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:  Pentecost, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 3:13-15, 17-26

Psalm 148

1 John 5:1-6

John 20:19-31

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Almighty God, we have celebrated with joy

the festival of our Lord’s resurrection. 

Graciously help us to show the power of the resurrection

in all that we say and do;

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), 21

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Grant, almighty God,

that we who have celebrated the mystery of the Lord’s resurrection

may by the help of your grace bring forth

the fruits thereof in our life and conduct;

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), 50

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Biblical authors did not always define certain words the same way.  For example, “sin” meant a moral failing in Matthew 18:18 yet a theological failing in John 20:22-23.  In the Johannine theological context, sin was the failure to recognize the revelation of God in Jesus.  Hence, a Christian did not sin, in Johannine theological terms (1 John 3:6).  Also, forgiving sins was a task for the faith community empowered by the Holy Spirit.  This faith community, empowered by the Holy Spirit, continued the work of Jesus.

The First Epistle of John tells us that the love of God entails keeping divine commandments, which are not burdensome.  The Gospel of John has Jesus say that those who love him will keep his commandments (14:23).  The most basic commandment of Jesus is the Golden Rule.  That should not be burdensome, should it?

God forgives sins, whichever definition one uses.  So should the communities of the people of God.  Repentance must precede forgiveness, especially if one defines sins as moral failings.  Forgiveness without prior repentance is cheap grace–something meaningless and not transformative.

Just as repentance must precede forgiveness for forgiveness to mean anything, truth must precede reconciliation, something else Jesus brings and God grants.  In the Johannine lexicon, truth means “activated integrity.”  It is not a philosophical abstraction; no truth is something lived.  The hard work of being honest must precede the graces of reconciliation and forgiveness.  This is a lesson which many people–including certain politicians and many of their supporters–prefer to ignore.  They seek to brush difficulties of the collective and/or individual past under the proverbial rug.  They seek the cheap graces of painless forgiveness and faux reconciliation without prior repentance and the acknowledgment of reality.  And they often do so in the name of Jesus, unfortunately.  They, therefore, mock God, truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 20, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPAL THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SIMON WILLIAM GABRIEL BRUTÉ DE RÉMUR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF VINCENNES

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Adapted from this post

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Advertisement

READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LVIII

Above:  The Sanhedrin

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 5:12-42

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Acts 5:12-42 picks up from 3:1-4:31. Many of the comments in the post for 3:1-4:31 are germane to 5:12-42.

So [the apostles] left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.  And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.

–Acts 5:41-42, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

I write and speak only for myself, for I am qualified to do that much.  In the same position as these apostles, I, hypothetically, would have been cursing (in both meanings of that word), not rejoicing.  You, O reader, may write and speak for yourself.

We read of the nascent Church growing in Jerusalem and already scaring religious authorities there.  I wonder:  How scared of the Church are the authorities where you, O reader, dwell?  I do not refer to congregations and Christians getting into trouble for blatantly un-Christlike activities, such as needlessly endangering others and spewing hatred.  I recall, for example, news stories of abusive congregations that have practiced child abuse under the cover of the Bible and the freedom of religion.  Such criminals deserve legal penalties, and their victims deserve help and wholeness.

No, I refer to Christians and congregations who are behaving in Christlike ways–loving like Jesus, to borrow the advice of Bishop Robert C. Wright, of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.  I refer, for example, to congregations who shelter immigrants and minister to homeless people–illegal activities, sometimes and in some places.  If Christians and congregations do not get into legal trouble for loving like Jesus, that is wonderful.  If, however, loving like Jesus causes them legal troubles, may they be like the apostles in Acts 5:41-42.

Another matter comes to my mind.  Many people of varying religious identities mistake obnoxiousness for piety.  Having studied all 73 books of the Bible closely, I cannot locate scriptural justification for obnoxiousness in the name of God.  Recent converts frequently cross the line and cross over into obnoxiousness in the zeal.  This pattern informs the cliché that recent converts often embarrass longtime adherents.

May we–individually and collectively–bring honor to God and Christ, regardless of our circumstances.  May we–individually and collectively–behave ourselves properly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 12, 2022 COMMON ERA

HOLY TUESDAY

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; AND HIS NEPHEW, WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT DAVID URIBE-VELASCO, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927

THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIUS I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZENO OF VERONA, BISHOP

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LVI

Above:  The Sanhedrin

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 3:1-4:31

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A cliché tells us that no good deed goes unpunished.  If the world were not so!

Jesus had clashed with religious authorities.  The time for some of his Apostles–Sts. Simon Peter and John, in this case–to do so had arrived.  St. Simon Peter, who had often spoken before thinking, had eaten his spiritual Wheaties.

Two major themes stand out in my mind as I ponder Acts 3:1-4:31:

1. Acts 3:17 includes the Lucan motif that those who had rejected and crucified Jesus had done so in ignorance.  See Luke 23:34, also, O reader.
2. Acts 4:18f, in which the commandments of God override human orders to the contrary, belies strict law-and-order arguments that quote the Bible.  Acts 4:18f is not the only such passage in the Bible, but it is the one in the section of scripture for this post.  We will return to this matter in Acts 5.

My politics regarding the strict law-and-order, my-country-right-or-wrong argument are plain.  Neither anarchy nor totalitarianism allow freedom.  Disobeying some governments is a moral obligation.  Yet, on many other occasions, obeying governments is moral.  Everything depends on the circumstances.  The timeless principle at work is the Golden Rule.

We all know less than we imagine we do.  For example, we may think we know what we are doing when do not.  Or we may know partially.  Luke 23:34 has the crucified Jesus intercede for those who had put him on the cross and for those who had consented to this action:

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing.”

—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

I have recorded my mixed thoughts regarding the extent of this ignorance in Luke 23:34.  I have not arrived at a consistent position yet.

Sometimes we do not know what we are doing.  However, sometimes we do.  And sometimes we know somewhat.  I cannot always tell which situation is which.

Nevertheless, I know something, however, slight, regarding sins of ignorance:  We all commit them, individually and collectively.  And we all–individually and collectively–stand before God in need of forgiveness.  May we–collectively and individually–forgive each other, as we–individually and collectively–need forgiveness.  And may God forgive us all.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 8, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, PATRIARCH OF AMERICAN LUTHERANISM; HIS GREAT-GRANDSON, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND LITURGICAL PIONEER; AND HIS COLLEAGUE, ANNE AYERS, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THE HOLY COMMUNION

THE FEAST OF SAINT DIONYSIUS OF CORINTH, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF GODFREY DIEKMANN, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, PRIEST, ECUMENIST, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK

THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIE BILLIART, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME

THE FEAST OF TIMOTHY LULL, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, THEOLOGIAN, AND ECUMENIST

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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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If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

Above:  The Angel in the Tomb

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 3:12-26 or Job 19:7-27c

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 Corinthians 15:19-28

Luke 24:1-12

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There is a tradition of reading Hebrew Bible texts not about the Messiah as if they were about Jesus.  Consider the reading from Job 19, O reader.  Job, who has lost most of his family, claims God as his kinsman-redeemer, who will defend him against enemies.  Ironically, in Job 1 and 2, we read that God has allowed Job to suffer.  The Book of Job is a composite work, and what we call Job 19 predates what we call Job 1 and Job 2.  Interpreting the Book of Job can be a complicated matter.

The reading from 1 Corinthians 15 should back up by a few verses.  In context, the resurrection of the dead is linked to the resurrection of Jesus.  One must be true for the other one to be true.  Without the resurrection of Jesus, Christian faith is in vain, Christians are still in their sins, and those who have died have perished.  Therefore,

–1 Corinthians 15:19, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

Death packs a powerful punch.  One can, at best, imagine how those closest to Jesus felt after he died.  Perhaps only a mother can begin to guess with some degree of accuracy how St. Mary of Nazareth felt.  Consider, then, O reader, the fortitude required for the women to go to the tomb.  Grief can sad one’s energy level and cause inaction.  Yet we read of women walking to the tomb.

We can also only imagine how the three women felt when they learned of the resurrection.

Their hope was not in vain.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 4, 2020 COMMON ERA

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 MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, AND MARTYR, 1968

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

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Adapted from this post:

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

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Above:  St. Peter, by Dirck van Baburen

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 3:1-10

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

1 Peter 2:1-10

Matthew 13:24-35

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The theme of the power of God unites the assigned readings for this Sunday.

The Kingdom of God/Heaven, we read, is like a field of wheat with weeds growing up in it also.  We mere mortals should refrain from weeding the field, for unless we show that restraint, we will remove some wheat also.

The Kingdom of God/Heaven–in the Gospel of Matthew, God’s earthly, apocalyptic reign–has small, even invisible beginnings yet grows large and resists any human attempts to control it.  The Kingdom of God/Heaven and the Kingdom of Earth will remain in tension until the former supplants the latter.

By the power of God people can obtain salvation, healing, and status as a kingdom of priests.  By the power of God people receive grace.  With grace comes responsibility to serve as vehicles of grace to others.

I think of the man born lame (Acts 3:1-10) and wonder about the rest of his story.  The narrative moves in a different direction, following the Apostles he encountered that important day.  I conclude that the man, beaten down by the circumstances of his life, probably did not expect much, but that he received far more than he anticipated in his wildest dreams.  I wonder how that man spent the rest of his life.  I like to think that he devoted it to the glory of God.

Your story, O reader, might be less dramatic than his.  Mine is.  Yet we have the same mandate he did–to respond to God faithfully.  We mere mortals can never repay divine mercy, but we can serve God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 31, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/devotion-for-the-third-sunday-of-easter-year-a-humes/

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(1) to establish courts of justice, (2) to refrain from blaspheming the God of Israel, as well as from (3) idolatry, (4) sexual perversion, (5) bloodshed, (6) robbery, and (7) not to eat meat cut from a living animal.

Above:  Landscape with the Thanksgiving of Noah, by Joseph Anton Koch

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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O Lord, who never fails to help and govern those whom you bring up in your steadfast fear and love:

Keep us, we ask you, under the protection of your good providence,

and make us to have a perpetual sense of awe and love of your holy name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 138

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Genesis 9:8-15

Psalm 2

Acts 4:8, 10-13, 18-20

Luke 10:1-11

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The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) informs me, in the note on Genesis 9:8-17, of a Talmudic teaching.  All humankind has obligations to keep seven commandments.  To obey them is to win divine approval.  The seven commandments are:

–Page 23

That is quite a list!  Keeping all of those commandments is, of course, impossible on human power alone.  In some cases, keeping some of them violates decrees of human authorities.  Merely committing a non-violent act of mercy outside that list might get one into trouble, as in Acts 4.

With certain notorious exceptions, most of us try to be good people, do we not?  Many of us do this in the name of God.  Nevertheless, many of us, while behaving righteously, in our imaginations, oppose those who, like the Apostles in Acts 3 and 4, commit non-violent acts of mercy.  We do not for like people, even those who behave mercifully, to challenge our authority and/or sense of order.  We might not merely leave them alone; no, we might interfere with them.  We need to get out of God’s way.

One can tell what kind of plant a tree is by its fruit.  By grace we can be good trees for God, instead of agents of obstructionism.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF FELIX MANZ, FIRST ANABAPTIST MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON, FOUNDRESS OF THE AMERICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY OF LANGRES, TERTICUS OF LANGRES, GALLUS OF CLERMONT, GREGORY OF TOURS, AVITUS I OF CLERMONT, MAGNERICUS OF TRIER, AND GAUGERICUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF JOHANN LUDWIG FREYDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

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Above:  Saint Peter, by Dirck van Baburen

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you:

Mercifully accept our prayers; and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature,

we can do no good thing without you,

grant us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments

we may please you, both in will and deed;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.  

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), page 138

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Genesis 3:1-6, 22-23

Psalm 12

Acts 3:1-7, 11-21

Matthew 11:2-6

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Trinity Sunday is, by definition, the Sunday immediately following Pentecost Sunday.  Therefore the practice of the old lectionary from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), whereby separate sets of readings for Trinity Sunday and the First Sunday after Pentecost exist, is odd.

These readings, taken together, speak of what God does.  More to the point, most of them concern what God chooses to do through us, with divine empowerment.  Wherever we, empowered by God, are present, we can achieve great goals, for the glory of God and the benefit of others, near and/or far away.  Of course, each of us (individually) and all of us (collectively) are inadequate for the great work.  That reality, however, is no excuse to do nothing.  God might not call and empower you, O reader, to confront a potentate and lead a population out of slavery, for example, but God calls and equips you to do something.  You will probably be amazed at what it is.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF FELIX MANZ, FIRST ANABAPTIST MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ELIZABETH ANN SETON, FOUNDRESS OF THE AMERICAN SISTERS OF CHARITY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY OF LANGRES, TERTICUS OF LANGRES, GALLUS OF CLERMONT, GREGORY OF TOURS, AVITUS I OF CLERMONT, MAGNERICUS OF TRIER, AND GAUGERICUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF JOHANN LUDWIG FREYDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

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Above:  Icon of Sts. Simon Peter and Paul

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:

Exodus 5:22-6:13; 7:1-6

Psalm 18:1-6

Acts 3:1-10

Matthew 28:11-15

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God is more powerful than any empire or state–in this case, ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire.  Furthermore, human stubbornness is no obstacle for God.  Consider, O reader, the Pharaoh (whichever one he was) and Moses.  In the narrative of the Book of Exodus God overpowers the Pharaoh and sends Aaron to be the spokesman for Moses.

This segue brings me to my next point:  We can trust God, who will empower us to fulfill our divine vocations.  As an old saying tells us, God does not call the qualified.  No, God qualifies the called.  Consider, O reader, Sts. John the Evangelist and Simon Peter in Acts 3.  Compare them in that passage to their depictions in the Gospel of Luke, the first volume of Luke-Acts.  Also compare them in Acts 3 to their depictions in the Gospel of Mark, in which they were more clueless than in Luke.  As of Acts 3 the two had eaten their spiritual Wheaties, so to speak.

What is God calling and qualifying you, O reader, to do?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 12, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF EDWIN PAXTON HOOD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, PHILANTHROPIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ENMEGAHBOWH, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT FREDERICK OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR; AND SAINT ODULF OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JOHN MORISON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2017/06/12/devotion-for-the-second-season-of-easter-ackerman/

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Above:   The Sanhedrin

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

God among us, we gather in the name of your Son

to learn love for one another.  Keep our feet from evil paths.

Turn our minds to your wisdom and our hearts to the grace

revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 48

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The Assigned Readings:

Proverbs 14:12-31

Psalm 12

Acts 4:1-12

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“Because the needy are oppressed,

and the poor cry out in misery,

I will rise up,” says the LORD,

“and give them the help they long for.”

–Psalm 12:5, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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He who despises his fellow is wrong;

He who shows pity for the lowly is happy.

–Proverbs 14:21, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The contents of Acts 4 continue a story begun in the previous chapter.  Sts. John and Simon Peter healed a lame man (more than 40 years old and crippled from birth) at the Beautiful Gate, near the Temple at Jerusalem.  They healed him in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  The healing astonished a crowd and created much excitement.  Next, at the Portico of Solomon, St. Simon Peter preached about Jesus.  Then the events described in Acts 4:1-12 occurred.  Afterward the Sanhedrin cautioned the Apostles to cease teaching in the name of Jesus.  The Apostles refused to obey the order.

Mighty acts of compassion frequently prompt humility in the New Testament.  This is especially true if the healing occurs on the Sabbath.  The display of divine power also unsettles many people who fear that which they cannot control.  Furthermore, sometimes people define themselves in contrast to the sick and the handicapped among them.  The healing of these neighbors therefore proves unsettling, for it pertains to identity.  On the other hand, the appropriate response to such an event is to rejoice in the other person’s blessing.  That is the difference between compassion and selfishness.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 19, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW BOBOLA, JESUIT MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ADVOCATE OF THE POOR

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/devotion-for-monday-after-proper-20-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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