READING ECCLESIASTICUS/SIRACH

PART XV

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Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 20:1-22:26

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“Sin” is a word with more than one definition in the Bible.  In the Johannine school of the New Testament, to sin is not to follow Jesus.  According to the Johannine definition, sin is a theological failure, not a moral one.  Yet, in most of the Bible, sin is a moral failure; it is missing the mark.  This is the definition of sin in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach.

Sin–as a category–may seem abstract.  A sin is not abstract; one can ponder it in a tangible context.  Poetic, symbolic language provides images for sin, though.  In Genesis 4:7, YHWH addresses Cain, about to murder Abel.  YHWH asks Cain:

Why are you angry and downcast?  If you are well-disposed, ought you not to lift up your head?  But if you are ill-disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?”

—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

The poetic image of sin as a hungry, crouching beast waiting to ambush one fits with subsequent Eastern Orthodox theology of sin as an outside, invading force–what people do, not what they are.  Recall, O reader, that Original Sin and Total Depravity are doctrines alien to Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Sin is also a hostile, outside force which attacks, invades, and infiltrates in Romans 6 and 7.  (See Romans 7:17 in particular.)  Similar language for sin as an outside, hostile force exists in Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 21, also:

Have you sinned, my son?  Do so no more,

but pray about your former sins.

Flee from sin as from a snake;

for if you approach sin, it will bite you.

Its teeth are lion’s teeth,

and destroy the souls of men.

–21:1-2, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

1 Peter 5:8 likens Satan to a prowling, roaring lion in search of someone to devour.

Ecclesiaticus/Sirach understands sin to be lawlessness (21:3):

All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword;

there is no healing for its wound.

—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

This symbolic speech is reminiscent of Proverbs 5:4, which describes a loose woman as being as sharp as a two-edged sword.  And, of course, the word of God–that which God says–cuts like a two-edged sword in Hebrews 4:12.  The two-edged sword is a vivid metaphor.

When we sin against others, we may inflict lasting damage upon them.  The legacies of childhood bullies may persist well into adulthood, for example.  And one may learn from the examples of friends and relatives of murder victims and perceive partially how deep those emotional and spiritual wounds go.  So, I do not minimize the harm people can inflict upon each other.

I refuse to flee from the word “sin.”  I do seek, however, to apply it accurately.  I have a theory that sinning requires one to be in one’s right mind.  This is not a hypothetical scenario for me; I grieve my girlfriend,  who chose her time, place, and manner of death.  I grasp that mental illness clouded her mind at the time.  And I attest that the grief I carry for her feels like the wounds from a two-edged sword (not that anyone has stabbed me with a two-edged sword).  These wounds may never heal.

The way of sinners is smooth, we read in 21:10.  This may be a sly reference to Roman roads.  Or it may refer to a generic path–in this case, to an early death.  Recall, O reader, that Ben Sira did not believe in an afterlife.

The wise and the foolish belong to spiritual and moral categories.  The wise live in reverence of God and control their thoughts.  The keep the divine Law of Moses, according to Ben Sira.  They behave cautiously and respectfully.  And, although a wise man increases in knowledge like a flood, the mind of a fool is vacant, like an empty jar (21:14).  Furthermore, a wise man’s mouth is in his mind yet the the mind of a fool is in his mouth (21:26).

That last sentence has aged well, especially in the age of social media.

The Church has long called Sirach “Ecclesiasticus,” or “Church Book,” due to its value for moral instruction.  Most of the contents of the portion of the book for this post prove the wisdom of that point.

The language about an undisciplined son (22:3) balances the language regarding an imprudent daughter (22:5) and a shameful wife (22:4).  So, the misogyny factor is low in 22:3-5.

However, the meditation on the value of friendship is timeless.  And the condemnation of the indolent is vivid:

The indolent may be compared to a filthy stone,

and everyone hisses at his disgrace.

The indolent may be compared to the filth of dunghills;

anyone that picks it up will shake it off his hand.

–22:1-2, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

Ben Sira knew how to turn phrases effectively.  And he addressed the wealthy sons of the elites of Jerusalem, circa 175 B.C.E.  Some of them may have been lazy.  Complaints about the idle rich are as old as antiquity.

Also, context is crucial.  One could ignore the context and mistake 22:1-2 for a condemnation of the lazy poor.  (In fact, the poor have long been some of the hardest working people within economic systems rigged against them.)  But, when one considers whom Ben Sira addressed, 22:1-2 takes on its intended meaning.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 31, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICODEMUS, DISCIPLE OF JESUS

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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 Jeremiah

Image in the Public Domain

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Jeremiah 28:5-9

Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 (LBW) or Psalm 119:153-160 (LW)

Romans 6:1b-11

Matthew 10:34-42

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O God, you have prepared for those who love you

joys beyond understanding. 

Pour into our hearts such love for you that,

loving you above all things,

we may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25

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O God, because you have prepared for those who love you

such good things as surpass our understanding,

pour into our hearts such love towards you that we,

loving you above all things,

may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 67

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Jeremiah 28:1-17 is the story of Hananiah, a false prophet who offered false hope in the waning years of the Kingdom of Judah.  Hananiah had predicted that God would terminate the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian threat.  Jeremiah confronted him and accused him of encouraging disloyalty to God.

Psalms 89 and 119, like Jeremiah, extol and encourage loyalty to God in the midst of disloyalty to God.

St. Paul the Apostle encourages us down the corridors of time to be

dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.

–Romans 6:11b, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

When we return to Matthew 10:37-38, we read of the priority of loving Jesus most of all and of taking up one’s cross and following him.  Heeding this advice entails reordering one’s priorities if they are askew.

Those who are loyal to God will stand out compared to those who are disloyal to God.  Given the human tendency to promote conformity, some negative consequences will befall those who are loyal to God.  Those dispensing the negative consequences may include co-religionists.  That is especially unfortunate.

I offer one caution, O reader.  Do not mistake serial contrariness against “the world” for loyalty to God.  “The world” does not get everything wrong.  Instead, follow the coherent moral standards summarized in the Golden Rule.  How would a world in which the Golden Rule was the accepted standard function, in contrast to the one in which we live?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 5, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF CHARLES WILLIAM SCHAEFFER, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, HISTORIAN, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT CATERINA CITTADINI, FOUNDER OF THE URSULINE SISTERS OF SOMASCO

THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND IGNATIUS RICE, FOUNDER OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS OF IRELAND AND THE CONGREGATION OF PRESENTATION BROTHERS

THE FEAST OF FRIEDRICH VON HÜGEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC INDEPDENDENT SCHOLAR AND PHILOSOPHER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS HONORATUS OF ARLES AND HILARY OF ARLES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; AND SAINTS VENANTIUS OF MODON AND CAPRASIUS OF LERINS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

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Adapted from this post

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Above:  Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, Year 2

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

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

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Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things:

graft in our hearts the love of thy Name,

increase in us true religion;

nourish us with all goodness,

and of thy great mercy keep us in the same;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 194

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1 Samuel 24:1-20

Psalm 90

Romans 6:1-11

Matthew 19:16-26

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The rich man in Matthew 19:26 had an unhealthy attachment to his wealth.  Jesus, knowing this, counseled the man to remove the obstacle.  Had our Lord and Savior been speaking to a poor man, he would have advised that individual to give up whatever stood in the way–not wealth, obviously, in this hypothetical case.  

Fortunately for King Saul in 1 Samuel 24:1-20, David had no attachment to revenge on him.

Each one of us has at least one unhealthy attachment that functions as an idol.  The object of the attachment may otherwise be positive or morally neutral; the object need not be inherently negative for the attachment to it to be unhealthy.  What attachment(s) is/are God calling you, O reader to renounce?  Liberty in God to be your best self is a great blessing.  Claiming that blessing requires renouncing any unhealthy attachment.  What is holding you back?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 14, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MACRINA THE ELDER, HER FAMILY, AND SAINT GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS THE ELDER

THE FEAST OF SAINT CAESARIUS OF ARLES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT CAESARIA OF ARLES, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS

THE FEAST OF EIVIND JOSEF BERGGRAV, LUTHERAN BISHOP OF OSLO, TRANSLATOR, AND LEADER OF THE NORWEGIAN RESISTANCE DURING WORLD WAR II

THE FEAST OF KRISTEN KVAMME, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT SAVA I, FOUNDER OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND FIRST ARCHBISHOP OF THE SERBS

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Above:  Jeremiah

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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1 Samuel 2:18-26 or Jeremiah 17:5-10

Psalm 102:18-28

Romans 6:12-23

Luke 12:1-12

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In the context of the balance of divine judgment and mercy, an evergreen Biblical theme, we read another evergreen Biblical theme:  Be your best selves in God.  This applies both individually and collectively.  Be your best self in God.  Be the best family possible in God.  Be the best congregation possible in God.  Be the best ____ possible in God.

Fearlessness, grounded in faith and bound by mutual responsibility, is part of achieving human potential in God.  May we be fearless in loving our neighbors as we love ourselves in good times and during crises.  May we build up each other fearlessly.  May we speak and hear the truth in love, fearlessly. May we proclaim Christ in words and deeds, fearlessly.  May we eschew all bigotry, fearlessly.  May we hold irresponsible authority figures to account for the common good, fearlessly.  May we fearlessly cooperate with God in building societies that are more just, especially for the vulnerable and the impoverished.

May we remember and act fearlessly on the truth that we are precious to God and should, therefore, be precious to each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 21, 2020 COMMON ERA

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

THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

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

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

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

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/devotion-for-proper-17-year-c-humes/

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Above:  A Dining Room

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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1 Samuel 2:1-10 or Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 102:1-17

Romans 6:1-11

Luke 11:37-54

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These five assigned readings merge neatly into a unified message:  Turn to God.  Do not turn away from God.  Otherwise, suffer the consequences.

Jesus, speaking in Luke 11:37-54, establishes some standards, in a particular context.  The list is hardly comprehensive, but it does not prove useful.  Besides, if he were speaking to a different audience, he would offer a different list of sins.  The list from Luke 11:37-54 is:

1. Placing too much emphasis on the superficial and too little on the consequential,
2. Overlooking justice/righteousness and the love of God,
3. Feeding ego rather than glorifying God,
4. Imposing and maintaining unendurable burdens on people,
5. Being shameless hypocrites, and
6. Teaching the Torah badly, thereby misleading people.

Contrast Jesus’s hosts in Luke 11:37-54 with the notorious sinners with whom our Lord and Savior dined.  The latter groups were not respectable, but they did not understand themselves and acknowledge their need to repent.  They accepted the opportunity to learn from and to follow Jesus.

“Justice” and “righteousness” are the same word in the Bible.  Translators choose either “justice” or “righteousness” on a case-by-case basis.  Standards of justice/righteousness are somewhat relative; they depend on contexts.  How one lives the timeless principles properly depends on who, when, and where one is.  Reread the list from a previous paragraph, O reader.  Ponder the third sin:  feeding ego rather than glorifying God.  Two people may commit that sin yet do so differently.  Likewise, two people may glorify God rather than feed ego, and do so differently.

If Jesus were your dinner guest, O reader, what would he tell you?  And how would you react or respond to him?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND “PASTOR OF THE REFORMATION”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN X, KING OF DENMARK AND ICELAND; AND HIS BROTHER, HAAKON VII, KING OF NORWAY

THE FEAST OF MARION MACDONALD KELLARAN, EPISCOPAL SEMINARY PROFESSOR AND LAY LEADER

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/devotion-for-proper-16-year-c-humes/

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This is post #2200 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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Above:  Christ Walking on the Waters, by Julius Sergius von Klever

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, 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, whose never-failing Providence ordereth all things in heaven and earth;

we humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things,

and to give us those things which may be profitable for us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 196

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Jeremiah 31:23-25

Psalm 31:15-24

Romans 6:19-23

Mark 6:45-56

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Deliverance–both individual and collective–is a theme in the readings.  Deliverance may be from sins and their consequences.  It may be from illness or another form of distress.  Deliverance is of God in all cases.

The reading from Mark 6 contains echoes of the Hebrew Bible.  Jesus, walking on water, seems like YHWH, appearing on the waters (Job 9:8 and 38:16).  Jesus, meaning to pass by the  boat, seems like YHWH in Exodus 33:19, 22.  Our Lord and Savior’s self-identification echoes “I AM” (Exodus 3:13f).

Translations vary, of course, but the critique of the Apostles in the boat (6:52) in that they were hard-hearted or had closed minds.  This is the same critique Jesus had of the people who condemned him for healing on the Sabbath in Mark 6:3:5.

Mark 6:52

• “…but their hearts were hardened.” (New Revised Standard Version, 1989)
• “…their minds were still in the dark.” (J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, 1972)
• “…their minds were closed.”  (The New Jerusalem Bible, 1985; The Revised English Bible, 1989)
• …they were being obstinate.”  (Annotated Scholars Version, 1992)

Mark 3:5

• “…he was grieved at their hardness of heart…” (New Revised Standard Version, 1989)
• “…looking at them with anger and sorrow at their obstinate stupidity…” (The Revised English Bible, 1989)
• “Then he looked angrily around at them, grieved to find them so obstinate….” (The New Jerusalem Bible, 1985)
• “Then Jesus, deeply hurt as he sensed their inhumanity, looked around in anger…” (J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition, 1972)
• “…And looking right at them with anger, exasperated at their obstinacy…” (Annotated Scholars Version, 1992)

Simply, hard-heartedness = dark-mindedness = closed-mindedness = obstinacy = obstinate stupidity = inhumanity, in the original Greek texts.

The Apostles receive much negative press in the Gospel of Mark.  The application of that pattern for we readers is a caution:  we, who think we are insiders, may be outsiders, actually.  We may be terribly oblivious.  We, who should know better, do not, while alleged outsiders are more perceptive than we are.  We need for God to deliver us from our hardness of heart, one of our sins, and itself a gateway to other sins, from which we also need deliverance.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 18, 2020 COMMON ERA

SATURDAY IN EASTER WEEK

THE FEAST OF ROGER WILLIAMS, FOUNDER OF RHODE ISLAND; AND ANNE HUTCHINSON, REBELLIOUS PURITAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT CORNELIA CONNELLY, FOUNDRESS OF THE SOCIETY OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA ANNA BLONDIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT ANNE

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MURIN OF FAHAN, LASERIAN OF LEIGHLIN, GOBAN OF PICARDIE, FOILLAN OF FOSSES, AND ULTAN OF PERONNE, ABBOTS; AND SAINTS FURSEY OF PERONNE AND BLITHARIUS OF SEGANNE, MONKS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROMAN ARCHUTOWSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1943

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Above:  Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 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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Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things:

graft in our hearts the love of thy Name,

increase in us true religion;

nourish us with all goodness,

and of thy great mercy keep us in the same;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 194

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Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 28

Romans 6:3-11

Mark 6:31-44

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I detect a contrast between the scene in Exodus 20 and the scene in Mark 6:31-44.  The scene in Exodus 20, the giving of the Ten Commandments, was one in which the people at the base of the mountain had orders to keep their distance (19:21f).  The scene in Mark 6:31-44 (one of the four accounts of the Feeding of the 5000) is one in which Jesus was close to the people.  May we remember, O reader, that the same Jesus was the instrument of the Atonement, which St. Paul the Apostle mentioned in Romans 6:3-11.

God is our strong shield, Psalm 28 tells us.  We read in Mark 6:31-44, among other segments of the Gospels, that Jesus cared about both spiritual and physical needs.  Indeed, people must eat.

Physical and spiritual needs are related to each other.  We are physical beings, for we have bodies.  We are mainly spiritual, though.  We are spiritual beings having spiritual experiences, not physical beings having spiritual experiences.  The image of God in me recognizes the image of God in you, O reader.  And physical experiences often have spiritual components.

I have heard of Christian missionaries who have found that meeting physical needs has been necessary before they could preach effectively.  Medical supplies and equipment for drilling wells have paved the ways for the proclamation of the Gospel many times.  Why not?  Tending to physical needs, as able, is living according to the Golden Rule.

On other occasions, however, physical needs may seem to work against spiritual needs.  I write these words during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.  My bishop has acted responsibly; he has forbidden in-person services for a while.  I am one of the churchiest people around, so I miss attending services.  Furthermore, the Holy Eucharist is one of the pillars of my spiritual being.  My week does not go as well when I do not take communion.  Maintaining faith community can be difficult during a time of isolation.  My faith does not falter, for I do not imagine that a pandemic negates the existence and mercy of God.  I do become lonely and pine for the Holy Eucharist, though.

The physical and the spiritual overlap considerably.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2020 COMMON ERA

FRIDAY IN EASTER WEEK

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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Above:  The Miraculous Catch of 153 Fish

Image in the Public Domain

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For the First Sunday after Easter, 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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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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Job 19:25-27

Psalm 103

Romans 6:1-14

John 21:1-14

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For my analysis of Job 19:25-27, O reader, follow the “Job 19” tag.

Psalm 103 speaks of the balance of divine judgment and mercy.  God has realistic standards for us.  God knows that we are, proverbially, clay and dust, and that our days are, poetically, likes those of grass and flowers.  Moral perfectionism is an impossible and spiritually toxic standard, as well as a heresy.  We still need to be dead to sin, though, as we read in Romans 6.  We have access to divine grace, fortunately.

The main idea I gleaned from the New Testament readings is “no turning back.”  After Jesus, nothing is the same.  Even if we try to to, in the words of Tom Wolfe, “go home again,” we cannot.  If home still exists, it has changed since we left it.  There is no going back; we must go forward.

I cannot tell you, O reader, what going forward with Christ means, with regard to details, for you.  The principle is timeless, but circumstances are variable.  Regardless of the circumstances, may you go forward with Christ, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 5, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SUNDAY OF THE PASSION:  PALM SUNDAY, YEAR C

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

THE FEAST OF EMILY AYCKBOWM, FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE SISTERS OF THE CHURCH

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIANO DE LA MATA APARICIO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND EDUCATOR IN BRAZIL

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

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DERHAM, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCIENTIST

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Above:   Jesus Healing an Infirm Woman on the Sabbath, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970

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Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept thy Word.

Silence us in any voice but thine own, that hearing, we may also obey thy will;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 121

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Exodus 2:23-3:12

Romans 6:1-11

Luke 13:10-21

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Sometimes God works in ways that surprise and perhaps scandalize us.  Consider three examples, O reader.

God called Moses, a murderer and a fugitive prince with a speech impediment, to return to Egypt, confront the Pharaoh, and lead the Hebrews out of slavery.  (No pressure!)  God spoke through a burning bush–sort of a burning bush; it did not burn.

Jesus healed on the sabbath more than once.  Healing on the sabbath was allegedly inappropriate.  Keeping the sabbath was one of the marks of a faithful Jew and of covenant community.  Did Jesus transgress one of the defining marks of his people?

The crucifixion of Jesus, in grand and terrible Foucaultian style, was as far as the Roman executioners were concerned, a way of shaming and exterminating him in public.  God had other plans, as the resurrection indicated.  The crucifixion was a great scandal into the time of the early church.  The author of the Gospel of John went so far as to make the scandalous claim that the crucifixion of Christ was the glorification of Jesus.

Today the Biblical stories and teachings lead us, as if we pay attention, to behave scandalously–by showing compassion to members of certain politically controversial populations, for example.  Grace impels us to take up our crosses, follow Jesus, and love–all the way into scandal, even.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 23, 2019 COMMON ERA

PROPER 7:  THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF JOHN JOHNS, PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HEINRICH GOTTLOB GUTTER, GERMAN-AMERICAN INSTRUMENT MAKER, REPAIRMAN, AND MERCHANT

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICETAS OF REMESIANA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF WILHELM HEINRICH WAUER, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN

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The light of Christ,

Above:  Icon of the Resurrection

Image Scanned 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:

At least three of the following sets:

Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26

Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13 and Psalm 46

Genesis 22:1-18 and Psalm 16

Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 and Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18

Isaiah 55:1-11 and Isaiah 12:2-6

Ezekiel 20:1-24 and Psalm 19

Ezekiel 36:24-28 and Psalms 42 and 43

Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Psalm 143

Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Psalm 98

Then:

Romans 6:3-11

Psalm 114

Matthew 28:1-10

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The history of the Great Vigil of Easter is interesting.  We do not know when the service began, but we do know that it was already well-established in the second century C.E.  We also know that the Great Vigil was originally a preparation for baptism.  Reading the history of the Easter Vigil reveals the elaboration of the rite during ensuing centuries, to the point that it lasted all night and was the Easter liturgy by the fourth century.  One can also read of the separation of the Easter Vigil and the Easter Sunday service in the sixth century.  As one continues to read, one learns of the vigil becoming a minor afternoon ritual in the Roman missal of 1570.  Then one learns of the revival of the Easter Vigil in Holy Mother Church in the 1950s then, in North America, in The Episcopal Church and mainline Lutheranism during the liturgical renewal of the 1960s and 1970s.  Furthermore, if one consults the U.S. Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (1993) and The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992), on finds the ritual for the Great Vigil of Easter in those volumes.

The early readings for the Easter Vigil trace the history of God’s salvific work, from creation to the end of the Babylonian Exile.  The two great Hebrew Biblical themes of exile and exodus are prominent.  Then the literal darkness ends, the lights come up, and the priest announces the resurrection of Jesus.  The eucharistic service continues and, if there are any candidates for baptism, that sacrament occurs.

One of the chants for the Easter Vigil is

to which the congregation chants in response,

Thanks be to God.

St. Paul the Apostle, writing in Romans, reminds us down the corridors of time that the light of Christ ought to shine in our lives.  May that light shine brightly through us, by grace, that we may glorify God every day we are on this side of Heaven.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 29, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF PERCY DEARMER, ANGLICAN CANON AND TRANSLATOR AND AUTHOR OF HYMNS

THE FEAST OF SAINT BONA OF PISA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC AND PILGRIM

THE FEAST OF JIRI TRANOVSKY, LUTHER OF THE SLAVS AND FOUNDER OF SLOVAK HYMNODY

THE FEAST OF JOACHIM NEANDER, GERMAN REFORMED MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/devotion-for-the-great-vigil-of-easter-years-a-b-c-and-d-humes/

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