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:  The Angel in the Tomb

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 25:6-9

Psalm 118:1-2, 15-24

1 Corinthians 15:19-28

John 20:1-9 (10-18) or Mark 16:1-8

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O God, you gave your only Son

to suffer death on the cross for our redemption,

and by his glorious resurrection

you delivered us from the power of death. 

Make us die every day to sin,

so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection;

through 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), 20-21

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Almighty God the Father, through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ,

you have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. 

Grant that we,

who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 47

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Isaiah 24-27, part of Third Isaiah, is a proto-apocalypse.  Daniel contains a fully fully-developed apocalypse in chapters 7-12, which date to the Hasmonean period.  Revelation (the Apocalypse of John) and some pseudepigraphal works are fully-developed apocalypses, too.  Isaiah 24-27 contains many of the features of those later writings.

The apocalyptic genre is optimistic, for it proclaims that God will win in the end.  The proto-apocalypse in Isaiah 24-27 is optimistic in so far as it speaks of the metaphorical resurrection of Judah while using the language of destroying death and reviving corpses.

The assigned readings, taken together, speak of an illness.  A conquered people may move into a better future.  And the resurrection of Jesus makes renewed individual and collective life in God possible.

As I write these words, I live in troubled, cynical times.  Anti-democratic forces, competing in elections around the world, have much popular support.  Sometimes they win elections.  Many candidates who speak favorably of family values engage in political bullying and celebrate cruelty and insensitivity.  Many such candidates frequently win elections, too.  The great web of mutuality that protects members of society–the most vulnerable ones, especially–continues to fray under the assault by a selfish variety of individualism.  The morally neutral act of remaining informed regarding current events becomes an occasion of inviting excessive stress into one’s life.  Hope seems to be in short supply.  Positive statements about the Kingdom of God may ring hollow.  One may feel like the women at the empty tomb of Jesus–afraid.  I do.

And, when we turn our attention to death itself, we may experience the depths of despair and the harsh reality of someone’s loss.  The light may go out of our lives, as it did for Theodore Roosevelt on February 12, 1884, when his mother and first wife died.

I understand my grief well enough to know not to resort to platitudes.  I comprehend that death stings.  I know from the past and from current events that the world has long been and continues to be rife with delusion and injustice.  I, as a student of history, grasp that history does not repeat itself, but that history rhymes.  It rhymes because many people fail to learn the lessons of the past.

Yet the Christian hope teaches me that the Reverend Doctor Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) was correct:

This is my Father’s world,

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:

The battle is not done,

Jesus who died shall be satisfied,

And earth and heaven be one.

–Quoted in The Hymnal (1933), #70

Happy Easter!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 18, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT LEONIDES OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 202; ORIGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN; SAINT DEMETRIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT ALEXANDER OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL OF CYPRUS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MARTYR, 760

THE FEAST OF ROBERT WALMSLEY, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER

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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: Supper at Emmaus, by Caravaggio

Image in the Public Domain

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

Psalm 150 (LBW) or Psalm 146 (LW)

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

Luke 24:13-49

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

Give us also the joys of life in your service,

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

through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 21

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Almighty God the Father,

through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ

you have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. 

Grant that we, who celebrate with jo the day of the Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the depth of sin by your life-giving Spirit;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 49

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

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

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

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

life as we know it.

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

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

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2022 COMMON ERA

EASTER DAY

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

THE FEAST OF EMILY COOPER, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS

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

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

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

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Adapted from this post

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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:  Easter Celtic Cross

Image Scanned from a Church Bulletin

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Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:1-2, 15-24

Colossians 3:1-4

John 20:1-9 (10-18) or Matthew 28:1-10

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O God, you gave your only Son

to suffer death on the cross for our redemption,

and by his glorious resurrection

you delivered us from the power of death. 

Make us die every day to sin,

so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection;

through 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), 20-21

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Almighty God the Father, through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ,

you have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. 

Grant that we,

who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 47

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I have been writing lectionary-based devotions for more than a decade.  In that time, I have exhausted what I can write for the main service of Easter Day.

So be it.  Trying to explain the resurrection is pointless.  (I have heard people debate the mechanics of it, pointlessly.)  One may read an attempt by St. Clement I of Rome, circa 96 C.E., in his Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement).  That attempt is pious yet inadequate.  No explanation is adequate.

Therefore, O reader, I refer you to the assigned readings (especially from the New Testament) and wish you a happy Easter–all fifty days of it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 16, 2022 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT BERNADETTE OF LOURDES, ROMAN CATHOLIC VISIONARY

THE FEAST OF CALVIN WEISS LAUFER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST

THE FEAST OF ISABELLA GILMORE, ANGLICAN DEACONESS

THE FEAST OF MIKAEL SUMA, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, FRIAR, AND MARTYR, 1950

THE FEAST OF PETER WILLIAMS CASSEY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL DEACON; AND HIS WIFE, ANNIE BESANT CASSEY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL EDUCATOR

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Adapted from this post

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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 52:13-53:12 or Hosea 6:1-6

Psalm 22:1-23 (LBW) or Psalm 22:1-24 (LW)

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

John 18:1-19:42 or John 19:17-30

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Almighty God, we ask you to look with mercy on your family;

for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed

and to be given over to the hands of sinners

and to suffer death on the cross;

who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

OR

Lord Jesus, you carried our sins in your own body

on the tree so that we might have life. 

May we and all who remember this day find new life

in you now and in the world to come,

where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 20

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Almighty God, graciously behold this your family,

for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed,

to be given into the hands of sinners,

and to suffer death on the cross;

who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 45

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Words and rituals have power.  (That is a quintessential Lutheran theological statement.)  In my denomination, The Episcopal Church, the liturgy for Good Friday is powerful and solemn.  It concludes with people leaving in silence.

Sometimes one should be silent.  I invite you, O reader, to read the assigned portions of scripture aloud or to listen to them.  Let them sink in.  Let them exercise their power over you.  And digest them in silence.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 15, 2022 COMMON ERA

GOOD FRIDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT OLGA OF KIEV, REGENT OF KIEVAN RUSSIA; SAINT ADALBERT OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT ADALBERT OF PRAGUE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR, 997; AND SAINTS BENEDICT AND GAUDENTIUS OF POMERANIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 997

THE FEAST OF SAINTS DAMIEN AND MARIANNE OF MOLOKAI, WORKERS AMONG LEPERS

THE FEAST OF SAINT FLAVIA DOMITILLA, ROMAN CHRISTIAN NOBLEWOMAN; AND SAINTS MARO, EUTYCHES, AND VICTORINUS OF ROME, PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, CIRCA 99

THE FEAST OF SAINT HUNNA OF ALSACE, THE “HOLY WASHERWOMAN”

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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:  The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci

Image in the Public Domain

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Exodus 12:1-14 (Year A)

Exodus 24:3-11 (Year B)

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Year C)

Psalm 116:10-17 (Years A. B, and C)

1 Corinthians 11:17-32 or 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (Year A)

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (18-21) (Year B)

John 13:1-17, 34 (Year A)

Mark 14:12-26 (Year B)

Luke 22:12-26 (Year C)

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Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal,

Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: 

To love one another as he had loved them. 

By your Holy Spirit write this commandment in our hearts;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

OR

Lord God, in a wonderful Sacrament

you have left us a memorial of your suffering and death. 

May this Sacrament of your body and blood so work in us

that the way we live will proclaim the redemption you have brought;

for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 20

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O Lord Jesus, since you have left us

a memorial of your Passion in a wonderful sacrament,

grant, we pray,

that we may so use this sacrament of your body and blood

that the fruits of your redeeming work

may continually be manifest in us;

for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 44

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In Exodus, the blood of the Passover lambs protected the Hebrew slaves from the sins of Egyptians.  The Gospel of John, mentioning three Passovers during the ministry of Jesus, placed the crucifixion of Jesus on Thursday, not Friday, as in the Synoptic Gospels.  The Fourth Gospel made clear that Christ was the Passover lamb that third Passover of his ministry.  In the Johannine Gospel, Jesus died while sacrificial lambs were dying at the Temple.

We read of the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11.  That is good, for John refers to it only in passing.

Jesus modeled humility and self-sacrificial love.

These are timeless principles.  The nature of timeless principles is that how one lives them depends upon circumstances–who, when, and where one is.  Certain commandments in the Bible are culturally-specific examples of keeping timeless principles.  Legalism results from mistaking culturally-specific examples for timeless principles.  Bishop Robert C. Wright, of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, says:

Love like Jesus.

To that I add:

Be humble like Jesus.

Circumstances dictate how living according to these maxims looks where and when you are, O reader.  By grace, may you succeed more often than you fail, for the glory of God and the benefit of your neighbors in God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 14, 2022 COMMON ERA

HOLY/MAUNDY THURSDAY

THE FEAST OF EDWARD THOMAS DEMBY AND HENRY BEARD DELANY, EPISCOPAL SUFFRAGAN BISHOPS FOR COLORED WORK

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTHONY, JOHN, AND EUSTATHIUS OF VILNIUS, MARTYRS IN LITHUANIA, 1347

THE FEAST OF SAINT WANDREGISILUS OF NORMANDY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT LAMBERT OF LYONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZENAIDA OF TARSUS AND HER SISTER, SAINT PHILONELLA OF TARSUS; AND SAINT HERMIONE OF EPHESUS; UNMERCENARY PHYSICIANS

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Adapted from this post

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Above:  Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

Image in the Public Domain

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For Easter Sunday, Year 2

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

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

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Almighty God, who through the resurrection of thine only begotten Son Jesus Christ,

hast overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life;

assist and support us, we beseech thee, the aspirations of thy heavenly grace,

that dying unto sin always, and living unto righteousness,

we may at last triumph over death and the grave, in the full image of our risen Lord:

to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 163

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Ezekiel 37:9-14

Psalm 115

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Luke 24:13-35

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There is always hope in God.  In the case of Ezekiel 37, an allegory of the restoration of Judah from the Babylonian Exile, the hope was legitimate.  God was faithful.  Jesus was dead.  Then he was alive again.  The resurrection of the dead will occur.  Without the resurrection of Jesus being real, we Christians are the most pitiable people.

The resurrection of Christ is a mandatory doctrine in Christianity.  Some doctrines are optional.  One can be a Christian while refuting the Virgin Birth, for example.  About one quarter of Christianity rejects Original Sin.  (The Eastern Orthodox did not have St. Augustine of Hippo.)  But the resurrection of Jesus is mandatory.  Without it we have a dead Jesus.  Dead Jesus cannot save anybody from anything.

Know, O reader, that I am not an especially doctrinaire person.  At least one member of my family is concerned about my salvation because she thinks I am wrong on too many points of doctrine.  So be it.  Therefore, when I write that the resurrection of Christ is a mandatory doctrine, that statement carries greater weight than if a more doctrinaire Christian had written it.

I accept the resurrection of Jesus on faith.  I also accept the resurrection of the dead on faith.  I have no evidence for or against those propositions.  I must, therefore, accept them on faith, or reject them.

My spiritual struggles regard the resurrection of myself in this life, not the resurrection of Jesus nearly 2000 years ago and the resurrection of the dead in the next life.  Since the sudden, violent death of Bonny, my beloved, on October 14, 2019, I have been less alive than I used to be.  Part of me died with her.

I await a particular resurrection in this life.  Depending on the day or time thereof, I either affirm or reject that resurrection of that part of me that died on October 14, 2019, will occur.  Those dry bones may yet live.  They remain dead today.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GOOD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MILAN

THE FEAST OF ALLEN WILLIAM CHATFIELD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF IGNATIOUS SPENCER, ANGLICAN THE  ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND APOSTLE OF ECUMENICAL PRAYER; AND HIS PROTEGÉE, ELIZABETH PROUT, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF THE CROSS AND PASSION

THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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

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Above:  Icon of the Resurrection

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Acts 10:34-43 or Job 19:7-27c

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

1 Corinthians 15:35-50

John 20:1-18

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I am usually at a loss for many words at Easter.  In this case, the readings are mostly self-explanatory.  For my comments on Job 19:7-17c, however, read the germane posts at this weblog.

Whenever I hear someone go on and on about the crucifixion of Jesus, especially regarding the Atonement, I have a critique.  That critique is to keep going.  Do not stop at the death of Jesus.  Dead Jesus cannot save anyone from anything.  No, the Resurrection completed the Atonement.

Christ is alive!  It’s true!  It’s true!

Happy Easter!  Enjoy all 50 days of the season.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2021

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GOOD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MILAN

THE FEAST OF ALLEN WILLIAM CHATFIELD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF IGNATIOUS SPENCER, ANGLICAN THE  ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND APOSTLE OF ECUMENICAL PRAYER; AND HIS PROTEGÉE, ELIZABETH PROUT, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF THE CROSS AND PASSION

THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

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

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/devotion-for-easter-sunday-year-d-humes/

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I know that my redeemer liveth….

Above:  Icon of the Harrowing of Hell

Image in the Public Domain

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For Holy Saturday, 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 Common Prayer (The Episcopal Church, 1928)

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Grant, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ,

so by continual mortifying our corrupt affectations we may be buried with him;

and that through the grave, and gate of thy death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection;

for his merits, who died, and was buried, and was buried, and rose again for us,

the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1928),161

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Job 19:21-27

Psalm 23

1 Peter 3:14-22

Matthew 27:57-66

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Whenever I read Job 19:21-27, I hear a portion of George Frederick Handel’s Messiah playing in my mind.

The text is not about Jesus, though.

In context, God had allowed the Satan, his loyalty tester, to affect and test the loyalty of Job.  (Satan was not yet a free agent in Jewish theology.)  Job’s afflictions included three frenemies, who blamed the victim.  Job had nobody other than God to whom to turn for defense.  He cited God as his kinsman-redeemer.

But I know that my Vindicator lives….

–Job 19:25a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Faith in the trenches may seem foolish.  Yet such faith has profound merits.  Only divine goodness and mercy will pursue the author of Psalm 23; his enemies cannot catch up.  And the descent of Christ to the dead/to Hell (1 Peter 3:18-22) was a great expression of divine sovereignty and grace.  It led to what my Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters in faith call the Harrowing of Hell.

The story of the crucifixion of Jesus has a happy ending.  Easter arrives, on schedule, every year.  But why rush into it?  Easter will mean more if we allow Jesus to be dead, liturgically.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 9, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PEPIN OF LANDEN, SAINT ITTA OF METZ, THEIR RELATIONS, SAINTS AMAND, AUSTREGISILUS, AND SULPICIUS II BOURGES, FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS ACROSS GENERATIONAL LINES

THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

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He has told you, O man, what is good

Above:  Icon of the Crucifixion, by Andrei Rublev

Image in the Public Domain

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For Good Friday, Year 2

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

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

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Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family,

for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed,

and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross;

who now liveth and reigneth wtih thee and the Holy Spirit,

ever One God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 161-162

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Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 69:1-21

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Matthew 27:33-50

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And for what the LORD requires of you:

Only to love goodness,

And to walk modestly with your God.

–Micah 6:8-9a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The Book of Micah dates to the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (759-698/687 B.C.E.).  The final version, however, comes from a time after the Fall of Jerusalem (587/586 B.C.E.).  Therefore, hindsight informs the text as much as the then-present tense does.  The Book of Micah proclaims divine judgment and mercy (in balance), as well as the moral imperative of mutuality in society.  To violate mutuality is to trample the vulnerable, which is to offend God.

Jesus died for more than one reason, including scapegoating by authority figures.  His unjust execution (a major point in the Gospel of Luke) constituted a violation of Micah 6:8-9a.  Societies, governments, and institutions00even relatively benign ones–have continued to victimize people.  Every time a court has convicted someone wrongly, an innocent person has died via capital punishment, a government has turned a blind eye to lynching, et cetera, has been an occasion of violating Micah 6:8-9a.

Our (however one defines “our”) name has yet to achieve wisdom.  We are guilty collectively.  Each of us is guilty individually, for each person belongs to the whole.  The Book of Common Prayer (1979) contains a prayer for forgiveness for

sins committed on our behalf.

Original sin taints human societies and institutions.  Even the best intentioned of us cannot avoid contributing to the furtherance of evil from which we benefit.

A note in The Jewish Study Bible offers some useful information about one line:

And to walk modestly with your God.

No English translation properly conveys the meaning of the Hebrew word usually rendered as “humbly” or “modestly.”  Other translations include “wisely,” “completely,” and “carefully.”  I gravitate toward “completely.”  Walking completely with God as a high calling, both individually and collectively.  It is also realistic, by grace.  Do we want to respond faithfully via our free will, itself a result of grace?

On Good Friday and all other days, may we ask ourselves how many more people will die because we–individually and collectively–refuse to respond faithfully.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 9, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PEPIN OF LANDEN, SAINT ITTA OF METZ, THEIR RELATIONS, SAINTS AMAND, AUSTREGISILUS, AND SULPICIUS II BOURGES, FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS ACROSS GENERATIONAL LINES

THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

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Repay them, O God, for their crimes;

Above:  Holy Eucharist

Image in the Public Domain

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For Maundy/Holy Thursday, 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 Lord God, who hast left unto us in a wonderful Sacrament a memorial of thy passion:

grant, we beseech thee, that we may so use this Sacrament of thy Body and Blood that,

the fruits of thy redemption may continually be manifest in us;

who livest and reignest with the Father, and the Holy Spirit,

ever One God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947),161

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Isaiah 50:4-11

Psalm 56

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

John 13:1-15

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The choice of Isaiah 50:4-11 as a reading for Maundy Thursday is interesting and ironic.  The figure there is the personification of those deported during the Babylonian Exile.  The theology of the text holds that their suffering was justifiable, that they suffered the consequences of their sins.  Yet, in Christian theology, Jesus was sinless.

The choice of Psalm 56 today is also ironic.

in your wrath, bring down the peoples,

is a far cry from,

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The readings from the New Testament remind us in concrete terms to care for one another.  Love is active.  Love does not care if it looks unseemly or beneath one’s preferred social status.  Love does practice mutuality.  Love also hopes for the repentance of enemies and stubborn sinners.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 9, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PEPIN OF LANDEN, SAINT ITTA OF METZ, THEIR RELATIONS, SAINTS AMAND, AUSTREGISILUS, AND SULPICIUS II BOURGES, FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS ACROSS GENERATIONAL LINES

THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN

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