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:  Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 4:8-12

Psalm 139:1-11 (LBW) or Psalm 16 (LW)

1 John 1:1-2:2

Luke 24:36-49

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O God, by the humiliation of your Son you lifted up this fallen world,

rescuing us from the hopelessness of death. 

Grant your faithful people a share in the joys that are eternal;

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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O almighty and eternal God,

now that you have assured us of

the completion of our redemption

through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,

give us the will to show forth in our lives

what we profess with our lips;

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), 51

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Multiple contexts for correctly interpreting scripture exist.  These include history, science, culture, and other passages of scripture.  Given the range of time and of Biblical authors, some internal contradictions exist.  That is unavoidable.

In the case of our reading from the First Epistle of John, however, we find our context within the Johannine tradition and that document itself.  1 John 3:6 tells us:

Anyone who abides in Jesus does not sin; anyone who sins has not seen him, nor has he known him.

—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

Yet we read in 1 John 1:8 that those who claim to lack sin deceive themselves.  The truth–in Johannine terms, activated integrity–is not in them.  Recall, O reader, what I wrote in last Sunday’s devotion:  In the Gospel of John, sin is the failure to recognize the divine revelation of God in Jesus.  Elsewhere in the Bible–as in the Gospel of Matthew–sin is a moral failing.

While I am defining words, I add “righteousness” to the list.  Righteousness is right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation.

A complicating factor in First John is that the text mixes the two definitions of sin.  When we consider all the germane verses from the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John, we arrive at a synthesis:  We all have moral failings.  If we are penitent, God forgives us and restores us to right relationship with God, self, others, and all of creation.  Jesus eradicates the power of our moral failings over us, both collectively and individually.  And, given that the Johannine understanding of sin is failing to recognize the divine revelation in Christ (John 20:22-23), nobody who is in Christ sins, according to that definition of sin.  Such a person has no theological license to wallow in habitual moral failings, regardless of what certain members of the original audience of First John may have thought.

I hope that is a clear explanation.

A friend (now deceased) interceded for others by praying for “God’s best” for them.  Bill’s prayer has become my petition for others and myself.

God’s best precludes habitual moral failings.  God’s best entails breaking such habits, both collectively and individually.  We all have habitual moral failings, both collectively and individually.  And we are all subject to moral blind spots, both collectively and individually.  Furthermore, moral perfectionism is an impossible standard.  However, we–both collectively and individually–can improve, with divine assistance.  Despite the power of negative habits and habitual moral failings, we can admit that grace is not a license for them.

God is always with us; we are never on our own and alone.

I remember a story about a Nazi guard taunting a Jew in a concentration camp.

The guard had forced the Jew to clean the especially disgusting toilets.  That guard asked the Jew:

Where is your God now?

The Jew replied:

Beside me, in the muck.

God is beside us–collectively and individually–in the muck of the world and our lives.  Do we recognize God in our presence?  If so, how do we respond?

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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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 Ascension of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 1:1-11

Psalm 110

Ephesians 1:16-23

Luke 24:44-53

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Almighty God, your only Son was taken up into heaven

and in power intercedes for us. 

May we also come into your presence

and live forever in your glory;

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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Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that even as we believe your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

to have ascended into heaven,

so may also in heart and mind ascend and continually

dwell there with him;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 55-56

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Luke-Acts is a composite work.  Given this fact, the discrepancy in the timing of the Ascension confuses me.  Luke 24 places the Ascension on the same day as the Resurrection.  Yet Acts 1 times it forty days after the Resurrection and ten days before Pentecost.  O, well.

By the 300s, the Feast of the Ascension our Lord, set forty days after Easter Day, was commonplace.  St. Augustine of Hippo wrote that churches

all over the world

celebrated the feast.

I understand the Ascension as theological poetry, not theological prose, because of science.  I accept that, one day, Jesus was present with his Apostles until he left.  Given cultural and theological assumptions of the time, we have the metaphor of ascension.  May we–you, O reader, and I–not become lost in technical details.

The Feast of the Ascension is about enthronement–of Jesus, mainly.  It is about the enthronement of humanity itself.  To quote St. John Chrysostom:

Our very nature…is enthroned today high above all cherubim.

Happy Ascension Day!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 23, 2022 COMMON ERA

SATURDAY IN EASTER WEEK

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

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

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

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

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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:  Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 2:14a. 36-47

Psalm 16

1 Peter 1:17-21

Luke 24:13-35

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O God, by the humiliation of your Son you lifted up this fallen world,

rescuing us from the hopelessness of death. 

Grant your faithful people a share in the joys that are eternal;

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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O almighty and eternal God,

now that you have assured us of

the completion of our redemption

through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,

give us the will to show forth in our lives

what we profess with our lips;

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), 51

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The readings from the New Testament come from a time when the Church was young, small, and not influential.  This context frames Christian communalism in Acts 2.  Christian communalism remains a feasible option in many contemporary settings.

The global Western emphasis on individualism gives short shrift to the collective, mutual aspect of lived faith.  This is my most severe critique of my culture and its politics.  In Biblical terms, mutuality is a prominent theme.  People are responsible to and for each other.  This ethos exists in 1 Peter 1; “you” is plural.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 19, 2022 COMMON ERA

TUESDAY IN EASTER WEEK

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

THE FEAST OF SAINT EMMA OF LESUM, BENEFACTOR

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

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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: Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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Daniel 12:1c-3 or Jonah 2:2-9

Psalm 150 (LBW) or Psalm 146 (LW)

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Luke 24:13-49

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Almighty God, give us the joy of celebrating our Lord’s resurrection. 

Give us also the joys of life in your service,

and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal;

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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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 jo the day of the Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the depth 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), 49

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Major lectionaries for Sundays and other holy days usually provide readings without specifying a morning or an evening service.  Some exceptions exist.  There are, for example, the main and the evening for services for Easter Day, as well as the Easter Vigil.

The main purpose for the evening service on Easter Day is to tell the story in Luke 24:13-49–the road to Emmaus story.  One textual curiosity is the timing of the Ascension of Jesus–immediately after the events of Luke 24:13-49 or forty days later (Acts 1:6-12).  That the same author (St. Luke) wrote both accounts adds to the confusion.

Anyway, Luke 14:13-49 tells us that God prevented the disciples on the road to Emmaus from recognizing Jesus for a while.  That explanation seems unnecessary; one may surmise reasonably that those disciples did not expect to encounter Jesus.  Therefore, they did not recognize him.  Are you, O reader, likely to recognize someone walking around when you think that person is dead?  We humans tend not to see what we do not expect to see.  We look yet we do not see.

God acts.  The evidence surrounds us, and we miss much of it.  The proof is not wearing camouflage.  No, we are paying inadequate attention.  This statement applies daily.  In science, people speak of

life as we know it.

I suspect that the universe teems with life, most of it not life as we know it.  If we were to encounter it, we would probably not recognize it.   Blessings often assume forms we do not recognize.  We encounter a plethora of blessings daily and fail to recognize many of them.

How do you, O reader, and I need to expand our definitions and expectations so we can recognize more of what God has done and is doing?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2022 COMMON ERA

EASTER DAY

THE FEAST OF DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

THE FEAST OF EMILY COOPER, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS

THE FEAST OF LUCY LARCOM, U.S. ACADEMIC, JOURNALIST, POET, EDITOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MAX JOSEF METZGER, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1944

THE FEAST OF WILBUR KENNETH HOWARD, MODERATOR OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

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Adapted from this post

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LIII

Above:  Icon of the Ascension, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 24:50-53

Acts 1:1-11

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Given that I have written numerous blog posts about the Ascension, and given that they are available at this weblog, I do not seek to replicate them in this post.

As I continue through Luke-Acts, I notice a narrative contradiction.  Luke 24:50-53, read within the narrative context of chapter 24, dates the Ascension to Easter Day.  Yet Acts 1:3 dates the Ascension to forty days after Easter Day.  Interpretations of this discrepancy include:

1. “Forty days” is symbolic,
2. The forty days fill out the calendar, and
3. Acts 1:3 corrects Luke 24 after St. Luke the Evangelist uncovered more information than he had when he wrote the Gospel of Luke.

I am not a fundamentalist.  Biblical inerrancy and infallibility are utter nonsense.  If St. Luke changed his mind, so be it.  If “forty days” is symbolic, so be it.  I do not know which interpretation is corect.

Forty is frequently a symbolic number in the Bible.  One may recall that the reign of King David lasted for about forty years, that the Hebrews wandered in the desert for forty years, that Jesus spent forty days in the desert, and that the mythical Great Flood lasted for forty days and forty nights.  Forty is a sacred number in the Bible.  It, therefore, recurs in the Bible for many more examples than i have cited.  Forty, symbolically, is a round number that designates a fairly long time in terms of human existence or endurance.

So, even if the forty days (Acts 1:3) are symbolic, they still contradict Luke 24, with Jesus’s resurrection and the Ascension occurring on the same day.

Anyway, “ascension” may not be the most accurate word for Jesus’ departure.  “Assumption” may be better.  Christ’s departure resembles the assumptions of Elijah (2 Kings 2:9-11; Sirach 48:9) and Enoch (Genesis 5:23-24; Sirach 49:14b), with apocalyptic imagery added.

The priestly gestures and blessings of Jesus before his departure, followed by worship, close the Gospel of Luke fittingly.  Recall Luke 1:20-23, O reader:  the priest Zechariah could not pronounce a blessing.

The Lukan accounts of the Ascension of Jesus also draw from Sirach 50:1-21, about the high priest Simon II.  The account of Simon II depicts him as the culmination of Israel’s history, at the point of the composition of that book.  Luke-Acts, which postdates Sirach, depicts Jesus as the culmination of Israel’s history.

In Luke 24, the Ascension is the fitting end of the story of Jesus.  In Acts 1, however, the Ascension is the beginning of the story of the mission of the Church.  Placing the two Lukan interpretations side-by-side provides the full picture.

I also detect one of St. Luke’s organizing principles in Luke 24 and Acts 1.  Luke-Acts finishes focusing on one story before focusing on another one, although the stories may overlap.  Consider the focus on St. John the Baptist (Luke 3) before the focus on Jesus (Luke  4-24), O reader.  Then we come to a different focus, starting in Acts 1.

The story of the mission of the Church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, follows.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 2, 2022 COMMON ERA

ASH WEDNESDAY

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART LII

Above:  Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 24:1-49

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When I begin to read Luke 24, I recall the conclusion of chapter 23.  That ending includes:

All [Jesus’s] friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee and saw all this happen.

–Luke 23:49, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

We also read:

Meanwhile the women who had come from Gailee with Jesus were following behind.  They took note of the tomb and how the body had been laid.

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.  And on the Sabbath day they rested, as the Law required.

–Luke 23:55-56, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Immediately, at the beginning of chapter 24, we find these women at the tomb.

The Gospel of Luke depicts women as the first ones to understand salvific events.  Recall, O reader, Sts. Mary of Nazareth and Elizabeth in Luke 1.  We read in Luke 24 that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus.  We also read that women were the first evangelists after the resurrection.

The quest for certainty is idolatrous when faith is required.  I refer to circumstances in which evidence for or against a proposition does not exist.  When one has proof either way, one does not need faith.  The resurrection of Jesus falls into the article of faith.  No historical evidence can logically prove or disprove it.  One may rationally deem the resurrection of Jesus improbable.  If so, one must also admit that improbable events sometimes occur.  I affirm the resurrection of Jesus as I disregard all pious attempts to prove it, thereby trying to remove the necessity of faith regarding this matter.

Attempts to harmonize the post-resurrection stories in the canonical Gospels into a chronology have failed.  So be it.  The Gospels are not journalism.  No, they are good news, literally.

And women continue to proclaim this good news.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 1, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANNA OF OXENHALL AND HER FAITHFUL DESCENDANTS, SAINTS WENNA THE QUEEN, NON, SAMSON OF DOL, CYBI, AND DAVID OF WALES

THE FEAST OF EDWIN HODDER, ENGLISH BIOGRAPHER, DEVOTIONAL WRITER, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE WISHART, SCOTTISH CALVINIST REFORMER AND MARTYR, 1546; AND WALGER MILNE, SCOTTISH PROTESTANT MARTYR, 1558

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROGER LEFORT, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF BOURGES

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART VIII

Above:  Temptations of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 4:1-13

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The story of the tempting of Jesus in the desert is replete with meanings.  I cover some of them in this post.

The Lucan account begins with a reference to the Holy Spirit, a motif in Luke-Acts.

Forty is a symbolic number.  It is a round number that indicates a fairly long time in terms of human existence or endurance.  One may recall forty years–in the wilderness after the Exodus, the approximate length of King David’s reign, and the length of a generation.  One may also recall the forty days and forty nights of the mythical Great Flood, as well as the symbolic forty days between the resurrection and Ascension of Jesus in Acts 1.  (However, the resurrection and the Ascension occurred on the same day, according to Luke 24.)

Satan quoted scripture for his purposes.  Jesus quoted scripture in reply.

The Lucan treatment of this story fulfills four functions:

1. To clarify the nature of Jesus’s work as the Son of God,
2. To identify Jesus with the heritage of Israel (testing in the desert),
3. To mirror the conflict of God’s reign with Satan’s reign, and
4. To offer Christians a model for resisting temptation.

The temptation to turn a stone into bread has become the subject of competing interpretations:

1. To be relevant,
2. To exploit being the Son of God for his benefit,
3. To express independence from God, and
4. To perform a popular sign for the people.

This was a temptation with practical implications.  Jesus was hungry.  Also, bread was a precious commodity in a place where most land was not arable.  Turing stones into bread would have made Jesus popular, on the basis of what he could do for people.

In the first century C.E., Judaism affirmed that Satan was the power behind the great empires.  In that context, the temptation to gain worldly power by worshiping Satan fit, culturally.  This was the temptation to gain power by making improper compromises.  Yet Jesus affirmed God as the sole source of his identity.

The temptation to jump from the southwest corner of the Temple in Jerusalem was the temptation to be spectacular and to challenge God’s good faith.

I, as a historian, know better than to attempt to historicize the temptations of Jesus.  I do, however, apply them to myself and my society.  Little happens without compromises, so many compromises are necessary and proper.  Yet other compromises are wrong.  We need to be careful not to compromise ourselves, individually and collectively.  We also need to follow Jesus because of who he is and not because of what he can do for us.  And we should never challenge God’s good faith.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 25, 2021 COMMON ERA

CHRISTMAS DAY

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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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They worshipped him and they went back to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple praising God.

Above:  Icon of the Ascension, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Ascension, 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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Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe

thy only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to have ascended into the heavens;

so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell,

who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 175

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Daniel 7:9-14

Psalm 110

Hebrews 4:1-16

Luke 24:44-53

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My text is Luke 24:44-53.

The written Gospels are theological documents.  The organization of material is not accidental.

At the beginning of Luke, Zechariah the priest could not pronounce a blessing (1:22).  At the Ascension, Jesus, using priestly notions (see Leviticus 9:22 and Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 50:20-21), as well as words, provided a concluding blessing.  Thus ended the first volume of Luke-Acts.  The second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, carried the narrative forward.  People, empowered by God, carried on the Church’s work.  That work has never ended.

That work is community-based, not individual-based.  “Jesus-and-me” is a narcissistic style of religion and a heresy.  The individual aspect of religion belongs in the context of faith community, of “God and us”–in Christian terms, “Jesus and us.”

The Gospel of Luke opens and concludes in the Temple.

–Luke 24:52-53, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

What might Jesus do through churches–congregations and denominations–in these days if they were more receptive to the voice of God calling them?  Congregations and denominations are doing much already, fortunately.  But what else has God empowered them to do that they are not doing yet?

Why don’t we find out?

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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Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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For the First Sunday after Easter, Year 2

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

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

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Almighty God, who hast brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,

the glorious Prince of Salvation, with everlasting power over hell and the grave;

grant unto us power, we beseech thee, to rise with him to newness of life,

that we may overcome the world with the victory of faith,

and have part at last in the resurrection of the just;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 165-166

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Genesis 32:22-31

Psalm 145

1 John 5:4-12

Luke 24:36-49

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Encountering God in the flesh makes one a different person.  Genesis 32:22-31 contains a story of transformation from a cheat and a liar named Jacob into a new man named Israel who walks with a limp.  Luke 24:36-49 tells us of Jesus appearing to his Apostles after the Resurrection.  As we keep reading in Luke-Acts, we learn of the transformations certain Apostles and others experienced in their lives and wrought in the lives of others.

Indirectly, via the chain of transformations, we who breathe today can have faith in the living Christ.  That faith, in Johannine theology, is eternal life.  The God of David, the God of Jesus–is our stronghold, or can be, in this life and the next one.

Happy Easter, O reader!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2021 COMMON ERA

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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