Archive for the ‘John 15’ Category
Above: Head of Saint Paul, by Benedetto Gennari the Younger
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Acts 11:19-30
Psalm 98
1 John 4:1-11
John 15:9-17
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O God, from whom all good things come:
Lead us by the inspiration of your Spirit
to think those things which are right,
and by your goodness to do them;
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), 22
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Lord, because you promised to give what we ask
in the name of your only-begotten Son,
teach us rightly to pray and with all your saints
to offer you our adoration and praise;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 54
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The readings for this Sunday bear a striking thematic similarity to those for last Sunday. So be it.
1 John 4:10 speaks of Jesus as the expiation for our sins. In this context, “sins” means moral failings. Generally, in Johannine thought, sin is failing to recognize the divine revelation in Jesus, as in John 20:22-23. The First Epistle of John, however, uses both the moral and theological definitions of sin. Expiation is an
atoning action which obliterates sin from God’s sight and so restores us to holiness and the divine favor.
—The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, E-J (1962), 200
Then that epistle continues:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
–1 John 4:11, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
In the lections, we can read of different ways of loving one another. In Acts 11:19-30 alone, we read of evangelism, of the encouraging role of St. (Joseph) Barnabas extending a welcome to a former persecutor (St. Paul the Apostle), and of raising funds for the church in Jerusalem.
How is God calling you, O reader, to love one another like Jesus in your context–when you are, where you are, and according to who you are? Think and pray about this matter, I urge you.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2024 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR AND ISAAC THE GREAT, PATRIARCHS OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF MEISTER ECKHART, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN AND MYSTIC
THE FEAST OF SAINT METODEJ DOMINIK TRCKA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1959
THE FEAST OF UMPHREY LEE, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
THE FEAST OF SAINT VICTORIAN OF HADRUMETUM, MARTYR AT CARTHAGE, 484
THE FEAST OF SAINT WALTER OF PONTOISE, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND ECCLESIASTICAL REFORMER
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Adapted from this post
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Above: A Vineyard
Image in the Public Domain
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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)
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Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:24-30 (LBW) or Psalm 22:25-31 (LW)
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8
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O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will.
Make us love what you command and desire what you promise,
that, amid, all the changes of this world,
our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found;
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), 22
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O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will;
therefore grant to your people that they may love what you command
and desire what you promise,
that among the manifold changes of this age our hearts
may ever be fixed where true joys are to be found;
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), 53
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A common thread running through the readings for this Sunday is asking and receiving. For example:
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
–1 John 3:21-23, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
In other words, if we want what God desires, and if we pray for that, we will receive it. That makes sense. This message contradicts Prosperity Theology, an old heresy popular in certain quarters these days. If I, for example, need reliable transportation, praying for that is morally and spiritually acceptable. And I may receive a Chevrolet, not a Cadillac. I will, however, get from Point A to Point B safely and reliably. On a related note, the good life, in terms of the Book of Psalms, includes having enough for each day, not necessarily being wealthy.
Elsewhere in the New Testament, one can read about having the mind of Christ. That concept applies to the material for today. We have Jesus as, among other things, our role model. We, as Christians, must follow his example. We must love as he loved. When we consider that Christ’s love led to his execution, we realize that this mandate is serious business, not a mere slogan. The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, the Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, says to
love like Jesus.
Bishop Wright understands that this is serious business, not a mere slogan.
Think, O reader, what may happen to you if you were to love like Jesus in your context and to pray for causes consistent with the will of God? How would that change you? How would it change your community, your nation-state, and the world? What repercussions might you face for loving like Jesus? How many professing Christians would oppose you?
During my research for my M.A. thesis, I found a case in point. J. Robert Harris was the pastor of the Fort Gaines Baptist Church, Fort Gaines, Georgia, in the early and middle 1950s. He left that position under a cloud between August and November 1955. The chatty local newspaper never mentioned his departure, which followed either his firing or his forced resignation. (I read two versions of the story.) Harris had publicly supported the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and involved an African-American youth in his church’s vacation Bible school. Harris became the pastor of the Plains Baptist Church, Plains, Georgia, which he served until his resignation in the late 1960s. Failing health was the official cause of the resignation. However, the pastor’s recent sermon in favor of civil rights had been unpopular with his congregation. Harris had once preached a sermon in which he had asked his flock, in so many words:
If being Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
In the case of J. Robert Harris, the answer was affirmative. He loved like Jesus and ran afoul of other professing Christians entrenched in racist social norms.
Loving like Jesus makes one a radical in a world with upside-down standards. Loving like Jesus entails living the Golden Rule. Loving like Jesus entails living both versions of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5 and Luke 6). Loving like Jesus entails bearing much fruit (John 15:8).
Psalm 22 speaks of God acting. In Hebrew thought, the actions of God reveal the divine character. Likewise, my actions reveal my character. And your actions, O reader, reveal your character. Is it a godly character?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 22, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT DEOGRATIAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CARTHAGE
THE FEAST OF EMMANUEL MOURNIER, FRENCH PERSONALIST PHILOSOPHER
THE FEAST OF JAMES DE KOVEN, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF THOMAS HUGHES, BRITISH SOCIAL REFORMER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM EDWARD HICKSON, ENGLISH MUSIC EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL REFORMER
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Adapted from this post
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Above: The New Jerusalem
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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Genesis 22:1-19 or Zechariah 8:7-17
Psalm 145:1-9
Revelation 21:9-27
John 15:26-16:15
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Genesis 22:1-19 is the outlier in this group of assigned portions of scripture. I refer you, O reader, to other posts in which I have covered that terrible tale of child abuse and attempted murder.
A dark tone exists also in John 16:1-4. Consider the circumstances of the Johannine, Jewish Christian community. Expulsion from synagogues was their reality. Religious persecution, although not constant from the imperium, was possible. Furthermore, a time when
anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy service to God
functions, in this liturgical context, as a commentary on Abraham in Genesis 22:1-19.
Otherwise, the assigned readings depict a happy reality of dwelling in God. This reality is not free of troubles, but one lives in harmony with God, at least. And faith communities provide contexts in which members support one another. They have instructions from God:
These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, under true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those things that I hate–declares the LORD.
–Zechariah 8:16-17, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The original context of Zechariah 8:16-17 is Jerusalem after the return of exiles. The passage also applies to Christian faith communities, however. People are to love God and each other.
May we do so, by grace, and glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 1, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HENRY MORSE, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1645
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT DASWA, SOUTH AFRICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR, 1990
THE FEAST OF CHARLES SEYMOUR ROBINSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGEBERT III, KING OF AUSTRASIA
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/02/01/devotion-for-proper-27-year-d-humes/
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Above: Cooks Union United Methodist Church, Miller County, Georgia
Image Source = Google Earth
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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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Genesis 21:1-19 or Zechariah 7:4-14
Psalm 144:1-4, 9-15
Revelation 21:1-8
John 15:18-25
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My father served as the pastor of Cooks Union United Methodist Church, outside Colquitt, Georgia, from June 1985 to June 1986. One of the parishioners was Don, an elderly man. Don was hard of hearing. He frequently missed much of the contents of my father’s sermons and misheard other parts of those sermons. Don also missed much context, so, when we correctly heard what my father said, Don often misunderstood the meaning. Don frequently became upset with my father, accusing my father of having said X when my father had said Y. This was unfair, of course; my father had done nothing wrong.
Many people have been hard of hearing in matters pertaining to morality. Many still are. Morals need not be abstract. How do we treat one another? How do governments treat vulnerable people? What kinds of policies do politicians support? Living according to the Golden Rule is one way to earn the world’s enmity.
God is kinder to the vulnerable than many people and governments are. The divine preference for the poor recurs throughout the Bible. And economic injustice and judicial corruption frequently occur on lists of collective and individual sins, alongside idolatry, that God judges harshly. Yet, to hear many ministers speak, one would know that the Biblical authors spilled more ink condemning economic injustice and judicial corruption than various sexual practices.
May we, by grace, not be hard of hearing in matters of the Golden Rule.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 30, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF LESSLIE NEWBIGIN, ENGLISH REFORMED MISSIONARY AND THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT BATHILDAS, QUEEN OF FRANCE
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK OAKELEY, ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINTS GENESIUS I OF CLERMONT AND PRAEJECTUS OF CLERMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; AND SAINT AMARIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF SAINT JACQUES BUNOL, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1945
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/devotion-for-proper-26-year-d-humes/
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Above: Image of COVID-19, by the Centers for Disease Control
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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Genesis 17:1-22 or Ruth 4:1-17
Psalm 143
Revelation 21:1-6a
John 15:1-17
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The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) includes part of Genesis 17 only one–on the Second Sunday in Lent, Year B. The RCL guts the chapter, though. The RCL assigns only verses 1-7 and 15-16. As Matthew Thiessen observes in Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospels’ Portrayal of Ritual Impurity Within First-Century Judaism (2020), the RCL avoids the verses that talk about circumcision. One who hears a RCL-based sermon on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 hears
a very carefully edited, essentially Christianized (or de-Judaized) version of Genesis 17.
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The Humes lectionary, in contrast, fills the hole the RCL creates.
Without chasing a proverbial rabbit, I repeat here what I have written elsewhere, in another lectionary-based devotion, recently: Within Judaism, over time, as reflected in the Bible and in non-canonical Jewish texts, a range of opinions regarding circumcision existed. Judaism has never been a monolithic religion, despite what you, O reader, may have heard or read.
Circumcision was a common practice in many cultures in the area of antiquity. In the case of the Jews, it was significant for more than one reason. Hygiene was one reason for circumcision. The practice was also a fertility rite, a ritual of initiation into the covenant people, and an act of ritual purification. The practice, perhaps most importantly, functioned as a marker of identity in God and the divine covenant.
Circumcision is a sign–a covenant I believe remains in effect. I, as a Gentile, function under a second covenant.
Wholeness and restoration–collectively and individually–are possible only in God, via a covenant. As in Ruth 4, God frequently acts through people to create wholeness and restoration. God also acts directly often.
…there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone.
–Revelation 21:4b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
The “world of the past” in Revelation 21:4b remains the world of the present. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim and damage lives and livelihoods. Tears, death, mourning, and sadness remain, in a heightened reality, the cruel companions of victims of the pandemic. One point of Revelation is the imperative of keeping faith and focusing on the light while the darkness threatens to overwhelm with despair and hopelessness.
One joins a covenant by grace. One drops out of a covenant by works of darkness. That is classical Jewish Covenantal Nomism. In other words, remain faithful to God, who is faithful.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a story about a Jew in a Nazi death camp. A guard was mocking a pious Jew, forced to perform the degrading, unpleasant, and disgusting task of cleaning the toilet. The guard asked,
Where is your God now?
The Jew answered,
He is beside me, here in the muck.
Where is God during the COVID-19 pandemic? God is sitting beside the beds of patients. God is walking beside essential workers. God is grieving with those who mourn. God is present with those working to develop or to distribute vaccines. God is with us, here in the muck.
God is faithful. May we be faithful, too.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 29, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LYDIA, DORCAS, AND PHOEBE, COWORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/devotion-for-proper-25-year-d-humes/
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Above: Pentecost Dove
Scan 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:
Acts 2:1-21 or Joel 2:21-32 (Protestant and Anglican)/Joel 2:21-3:5 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Roman Catholic)
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-11 or Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-16:15
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The Humes lectionary readings for Pentecost across all four years are mostly the same. In fact, the readings for Years B and D on this day are identical. I understand; feasible options are limited.
Anyway, after writing lectionary-based devotions for more than a decade, I fall barely short of dreading composing another devotion for Pentecost. My perspective is unique; only I know how often I have repeated myself. I may have something not excessively repetitive to offer in this post.
One of the major themes in the Gospel of John is the conflict between light (good) and darkness (evil). We read that the Holy Spirit will reveal to the world how wrong it has been about sin, about who was in the right, and about judgment.
Pentecost was nearly 2000 years ago. The world has persisted in a state of denial and obliviousness. Human nature has not changed.
Yet may we take courage. God remains sovereign. And those who cleave to the light remain in Christ, who is in God. The light shines on the just and the unjust. And the darkness has not overcome the light.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT BISCOP, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH
THE FEAST OF SAINT AELRED OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT OF RIEVAULX
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY PUCCI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY ALFORD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, LITERARY TRANSLATOR, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
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Adapted from this post:
https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/devotion-for-pentecost-year-d-humes/
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Above: Pentecost Dove
Scanned from a Church Bulletin 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:
Acts 2:1-21 or Joel 2:21-32
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-21 or Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-16:15
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My Episcopal parish recently held a few focus groups. Our tasks were envision the congregation in a decade and to think about what the church should be then, to focus on goals and broad strokes, not technical details. I stated my version of that future. I also said, in broad terms, that we ought not to focus on what we can do or think we will be able to do, but on what God can do through us. I vocalized the principle that we need to focus on divine agency, not human agency.
This has been the task of the Church since its birth on Pentecost 29 or 30 C.E., in Jerusalem. God has always been central; human egos have imagined otherwise.
As we continue our collective and individual spiritual journeys in Christ, the Holy Spirit will accompany, advise, and advocate for us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 29, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
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Adapted from this post:
https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/devotion-for-pentecost-sunday-year-b-humes/
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Above: Sunrise
Image in the Public Domain
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For the Third Sunday after Easter, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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Mighty God, whose Son Jesus broke the bands of death and scattered the powers of darkness:
arm us with such faith in him that we may face both death and evil,
and overcome even as he overcame; in thy name. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 123
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Isaiah 58:6-14
1 Corinthians 15:35-50
John 15:1-17
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St. Paul the Apostle’s rumination about spiritual bodies and physical bodies is the odd reading this week, for it does not fit with Isaiah 58:6-14 and John 15:1-17.
May we avoid a Pietistic-Puritanical error by reading Isaiah 58 correctly. This is NOT a matter of ritual versus true piety. No, the issue is that the audience for Isaiah 58 was not even putting on airs of piety (read verses 105) while, for example, exploiting employees. Torah piety teaches interdependence and mutuality, making no allowance or excuse for exploitation. Torah piety (as in John 17) is manifest in keeping divine commandments–in loving God and one another.
Recognizing the divine mandate to so this is frequently easier than fulfilling it. In any society many institutions work by violating this commandment. Economic and political models and practices trample the Golden Rule. Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that one tries seriously to live according to the ethics of Isaiah 58 and John 17, one encounters practical and great difficulty in succeeding. The main problem is, for lack of a better word, the system.
May we, by grace, succeed as much as possible.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 27, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CORNELIUS HILL, ONEIDA CHIEF AND EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HUGH THOMSON KERR, SR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST; AND HIS SON, HUGH THOMSON KERR, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, AND THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF JAMES MOFFATT, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SCHOLAR, AND BIBLE TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GEORGIAN, ABBOT; AND SAINTS EUTHYMIUS OF ATHOS AND GEORGE OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN, ABBOTS AND TRANSLATORS
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Above: Icon of Christ Pantocrator
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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For the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year 1, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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O Lord Jesus, who hast called us each by name and brought us thy salvation:
give us grace to welcome thee and, in all our affairs,
to deal justly with our brothers, in thy name. Amen.
—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 124
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Deuteronomy 29:1-15
Ephesians 2:11-22
John 15:18-27
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God is like what God has done and does, in Jewish thought. Divine deeds reveal divine nature. Patterns evident in divine deeds are apparent to the observant. One of these patterns is establishing covenants, examples of grace that require faithful responses.
These faithful responses may put us in danger sometimes. If so, we ought to recall that a servant is not greater than his or her master, Christ crucified and resurrected. Grace is free, not cheap. If faithful responses do not place us in danger, they still entail making certain changes in attitudes and actions. Moral perfection is impossible, but improvement is mandatory.
A possibly disturbing spiritual course of action, O reader, is to ask oneself,
Given that I am like what I do, what am I like?
The answer to that question should precede continual repentance and amendment of life. Fortunately, grace is freely and plentifully available to help us do just that.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 6, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FIFTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICETIUS OF TRIER, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, AND BISHOP; AND SAINT AREDIUS OF LIMOGES, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM OF KRATIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND HERMIT
THE FEAST OF HENRY USTICK ONDERDONK, EPISCOPAL BISHOP, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF MYRA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Above: Christ Pantocrator
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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For Christian Unity, Years 1 and 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970
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Eternal God: you have called us to be members of one body.
Bind us to those who in all times and places have called on your name,
so that, with one heart and mind, we may display the unity of the church,
and bring glory to your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
—The Worshipbook–Services and Hymns (1972), 159
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Isaiah 11:1-6
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 15:1-11
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Christian unity has long been an illusory goal. Divisions were already evident in the days of the New Testament, for example. Denominations have merged over time, but I have noticed a pattern: Whenever two or more denominations have merged, two or more denominations have usually formed. For example, the three-way U.S. Methodist reunion of 1939 produced four denominations, the merger that created The United Methodist Church in 1968 led to the formation of at least two denominations, and, over a period of eleven years (1972-1983), the 1983 reunion that created the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) resulted in three denominations.
The quest for doctrinal purity has long been a leading cause of schisms and continued separations. The problem with the quest for doctrinal purity has been that the human definitions of such purity have frequently been erroneous–depending chattel slavery, for example. Such misguided, false orthodoxy has often officially been part of a debate over Biblical authority, as in the cases of arguments over chattel slavery in U.S. denominations during the 1800s.
Not surprisingly, most denominational mergers have occurred to the left, just as the majority of schisms have occurred to the right.
Despite the scandal of denominational inertia, there remains a higher unity in God–in Christ, to be precise. There one can find the Christian center, with heresies located to the left and the right. A dose of theological humility is in order; each of us is wrong about certain theological matters, many of which are minor. There is, however, a core we must never violate. We must believe (in words and deeds) the existence of God, the Incarnation, the resurrection of Jesus, and the atonement, for example. If we do not do so, we are not Christians.
Generally, many denominations stand separated from each other because of minor differences while they the core of the Christian faith. In the core there is a path to a higher unity; we should follow it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 28, 2018 COMMON ERA
PROPER 25: THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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