I covered 150 psalms in 82 posts.

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXXVI

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Psalm 48

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Psalm 48 focuses on God, who protects Jerusalem.  The text refers also to international conflicts.

Psalm 48 was a text which pilgrims to Jerusalem recited in antiquity.

The historical problem is obvious:  Powers have destroyed Jerusalem more than once.  So, according to one interpretation, divine protection of the city has failed numerous times.

A deeper reading of the text reveals a different interpretation, though.  Psalm 48 uses metaphors effectively.  Jerusalem is not just Jerusalem; it represents the reign of God in all times and places.  Jerusalem symbolizes the sovereignty of God.  No human power can thwart divine sovereignty.  That is hopeful.

Those devout Jews who prayed Psalm 48 after the termination of the Babylonian Exile understood that Jerusalem was not indestructible.  So did those who prayed this text after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.  Neither was the psalmist naïve.

The psalmists knew…and we still know that we live in a time and space as part of a world that is fragile and troubled, terrified, and terrifying.  Yet, in the midst of it all, we join the psalmist in proclaiming a new reality:  God rules the world!  What’s more, we claim to live by that reality above all others.  For the psalmist, the vision of Jerusalem, the city of God, reshaped time and space….

–J. Clinton McCann, Jr., in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4 (1996), 874

Realized eschatology holds that the Kingdom of God does not come; it is.  We mere mortals live in linear time; God does not.  So, the reality of the Kingdom of God may seem to be partial or delayed, from a human perspective.  Certain events, in linear time, make the reality of the Kingdom of God more evident than it had seemed.

Realized eschatology may be sound theology, but it may also provide little comfort for people in war zones and other unpleasant circumstances.  I concede that point readily.  However, I return to the matter of hope, related to the sovereignty of God.  If we lack hope, we may be unable to move forward spiritually.  If we lack hope, we may be unable to continue living.  If we lack hope, we may have no standard by which to establish an ideal.  If we lack hope, we may surrender to the darkness.

May we, in God, maintain hope.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2023 COMMON ERA

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 LOUISE CECILIA FLEMING, AFRICAN-AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY AND PHYSICIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA DOLORES RODRIGUEZ SOPEÑA Y ORTEGA, FOUNDER OF THE CENTERS OF INSTRUCTION, THE ASSOCIATION OF THE SOLIDALITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY, THE LADIES OF THE CATECHETICAL INSTITUTE, THE ASSOCIATION OF THE APOSTOLIC LAYMEN/THE SOPEÑA LAY MOVEMENT, THE WORKS OF THE DOCTRINES/THE CENTER FOR THE WORKERS, AND THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL WORK SOPEÑA/THE SOPEÑA CATECHETICAL INSTITUTE 

THE FEAST OF W. SIBLEY TOWNER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

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

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READING LAMENTATIONS, PART V

Above:  Lamentations

Image in the Public Domain

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Lamentation 4:1-22

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The main bright ray of hope in the Book of Lamentations is in Chapter 3.  Theological whiplash continues as the readings revert to…lamentations.  Chapter 4 describes the siege of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E.. as well as the suffering and degradation of the city’s residents at the time.

Some points require explanation:

1. In verse 1, gems and gold represent people.  They are precious yet discarded.
2. Jackals (verse 3) had a reputation as despicable scavengers.
3. Ostriches (verse 3) were supposedly cruel and neglectful parents (Job 39:13-18).
4. Starving children were too weak to cry in verse 4.  (Ezekiel 3:16; Psalm 137:6; Job 29:10)
5. The inhabitants of Sodom died quickly (Genesis 19:24-25), but the inhabitants of Jerusalem suffered a long agony.
6. Coral and sapphire were colors associated with vigor in verses 7-8.  Those colors have disappeared.
7. Fire represented divine wrath (Lamentations 2:3 and 4:11; Deuteronomy 32:22; Isaiah 10:17; Jeremiah 17:27).  There was also the literal fire that destroyed Jerusalem, of course.
8. Contrary to popular belief (Psalms 46 and 48), Mount Zion was not inviolable.  The belief that God would not let Mount Zion fall came from foreigners (Lamentations 4:12).
9. Shedding blood (verses 13 and 14), in this case, referred to committing idolatry (Ezekiel 22:1-5; Psalm 106:37-40).  The people most closely associated with purity were the most impure.  Those once among the most respected in society had become as impure as lepers (verse 15).
10. The Poet spoke in verses 1-16 and 21-22.  The Community spoke in verses 17-20.
11. The tone in verse 21 is ironic.  Edom comes in for condemnation here and in Amos 1:11-12; Isaiah 21:11-12; Obadiah; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Ezekiel 25:12-14; and Ezekiel 35:1-15.
12. Verse 22 offers a glimmer of hope.  The Babylonian Exile will end, we read.  Justice will prevail because punishes sins, we read.

I ponder the idea of a world in which justice prevails because God punishes sins.  I think about the world as it is and perceive that it bears little resemblance to God’s ideal world.  The disparity between reality and the ideal is discouraging.  Were I more poetic, and if I had the desire to compose a set of lamentations for the world and United States of America in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, I would do so.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 19, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN DALBERG ACTON, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC HISTORIAN, PHILOSOPHER, AND SOCIAL CRITIC

THE FEAST OF ADELAIDE TEAGUE CASE, EPISCOPAL PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, AND ADVOCATE FOR PEACE

THE FEAST OF MICHEL-RICHARD DELALANDE, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF VERNARD ELLER, U.S. CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER

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Si vous m’aimez, gardez mes commandements.

Above:  Pentecost Dove

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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For the Day of Pentecost, Year 2

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

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

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O God, who didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people,

by sending to them the light of the Holy Spirit;

grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things,

and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;

through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with

thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 180

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Joel 2:28-32 (Protestant and Anglican)/Joel 3:1-5 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox)

Psalm 48

Ephesians 4:7-16

John 14:15-31

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The readings from the Old Testament speak of the Babylonian Exile, what followed it, and what people hoped would follow it.  The vision of Joel 2:28-32/3:1-5 (depending on versification) speaks of a new time, not yet fully realized.  The text speaks of a new beginning in God.  Linking Joel 2:28-32/3:1-5 to the Feast of Pentecost makes sense and asserts the importance of the events that Pentecost so long ago.

The readings from the New Testament fit the Feast of Pentecost well.  The references to the Paraclete in John 14:15-32 suit that passage for this occasion.  Both New Testament readings deal with how we–individually and collectively–think and behave.  (We are as we think, after all.)

–Jean 14:15, Louis Segond (1910)

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Si vous m’aimez, vous garderez mes commandements.

–Jean 14:15, Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée (1978)

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Si vous m’aimez, vous obéirez à mes commandements.

–Jean 14:15, La Bible en Français Courant (1996)

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Si vous m’aimez, vous suivrez mes commandements.

–Jean 14:15, La Bible du Semeur (2015)

“You” is plural in John 14:15.

Deeds reveal creeds.

God calls us–individually and collectively–to great missions.  God also equips us for them.  We are inadequate on our own power, but we do not need to rely on our own power.  We do need to reply in the affirmative and act accordingly when God calls.  If we do so, we will keep Christ’s commandments.

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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READING 1-2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS 1-21, 1 CHRONICLES, AND 2 CHRONICLES 1-33

Above:  David Dancing in the Presence of the Ark of the Covenant

Image in the Public Domain

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PART XXXIII

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2 Samuel 6:1-23

1 Chronicles 13:1-14

1 Chronicles 15:1-16:43

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Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised;

in the city of our God is his holy hill.

Beautiful and lofty, the joy of all the earth, is the hill of Zion,

the very center of the world and the city of the great King.

God is in her citadels;

he is known to be her sure refuge.

–Psalm 48:1-3, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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The versions from 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles are similar yet different.  The chronology differs; 1 Chronicles places the beginning of the moving of the Ark of the Covenant and the death of Uzzah (1 Chronicles 13 and 2 Samuel 6) prior to David’s defeat of the Philistines (1 Chronicles 14 and 2 Samuel 5).  The account from 1 Chronicles also omits the material from 2 Samuel 6:20-23.  The two versions also differ regarding the sacrifices in Jerusalem–an ox and a fatling (2 Samuel 6:13) or seven bulls and seven rams (1 Chronicles 15:26).  Furthermore, 1 Chronicles adds material, such as list of Levites and musicians, as well as a psalm of Thanksgiving.  Both versions have David dance in public while wearing only a small apron, as well as Michal seeing him and despising him.

At least seven points warrant consideration.

1. Uzzah meant well.  He was not responsible for the Ark of the Covenant being on an oxcart and for the oxen stumbling.  The proper way to carry the Ark was on poles, over human shoulders.  David was responsible for the manner of transportation of the Ark.
2. Lethal holiness struck again.  Getting too approximate to God was perilous.  This constituted a change from the presentation of God in the beginning of Genesis, when God walked in the Garden of Eden and took strolls with Abraham.
3. Michal loved David until she did not.  No Biblical text indicates, however. that David loved her.  David treated Michal badly.
4. David’s dance was lewd.
5. David’s psalm of thanksgiving includes a variety of universalism–God is the God of all the Earth, not a tribal or national deity.  The case of Obed-edom, a Gittite (2 Samuel 6:9-11; 1 Chronicles 13:13-14) fits neatly with this theme.
6. The removal of the Ark of the Covenant from Baalim/Baalam/Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem bolstered David’s royal authority.
7. The account in 1 Chronicles portrays David in a more flattering light than the version in 2 Samuel does.  1-2 Samuel offers more honesty about David’s flaws than 1 Chronicles does.

I arrive at a four-part summary.

1. I dislike David.
2. I sympathize with Michal.
3. I sympathize with Uzzah.
4. As much as I grasp reverence for God, I also affirm that the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth contradicts lethal holiness.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 30, 2020 COMMON ERA

PROPER 17:  THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT JEANNE JUGAN, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN LEARY, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR AND THE MARGINALIZED

THE FEAST OF KARL OTTO EBERHARDT, GERMAN MORAVIAN ORGANIST, MUSIC, EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER

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Above:  Christ and Nicodemus, by Fritz von Uhde

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Day of Pentecost, Year 1

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

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

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O God, who didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people,

by sending to them the light of the Holy Spirit;

grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things,

and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;

through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with

thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 180

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Joel 2:28-32

Psalm 48

Acts 2:1-13

John 3:16-21

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After writing lectionary-based devotions for years, I have come to dread drafting these posts for certain major feasts.  I have written the same posts, some with minor variations, several times.  Excuse me, therefore, O reader, for dwelling on John 3:16-21.

In the context of Pentecost, we may interpret the reference to light shining in the darkness as partially indicating the Holy Spirit.  In the context of today, we may expand the definition to include all who follow Jesus.  Each of us may be the only face of Christ some people will see.  If the Holy Spirit shines through us, we become faces of Christ.

The darkness of the world will be less dark if more of us shine more brightly with Christ, via the Holy Spirit.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 11, 2020 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY

THE FEAST OF HEINRICH THEOBALD SCHENCK, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHARLES STEDMAN NEWHALL, U.S. NATURALIST, HYMN WRITER, AND CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER

THE FEAST OF GEORGE AUGUSTUS SELWYN, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND, PRIMATE OF NEW ZEALAND, AND BISHOP OF LICHFIELD; MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF GEORGE ZABELKA, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MILITARY CHAPLAIN, AND ADVOCATE FOR CHRISTIAN NONVIOLENCE

THE FEAST OF HENRY HALLAM TWEEDY, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

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Above:  Landscape with the Parable of the Sower, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

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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Job 42:1-17 or Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Psalm 48

James 5:12-20

Mark 4:1-20

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At the end of the Season After the Epiphany or the beginning of the Season After Pentecost (depending on the year), we finish hopping and skipping through three books–Job, Deuteronomy, and James.  If we pay attention, we notice that Job granted his daughters the right to inherit from his estate–a revolutionary move at that time and place.

Overall, when we add Psalm 48 and Mark 4:1-20 to the mix, we detect a thread of the goodness of God present in all the readings.  Related to divine goodness is the mandate to respond positively to grace in various ways, as circumstances dictate.  The principle is universal, but the applications are circumstantial.

Consider, O reader the parable in our reading from Mark 4.  The customary name is the Parable of the Sower, but the Parable of the Four Soils is a better title.  The question is not about the effectiveness of the sower but about the four soils.  Are we distracted soil?  Are we soil that does not retain faith in the face of tribulation or persecution?  Are we soil into which no roots sink?  Or are we good soil?  Do we respond positively to grace, which is free yet not cheap, or do we not?

Job 42:11 tells that all Job’s “friends of former times” visited him and “showed him every sympathy.”  (Job is a literary character, of course, so I do not mistake him for a historical figure.)  I imagine Zophar, Bildad, Eliphaz, and even Elihu, who went away as quickly as he arrived, having realized their errors, dining with Job in shalom.  That is indeed a scene of grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 19, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES ARTHUR MACKINNON, CANADIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF CHARITIE LEES SMITH BANCROFT DE CHENEZ, HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/devotion-for-the-ninth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-b-humes/

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Above:  The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, by Gustave Dore

Image in the Public Domain

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FOR THE TENTH SUNDAY OF KINGDOMTIDE, ACCORDING TO A LECTIONARY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF WORSHIP FOR CHURCH AND HOME (1965)

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Almighty God, our heavenly Father:

Guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth,

and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness,

that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

–Modernized from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), pages 154 and 155

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Ezekiel 37:1-6, 11-14

Psalm 48

2 John 3-4, 6 and 3 John 1-11

John 8:1-11

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As we read in 2 John and 3 John, God commands us to love one another.  God loves us after all; we therefore have an order to love God fully and to love each other as we love ourselves.  The love of God surpasses human comprehension.  Via that love, we read in Ezekiel 37, a text assigned at Easter Vigils yet not really about the resurrection of the dead, exiles from Judah will return to their ancestral homeland one day.  (They did.)  The love of God is more powerful than any earthly empire.

John 7:53-8:11 is a pericope absent from the oldest extant copies of the Gospel of John.  The pericope is actually Lukan in style, and one can skip from John 7:52 to 8:12 without missing a beat.  Regardless of the literary context of the pericope its messages remain constant.  Certain opponents of Jesus violate to attempt to trap him with his words.  Then Jesus reverses the trap and ensnares them in their deeds.  Next Jesus forgives the woman–a pawn–caught in adultery with a man our Lord and Savior’s enemies never attempted to bring before him.  The woman literally has a new lease on life.  One might assume that she made the most of it and took Christ’s words to her to heart.

The love of God frees us to lead better lives in service to God–not as pawns or exiles, but as liberated human beings.  The love of God grants us yet another chance again and again.  May we make the most of them, for the glory of God and the benefit of our fellow human beings.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 11, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MARY SLESSOR, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY IN WEST AFRICA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE FOX, FOUNDER OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

THE FEAST OF MIEP GIES, RIGHTEOUS GENTILE

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF AQUILEIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH

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Book One: Psalms 1-41

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The psalter of the Septuagint contains 151 psalms.

I have written based on all of them, in numerical order.  I have retained the Hebrew numbering system, not that of the Septuagint.

Although I have no theological reticence to venture into textual territory that, according the United Methodism of my youth, is apocryphal, I do have limits.  They reside in the realm of Orthodoxy, with its range of scriptural canons.  Beyond that one finds the Pseudipigrapha.  Psalm 151 concludes the Book of Psalms in The Orthodox Study Bible (2008); so be it.

The Hebrew psalter concludes with Psalm 150.  In other psalters, however, the count is higher.  In certain editions of the Septuagint, for example, Psalm 151 is an appendix to the Book of Psalms.  In other editions of the Septuagint, however, Psalm 151 is an integrated part of the psalter.  There is also the matter of the Syraic psalter, which goes as high as Psalm 155.  I have no immediate plans to ponder Psalms 152-155, however.  Neither do I plan to read and write about Psalms 156-160 any time soon, if ever.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 23, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MARTIN DE PORRES AND JUAN MACIAS, HUMANITARIANS AND DOMINICAN LAY BROTHERS; SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, HUMANITARIAN AND DOMINICAN SISTER; AND SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN COPELAND, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

Book Two:  Psalms 42-72

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

Book Three:  Psalms 73-89

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

Book Four:  Psalms 90-106

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

Book Five:  Psalms 107-150

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119:1-32

119:33-72

119:73-104

119:105-144

119:145-176

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

Also in the Greek:  Psalm 151

151

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Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich,

Above:  Some of the Possessions of Charles Foster Kane after His Death, from Citizen Kane (1941)

A Screen Capture by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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POST XVIII OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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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 everlasting 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 226

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God is in control.  Do we affirm this?  We (collectively and individually) ought to trust in God.  Do we (collectively and individually) give more than lip service to this principle?  Related to these points is another one.  Since wealth and pleasure are temporary, we should not trust in them–make idols of them.  Is this not a counter-cultural message in many, if not most, societies?  Greed and hedonism are, after all, powerful temptations.

when his household goods increase;

for when he dies he can take none of it along;

his goods cannot follow him down.

–Psalm 49:17-18, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

That passage reminds me of another one:

Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal, but store up treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust will destroy, nor thieves break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

–Matthew 6:19-21, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Shall we be honest with and about ourselves?  Each of us clings to something that is temporary as if it were permanent.  It might be tangible or intangible, but it is transitory.  It is also an idol.  The treasures, even if only psychological in nature, we lay up in this life distract us from acknowledging our complete dependence on God, in whom scripture tells us we should trust.

May we, by grace, cease this idolatry.  There is nothing inherently wrong with wealth, which one can use for positive purposes.  The issues are how one relates to it and how one utilizes it.  Does one make an idol of it?  If so, one has a spiritual problem.  For many of us, though, the idolatrous attachments might be to family heirlooms or to other possessions of little value to anyone else.  Our stuff (for lack of a more accurate word) weighs us down and distracts us from focusing on where our attention should be.  May we, by grace, abandon this idolatry and place our sentimental stuff in proper perspective.

The History Channel series Life After People, although not religious and spiritual by design, is germane to this post.  The series imagines the fate of the physical remains of human civilizations after the disappearance of the human race from the planet.  Eventually, one learns, almost evidence of humans will cease to exist.  The Pyramids of Giza and our plastic refuse (especially that great mass of it in the oceans) will last the longest.  Most of that which we imagine to be permanent will return to nature, as it should.  We are, in the long term, insignificant.  While we are here, however, we can accomplish much good and glorify God.  May we strive to do so.  May we, by grace, succeed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 10, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WALSHAM HOW, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WAKEFIELD AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS SISTER, FRANCES JANE DOUGLAS(S), HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURENCE OF ROME, ROMAN CATHOLIC DEACON AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SHERMAN BOOTH, ABOLITIONIST

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