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:  Parable of the Mustard Seed, by Jan Luyken

Image in the Public Domain

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Ezekiel 17:22-24

Psalm 92:1-5 (6-10), 11-14

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Mark 4:26-34

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God, our maker and redeemer,

you have made us a new company of priests

to bear witness to the Gospel. 

Enable us to be faithful to our calling

to make known your promises to all the world;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 24

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Almighty and everlasting God,

give us an increase of faith, hope, and love;

and that we may obtain what you have promised,

make us love what you have commanded;

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), 65

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The reading from Ezekiel concludes a chapter-long allegory of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah (reigned 597 B.C.E.); the installation, reign, and fall of King Zedekiah (reigned 597-586 B.C.E.); and the demise of the Kingdom of Judah.  Earthly kingdoms fall, but the Kingdom of God will never fall.  It is like a mighty cedar of Lebanon, with birds nesting in the branches.  This is the image one would have expected for the Kingdom of God in Mark 4:30-34.  Instead, the birds nest in a mustard plant–a giant weed.  The mustard plant takes root where it will–wanted or not.

The imagery of a cedar of Lebanon does occur in Psalm 92, in which a righteous man towers like such a tree.  In context, the focus is on the deep roots of the righteous, in contrast with the ephemeral wicked, who are like grass.  But the righteous remain and flourish.  Their well-being is in dependence upon God, which they acknowledge and accept.  So, by divine–if not always human–standards, the righteous flourish.  They always tap into the proverbial water of God and do not fall over easily.

The advice of St. Paul the Apostle to be delightful to God may be the main point of the lection from 2 Corinthians.  Responding faithfully to God delights God.  Righteousness–right relationship with God, self, others, and all creation–delights God.  Righteousness, which is interchangeable with justice, puts one at odds with many elements of the prevailing culture.  This statement is as accurate today as it was when the Beatitudes were new.  Righteousness reveals that the social order is upside down.  Therefore, righteousness threatens and confuses many people, so acclimated to the status quo that they perceive righteousness as turning the world upside down.

I have been writing scripture-based and lectionary-based lectionary posts consistently for more than a decade.  During those years, I made many points, changed my mind occasionally, and been consistent more often than not.  I have also repeated myself many more times than I have repeated.  Relatively seldom have I felt the desire to repeat myself on every key point, the omission of which may raise a question in someone’s mind.  I have not wanted to include a list of standard disclaimers in each post, for to do so would be ridiculous.  I have concluded that, if I were to go about anticipating and refuting every possible misunderstanding of what I have written, I waste my time and miss some possible misunderstandings, too.

Nevertheless, I perceive the need to repeat myself for the umpteenth time regarding a major point.

Serial contrariness in the name of God does not constitute fidelity to God.  The social order gets some matters correct.  The world–kosmos, in Greek–is also our neighborhood, not the enemy camp.  The late Reverend Ernest J. Stoffel, writing about the Revelation of John, frequently used the term

the triumph of suffering love.

That term applies in this context, also.  The triumph of suffering love–of Jesus and all faithful followers of God–can transform the world and make it a better, more caring and compassionate place.  The Kingdom of God is a weed in the perspective of many people.  But it is a glorious weed.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 4, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT

TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

THE FEAST OF SAINT BENEDICT THE AFRICAN, FRANCISCAN FRIAR AND HERMIT

THE FEAST OF ALFRED C. MARBLE, JR., EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MISSISSIPPI THEN ASSISTING BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA

THE FEAST OF ERNEST W. SHURTLEFF, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GAETANO CATANOSO, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHGTERS OF SAINT VERONICA (MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY FACE)

THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, AND MARTYR, 1968 (ALSO JANUARY 15)

THE FEAST OF SAINT NDUE SERREQI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1954

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Adapted from this post

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Advertisement

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:  A Vineyard

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 8:26-40

Psalm 22:24-30 (LBW) or Psalm 22:25-31 (LW)

1 John 3:18-24

John 15:1-8

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O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will. 

Make us love what you command and desire what you promise,

that, amid, all the changes of this world,

our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 22

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O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will;

therefore grant to your people that they may love what you command

and desire what you promise,

that among the manifold changes of this age our hearts

may ever be fixed where true joys are to be found;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 53

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A common thread running through the readings for this Sunday is asking and receiving.  For example:

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.  And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

–1 John 3:21-23, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

In other words, if we want what God desires, and if we pray for that, we will receive it.  That makes sense.  This message contradicts Prosperity Theology, an old heresy popular in certain quarters these days.  If I, for example, need reliable transportation, praying for that is morally and spiritually acceptable.  And I may receive a Chevrolet, not a Cadillac.  I will, however, get from Point A to Point B safely and reliably.  On a related note, the good life, in terms of the Book of Psalms, includes having enough for each day, not necessarily being wealthy.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, one can read about having the mind of Christ.  That concept applies to the material for today.  We have Jesus as, among other things, our role model.  We, as Christians, must follow his example.  We must love as he loved.  When we consider that Christ’s love led to his execution, we realize that this mandate is serious business, not a mere slogan.  The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, the Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, says to

love like Jesus.

Bishop Wright understands that this is serious business, not a mere slogan.

Think, O reader, what may happen to you if you were to love like Jesus in your context and to pray for causes consistent with the will of God?  How would that change you?  How would it change your community, your nation-state, and the world?  What repercussions might you face for loving like Jesus?  How many professing Christians would oppose you?

During my research for my M.A. thesis, I found a case in point.  J. Robert Harris was the pastor of the Fort Gaines Baptist Church, Fort Gaines, Georgia, in the early and middle 1950s.  He left that position under a cloud between August and November 1955.  The chatty local newspaper never mentioned his departure, which followed either his firing or his forced resignation.  (I read two versions of the story.)  Harris had publicly supported the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and involved an African-American youth in his church’s vacation Bible school.  Harris became the pastor of the Plains Baptist Church, Plains, Georgia, which he served until his resignation in the late 1960s.  Failing health was the official cause of the resignation.  However, the pastor’s recent sermon in favor of civil rights had been unpopular with his congregation.  Harris had once preached a sermon in which he had asked his flock, in so many words:

If being Christian were a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

In the case of J. Robert Harris, the answer was affirmative.  He loved like Jesus and ran afoul of other professing Christians entrenched in racist social norms.

Loving like Jesus makes one a radical in a world with upside-down standards.  Loving like Jesus entails living the Golden Rule.  Loving like Jesus entails living both versions of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5 and Luke 6).  Loving like Jesus entails bearing much fruit (John 15:8).

Psalm 22 speaks of God acting.  In Hebrew thought, the actions of God reveal the divine character.  Likewise, my actions reveal my character.  And your actions, O reader, reveal your character.  Is it a godly character?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 22, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT DEOGRATIAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CARTHAGE

THE FEAST OF EMMANUEL MOURNIER, FRENCH PERSONALIST PHILOSOPHER

THE FEAST OF JAMES DE KOVEN, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF THOMAS HUGHES, BRITISH SOCIAL REFORMER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM EDWARD HICKSON, ENGLISH MUSIC EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL REFORMER

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Adapted from this post

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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:  Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 4:23-33

Psalm 23

1 John 3:1-2

John 10:11-18

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God of all power,

you called from death our Lord Jesus Christ,

the great shepherd of the sheep. 

Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost,

to heal the injured,

and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

OR

Almighty God,

you show the light of your truth to those in darkness,

to lead them into the way of righteousness. 

Give strength to all who are joined in the family of the Church,

so that they will resolutely reject what erodes their faith

and firmly follow what faith requires;

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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Almighty God, merciful Father,

since you have wakened from death the Shepherd of your sheep,

grant us your Holy Spirit that we may know the voice of our Shepherd

and follow him that sin and death may never pluck us out of your hand;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 52

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The Fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday on more than one lectionary.

• YHWH is the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23.  In that text, only divine goodness and steadfast love either pursue or accompany the psalmist.  The enemies, not invited to the divine banquet, do not harm the psalmist.
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd in John 10.   He knows his sheep, who, in turn, recognize him.  And the Good Shepherd sacrifices himself for his sheep.
• Yet many in the “the world”–kosmos, in Greek–fail to recognize God and Jesus.  These spiritually blind people live according to the values which the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) and the Beatitudes and Woes (Luke 6) contradict.  Many of these spiritually blind people are conventionally religious, by the standards of their cultures or subcultures.

“Sacred violence” is a value of the kosmos, the morally disordered world.  Notice the absence of “sacred violence” in Psalm 23 and John 10, O reader.  God does not smite the psalmist’s foes.  God does, however, force them to watch a grand banquet to which God did not invite them.  And the perpetrators of the violence in John 10 are not acting out of divine love.  These two readings contradict some disturbing stories of violence committed in the name of God and allegedly in obedience to divine commands.  Elijah’s massacre of the prophets of Baal Peor (1 Kings 18:40-41) comes to my mind immediately.

I, having read the full canon of the Bible–all 73 books–reject the stereotype of God changing character between Testaments.  Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance in both the Old and the New Testaments.  Beautiful passages about divine mercy exist in both Testaments.  Likewise, so do harrowing passages about divine judgment.

I am a Christian.  Therefore, my concept of God hinges on Jesus of Nazareth.  I read stories about Jesus dying violently, not having people killed.  I read about Jesus expressing righteous anger, something everyone should do.  Yet I read no stories about Jesus ordering hatred or violence.  So, God, as I understand God, does not order hatred and violence either.  No, God is love.  God triumphs over hatred and violence with love.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 21, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIA OF VERONA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC TERTIARY AND MARTYR, 1574

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK GJANI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS

THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXVIII

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Psalm 37

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Many wicked people flourish, and a host of righteous people do not prosper.  Psalm 37 acknowledges this reality.  Divine justice will play out, the text tells us.  Our schedule is not God’s schedule, we read.

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) and the Beatitudes and Woes (Luke 6:20-26) contain echoes of Psalm 37.  Pay close attention to the references to “the land” or “the earth” (depending on translation) in Psalm 37, O reader.  Those are germane to Matthew 5, also.  The meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:6).  Another link to Psalm 37 comes in Luke 6:24, in which we read:

But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

—Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)

The context of Luke 6:24 was a society in which a relative few people were wealthy, and the vast majority of the population was impoverished.  The rich maintained their wealth and status via exploitation.

Walter Brueggemann provides the key to this post.  Human beings are stewards of God’s creation.  In the Bible, we read examples of the link between land possession and the governance and purpose of God.  Psalm 37 affirms the imperative of living

in responsible awareness of the Creator and his intention.

—The Message of the Psalms:  A Theological Commentary (1984), 44

To live to the contrary is to yield the land.  Yet,

The just will inherit the earth

and abide forever upon it.

–Psalm 37:29, Robert Alter

In the meantime, though, the opening injunction not to permit evildoers to vex or incense (depending on translation) remains difficult.  The promise that soon they will “wither like grass” provides little or no comfort.  We human beings exist within linear time; God does not.  And how soon is “soon”?

So, we become vexed, incensed, and impatient.  Of course, we do!  Even the most devout of us need reminders to trust in God and to act justly.  Notice the link between trust in God and positive actions, O reader.  Affirming the efficacy of prayer does not improve a situation.  In other words, the stereotypical offering of “thoughts and prayers” can be a copout and a poor excuse for doing nothing when one can do something.  To quote the title of an editorial I read in a Roman Catholic magazine in the 1990s,

Get Off Your Values and Get to Work.

So, O reader, we have work to do.  May we trust God to empower us to perform it capably.  May our work bring the world closer to the ideal of Psalm 37.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GASPAR DEL BUFALO, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD

THE FEAST OF JOHANN KONRAD WILHELM LOEHE, BAVARIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, AND COORDINATOR OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS NARCISSUS OF TOMI, ARGEUS OF TOMI, AND MARCELLINUS OF TOMI, ROMAN MARTYRS, 320

THE FEAST OF SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SABINE BARING-GOULD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART XXIV

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Psalm 31

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People steeped in scripture speak and, if they are literate, write in scriptural terms.  I know this from experience.  Perhaps you, O reader, do, too.  And, not surprisingly, the Bible contains texts from people steeped in scripture.  Therefore, some parts of the Bible echo other portions of the Bible.  Psalm 31 is a fine text for a study of this pattern.  Psalm 31 quotes the prophet Jeremiah, alludes to Jonah, and echoes other psalms.

The psalmist had been seriously ill for a long time.  He, feeling abandoned by friends and besieged by enemies, turned to God.  The psalmist also acknowledged his sinfulness and confessed his sins.  He was also honest about his anger:

Let the wicked be humiliated, 

hurled into Sheol!

–Verse 18b, Mitchell J. Dahood

I understand that resentment-fueled anger.  I recall easily praying along similar lines, minus Sheol.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from you no secrets are hid:  Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Chrit our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), 355

God knows us better than we know ourselves.  So, misguided piety which tells us not to tell God x, y, and z does not conceal x, y, and z from God.  May we be honest with God and ourselves.  If that honesty leads to seemingly impious prayers, so be it.  We can take everything to God, who already knows everything about us.  Those parts of our spiritual lives that are not all sunshine and kittens can transform, by grace.  But we need to be honest.  We cannot move forward in the right direction until we (a) admit where we are, and(b) trust God and lead us along the proper path forever.

The paths of God may not be identical for any two people.  The paths will vary according to circumstances.  Yet the paths of God terminate at the same destination and have the same moral-spiritual definition.  They are paths of love for God, other people, ourselves, and all of creation.  They are paths of mutuality and the Golden Rule.  They are paths of honesty with God and ourselves.  Many of these paths intersect, and overlap, so some of us may walk together for a while.  May we support each other as we do so.

One of the most difficult conditions about which to be honest is brokenness.  Admitting that one is spiritually and/or emotionally broken may violate a cultural norm or a social more.  Doing so may also threaten one’s ego.  Admitting one’s brokenness to God leads to accepting one’s complete dependence upon God.  So much for rugged individualism!

I admit frankly and readily that I am not spiritually and emotionally whole.  I carry a heavy load of grief from which, I expect, I will never recover fully.  Trauma persists.  I tell you nothing that I have not admitted to God.  I know that spiritual self-sufficiency is a delusion.

“How happy those who know their need for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!  

“How happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort.”

–Matthew 5:3-4, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English–Revised Edition (1972)

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 29, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF ANTONIO CALDARA, ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF JOHN BURNETT MORRIS, SR., EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF PHILIPP HEINRICH MOLTHER, GERMAN MORAVIAN MINISTER, BISHOP, COMPOSER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS BECKET, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND MARTYR, 1170

THE FEAST OF THOMAS COTTERILL, ENGLISH PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND LITURGIST

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART I

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Psalm 1

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I have studied the Book of Psalms for decades.  I started by keeping notebooks nobody else saw.  I have been blogging through lectionaries since 2010.  I have also taught some iteration of a class on the Revised Common Lectionary since August 2015.

“Reading the Book of Psalms” is a companion project to the Septuagint Psalter Project (2017), all posts of which exist here at BLOGA THEOLOGICA.  The main organizing principle at the Septuagint Psalter Project is the pattern for reading through the Book of Psalms in thirty-one days (morning and evening) in The Book of Common Prayer (1979).  The plan for this new project follows a combination of factors, though.  Two texts may have originally been one text, may have a similar theme, may be nearly identical, et cetera.  A spreadsheet I have created guides this project.

I invite you, O reader, to join me on this guided tour of the Book of Psalms.

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The placement of the text labeled Psalm 1 is logical and intentional.  Psalm 1 is the summary of the Book of Psalms.

The first verse opens with a beatitude.  The man who studies the torah and keeps its ethical obligations is, depending on the translation, blessed, happy, or fortunate.  He is a man in the narrow definition of “man,” in the original context.  Psalm 1 comes from a time before women studied the torah.  The blessed man is stable while the wicked are unstable and in motion.  When they do find a stable posture and a place to dwell, they are in the wrong place.

The definition of torah matters.  Narrowly, it refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.  But, in the Book of Psalms, the definition is broad.  The definition of torah is divine instruction, with law built in.  So, to return to content from the previous paragraph, the blessed man stands in contrast to the wicked, who pursue dubious moral choices in life.  Their dubious moral choices exist outside divine instruction.

One may do well to ponder the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes and Woes in Luke 6.  Those beatitudes (and woes) are countercultural.  They are not upside-down.  No, they reveal that the world’s conventional wisdom is upside-down.  Likewise, the beatitude in Psalm 1:1 performs the same function.  The pious may not seem to be blessed, but they are blessed.  And the wicked may appear to be fortunate or happy, but they are, in words of Luke 6, receiving their consolation.

Psalm 1 also likens the blessed man to a tree planted by streams of water in a desert.  Water is precious.  It is especially precious in a desert.  In that setting, a tree planted by streams of water has the source of sustenance it needs to thrive.

For the sake of context, I tell you, O reader, that I have just completed a study of the Book of Job.  So, that work of wisdom literature is fresh in my mind.  The wind bags who posed as friend of Job sound like many verses in Psalms and Proverbs.  All four of them sound like Psalm 1, with its message that the righteous flourish and the wicked perish.

Given that scripture is one context in which to interpret scripture, how ought we to interpret Psalm 1, then?  I propose that we start with the particulars of Biblical blessedness.  Such blessedness has outward manifestations.  Such blessedness does not preclude unjust suffering, as many psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Tobit, the example of Jesus, the example of St. Paul the Apostle, the examples of a great cloud of martyrs, and the examples of other witnesses attest.  The water of divine instruction enables the blessed man, woman, or child to bear much spiritual fruit.  The prosperity in Psalm 1 is not evidence of selfish ambition.  No, this prosperity affirms that the righteous and the blessed have tapped into God, on whom they rely.  Their life is in God.  That is their prosperity.

“Righteousness” is another word that requires definition.  Biblically, a righteous person has right relationships with God, others, and self.  Righteousness is synonymous with justice.  Righteousness is tangible.  To return to my immediately prior Bible study project, the four pneumatic pains in every part of the human anatomy are not righteous.  They lack right relationship with God and Job, at least.

Psalm 1 is theocentric; God is the core.  God is the source of a blessed person’s identity and strength.  The blessed man, woman, or child is like a flourishing, well-watered tree in a desert.  God does not promise an easy life and material riches.  Yet God does promise never to abandon anyone.  Whether one wants to heed God is an individual matter.  Nevertheless, even those who reject God are not outside the scope of divine love.  Yet, as Psalm 1 attests, the wicked–those who go their own way–choose their path.  To cite a cliché, they lie down in the bed they have made.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 6, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE TENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF MYRA, BISHOP OF MYRA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM OF KRATIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP OF KRATIA, AND HERMIT

THE FEAST OF ALICE FREEMAN PALMER, U.S. EDUCATOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ANNE ROSS COUSIN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HENRY USTICK ONDERDONK, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW YORK, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF PHILIP BERRIGAN AND HIS BROTHER, DANIEL BERRIGAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS

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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 Ministry of the Apostles

Image in the Public Domain

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Acts 17:1-15

Psalm 33:1-11 (LBW) or Psalm 146 (LW)

1 Peter 2:4-10

John 14:1-12

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O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will. 

Make us love what you command and desire what you promise,

that, amid, all the changes of this world,

our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 22

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O God, you make the minds of your faithful to be of one will;

therefore grant to your people that they may love what you command

and desire what you promise,

that among the manifold changes of this age our hearts

may ever be fixed where true joys are to be found;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 53

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…the people who have been turning the whole world upside down have come here now….

–Acts 17:6b, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (2019)

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One need not be evil to favor maintaining the status quo, even when it is exploitative and for overturning.  Good, morally defensible change can cause disorientation and discomfort, even among conventionally pious people.  The terms “revolutionary,” “liberal,” “conservative,” and “reactionary” are inherently relative to the center, the definition of which varies according to time and place.  These four labels are, in the abstract, morally neutral.  In circumstances, however, they are not.  Being conservative, for example, may be right or wrong, depending on what one hopes to conserve.  And, if one is not a revolutionary in certain circumstances, one is morally defective.

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., called for a

moral revolution of values

on April 4, 1967, when he finally unambiguously and unapologetically opposed the Vietnam War.  That address, which he delivered at the Riverside Church, Manhattan, proved to be extremely controversial, mainly because of King’s position on the Vietnam War.  That controversy obscured much of the rest of the contents of the speech.  (King was correct to oppose the Vietnam War, by the way.)  The other content of that speech remains prophetic and germane.  The call for a society that values people more than property, for example, has not come to fruition, sadly.

Sometimes “turning the world upside down” is really turning it right side up, as in Psalm 146 and the Beatitudes.  Giving justice to the oppressed, feeding the hungry, caring for the strangers, sustaining the orphan and the widow, and frustrating the way of the wicked are examples of turning the world right side up, not upside down.  You, O reader, and I live in an upside-down world.

This is theologically orthodox.  False theological orthodoxy mistakes social justice for heresy and bolsters social injustice.  However, the Law of Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth are consistent in holding that social injustice is a divine mandate.

So be it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 21, 2022 COMMON ERA

THURSDAY IN EASTER WEEK

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

THE FEAST OF SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

THE FEAST OF DAVID BRAINERD, AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY AND MINISTER

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 SIMON BARSABAE, BISHOP; AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 341

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Adapted from this post

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART XLV

Above:  Avenge Me of Mine Adversary

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 18:1-14

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Luke 18 is a well-composed and arranged study in contrasts.  The first contrasts play out in the two parables that open the chapter.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Corrupt/Unjust Judge (vs. 1-8) exists within a cultural context in which widows were vulnerable.  The widow in the parable has to defend her own rights because nobody else will.  She threatens the judge with a black eye, thereby convincing him to grant her justice.  God is the opposite of that judge.  God readily secures the rights of who petition for them.  Therefore, pray persistently and faithfully.

Certain scholars of the New Testament debate whether some texts refer to tax collectors or to toll collectors.  For my purposes in this post, that is a distinction without a difference, though.  So, as I turn to Luke 17:9-14, the collector of taxes or tolls (It matters not which one.) is a social pariah because of his collection duties.

Let us be honest–brutally so, if necessary.  Spiritual pride may be a sin with which you, O reader, are familiar, even if only by knowing someone who has it.  Clarence Jordan, in his Cotton Patch Version of the Gospel of Luke (Jesus’ Doings), changes the Pharisee to a church member and the tax/toll collector to an unsaved man.  That updating of the parable hits home, does it not?  Those who know their need for God are open to God.

Recall Luke 17:7-10, O reader; humility before God is the proper attitude.  One may also remember Matthew 5:3:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

“Poor in spirit” is a translation that may be so familiar as to seem trite.  Other options exist, however.

Clarence Jordan has “spiritually humble.”

David Bentley Hart translates this Beatitude as:

How blissful the destitute, abject in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of the heavens….

A note in Hart’s The New Testament:  A Translation (2017) indicates that the connotation is that of a cowering or cringing poor man or beggar.

La Bible en Français Courant (1997) reads:

Heureux ceux qui se savent pauvres en eux-mêmes, ….

In English, it reads:

Blessed are those who know they are poor in themselves….

That is a fine translation, too.

Perhaps the best rendering in English comes from J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English–Revised Edition (1972):

How happy are they who know their need for God….

We are all poor in ourselves.  We all need God.  How many of us know it, though?

May we humbly and persistently walk before God and with God, trusting in God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 27, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JEROME, PAULA OF ROME, EUSTOCHIUM, BLAESILLA, MARCELLA, AND LEA OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANGELA MERICI, FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY OF SAINT URSULA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CAROLINA SANTOCANALE, FOUNDER OF THE CAPUCHIN SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE OF LOURDES

THE FEAST OF CASPAR NEUMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF MARY EVELYN “MEV” PULEO, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PHOTOJOURNALIST AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF PIERRE BATIFFOL, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, HISTORIAN, AND THEOLOGIAN

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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 Beatitudes

Image in the Public Domain

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Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Matthew 5:1-12

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O God, you know that we cannot withstand

the dangers which surround us. 

Strengthen us in body and spirit so that, with your help,

we may be able to overcome the weakness

that our sin has brought upon us;

through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 16

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Almighty God,

you know that we are set among so many and great dangers

that by reason of the weakness of our fallen nature

we cannot always stand upright;

grant us your strength and protection to support us in all dangers

and carry us through all temptations;

through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 25

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Sacred ritual is part of the Law of Moses.  So are moral mandates regarding how people ought to treat each other.  A sacred ritual is not a talisman.  To treat it as such is to make a mockery of it.

“The man” of Psalm 1:1 is a student of the Torah.  He, in the original cultural setting and in the Hebrew text, is a man.  In my cultural setting, that role is no longer gender-specific, for the better.  Certain details change, according to physical and temporal setting.  Others remain constant, though, for better or worse.  For example, “the man” of Psalm 1:1 is stable.  The language of positions in Psalm 1:1 is interesting.  “The man” contrasts with the impious, who are in motion–walking, following, and standing–before finally sitting down in the seat of scoffers.  True stability exists in God alone.

The readings from the New Testament tell us that divine values differ from dominant human values.  Conventional wisdom may get some details right.  After all, a broken clock is right twice a day.  Yet conventional wisdom tends to be foolishness.  The ethics of the Beatitudes, for example, look like folly to “the world.”

Micah 6 contrasts with what God has done with what people have done, collectively.  The Bible frequently concerns itself with collective actions and inactions.  My Western culture, with its individualistic emphasis, does not know how to comprehend collective guilt, sin, and repentance.  Yet the Bible does.  Mutuality, not individualism, is a Biblical virtue.  Remember, O reader, that in three of the four readings for this Sunday, the emphasis is on “we,” not “me.”  Furthermore, “we” and “me” coexist in Psalm 1.

The emphasis on “we” terrifies me.  I may try to follow God daily, to practice the Golden Rule, et cetera.  Yet I also belong to a community, a culture, a society, a nation-state, and a species.  The sins of others may cause me to suffer because of my group memberships–community, culture, society, nation-state, and species.  Recall, O reader, that the population in Micah 6 addressed included pious people.  Remember, O reader, that not all Christians in Corinth were querulous jerks.

Ponder, O reader, how we–the “we” of wherever you live–can improve relative to Micah 6:8.  How can “we” do justice, love goodness, and walk modestly with God?

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MIROCLES OF MILAN AND EPIPHANIUS OF PAVIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ALBAN ROE AND THOMAS REYNOLDS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1642

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN YI YON-ON, ROMAN CATHOLIC CATECHIST AND MARTYR IN KOREA, 1867

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Adapted from this post

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READING LUKE-ACTS, PART XVI

Above:  The Sermon of the Beatitudes, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

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Luke 6:20-49

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If the FOX News Channel had existed in the time of Jesus, its “talent” would have lambasted Jesus.  The Woes (6:24-26) would have been examples of class warfare.  Jesus would have been a “woke” Social Justice Warrior–and probably a communist.  To quote a meme from a few years ago,

NO, BARACK OBAMA IS NOT A DARK-SKINNED SOCIALIST GIVING AWAY HEALTH CARE.  YOU’RE THINKING OF JESUS.

Jesus was a social revolutionary.  He comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.  He died for doing so.

The Gospel of Matthew has the Sermon on the Mount.  The Gospel of Luke has the Sermon on the Plain.  This is no matter; both sermons are literary constructs anyway.  Their importance is their content.  In Luke 6:20f, the poor are poor, the hungry are hungry, and the weeping weep.  Also, the wealthy are receiving their consolation, those with plenty to eat will go hungry, those who are laughing will weep, and those who are renowned will be like false prophets.  The Lucan reversal of fortune is in full swing.

Jesus taught in a particular context.  The vast majority of the population was desperately poor.  The wealthy had either build their fortunes or maintained their fortunes by exploiting the poor.  The middle class was small.  This model has remained current in much of the world, unfortunately.

The gap between the rich and the poor has been growing wider for decades in my country, the United States of America.  The Right Wing has long placed too high a value on property rights and too low a value on human rights.  The moral critique that the United States society needs to value people more than things has remained as valid as it was on April 4, 1967, when a modern-day prophet, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., uttered it in the Riverside Church, New York, New York.  The Right Wing detested him and suspected him of communism, too.

As Michael Eric Dyson correctly argues, the version of Martin Luther King, Jr., many White conservatives find non-threatening is a historical fiction.  King’s radicalism offers a stinging critique of many current conservative talking points.  King’s radicalism still comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.

The teachings of Jesus continue to comfort and afflict simultaneously.  Loving enemies, for example, breaks the cycle of violence.  But hearing that we should love our enemies may afflict us.  Condemnations of hypocrisy apply to everyone, too.  Jesus continues to meddle in our business, as he ought to do.  We want God to comfort us and people similar to ourselves, but to smite “those people”–everyone else, those whom we have othered.  God loves them, too, of course.

As Christians we believe that what Jesus began with the call of the Twelve and the sharp-edged teaching of blessings and curses remains in force today.  This is the shape of the kingdom:  the kingdom which still today turns the world upside down, or perhaps the right way up, as much as it ever did.

–N. T. Wright, Advent for Everyone:  Luke–A Daily Devotional (2018), 17

The world is upside down when it ought to be right side up.  Are you, O reader, complicit in maintaining this disorder?  If so, the teachings of Jesus afflict you, as they should.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 29, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS (TRANSFERRED)

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