St. Simon Peter

Image in the Public Domain

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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:

Acts 11:1-18

Psalm 30

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Luke 24:36-53

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The four assigned readings share the context of an uneasy situation.  We read a prayer of thanksgiving of a person who has recovered from a potentially fatal illness in Psalm 30.  The slime in the pit of Sheol will not praise God, but a living person does.  We also read of St. Simon Peter defending his actions (from Acts 10) to his fellow Jewish Christians, whom he persuades.  We read of past suffering in 1 Thessalonians 2.  And we read of Jesus comforting and empowering frightened Apostles in Luke 24.

My keynote for this post comes from Acts 11:17b:

—The Revised English Bible (1989)

When God refuses to fit into or respect the categories that provide psychological comfort to us and reinforce our defense mechanisms, how do we respond or react?  Do we respond or do we react?  (Yes, those words have different definitions.)  Many of us, regardless of where we fall on the liberal-conservative scale overall and on each issue, identify ourselves as insiders and others as outsiders.  Outsiders exist, of course, but God’s criteria for defining insiders and outsiders differ from ours.  And what if one who imagines oneself to be an insider is actually an outsider?

No devout person tries to stand in God’s way, I suppose.  Yet many do, sometimes.  We humans frequently mistake our standards for those of God.  We may do our best, according to what we know or think we know, but we can and do err.

May we, by grace, never stand in God’s way.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 6, 2020 COMMON ERA

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 413

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, GREEK AND LATIN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF DANIEL G. C. WU, CHINESE-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF EMIL BRUNNER, SWISS REFORMED THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF MILNER BALL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, LAW PROFESSOR, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT NOKTER BALBULUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2020/04/06/devotion-for-the-third-sunday-of-easter-year-c-humes/

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Above:  Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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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:

Acts 10:1-20

Psalm 150

1 Thessalonians 1

Luke 24:13-25

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Easter is a season with eight Sundays, the last one being Pentecost.  Take heart, O reader; we have much more Easter to celebrate.

One theme in this Sunday’s readings is that the Jewish-Christian God is the universal deity, not a tribal god.  Yes, Gentiles are welcome at the party of salvation, too.  That salvation is possible because of the other theme, the resurrection of Jesus.  In the context of Luke 24, this is a truth two small groups of people announced to St. Simon Peter in one day.  Furthermore, these two groups had not coordinated their stories, as criminals rehearse the false alibis.

We who live nearly two millennia after these events have a challenge first-hand witnesses lacked.  We either accept the resurrection on faith or we reject it on lack of faith.  We can neither prove nor disprove it.  I choose to accept it.

This is not as big a leap of faith for me as it is for many others.  Yes, I embrace reason and accept science.  I recognize much merit in the Enlightenment, which influences how I think.  I am a modernist, not a postmodernist.  I also know from experience that Enlightenment and scientific categories, as we usually define them, do not account for everything.  Reason is a gift from God.  I, as a practicing Episcopalian, incorporate reason into my faith.  I also understand that reason takes me far, but not all the way to the empty tomb.  Reason is a tool in my toolbox of faith; it is not an idol.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 5, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SUNDAY OF THE PASSION:  PALM SUNDAY, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF ANDRÉ, MAGDA, AND DANIEL TROCMÉ, RIGHTEOUS GENTILES

THE FEAST OF EMILY AYCKBOWM, FOUNDRESS 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, MATHETMATICIAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND ACTIVIST; AND HER BROTHER, WILLARD LEAROYD SPERRY, CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, ETHICIST, THEOLOGIAN, AND DEAN OF HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DERHAM, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCIENTIST

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/devotion-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter-year-c-humes/

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