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

READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART II

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Psalm 2

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Psalm 2 concludes the introduction to the Book of Psalms.  The placement of this text as Psalm 2 is both intentional and logical.  Psalm 1 teaches that those who know that their lives depend on God are blessed, even in a difficult environment.  Psalm 2 emphasizes the sovereignty of God.

The text is vague regarding its historical context.  Jerusalem and Judah are under a military threat.  The King of Judah is the anointed one of God.  The King of Judah and all the other monarchs answer to God, the ultimate king.  Most of them seem unaware of this, but their obliviousness does not change their reality.  Those who scorn God will suffer divine scorn.  Likewise, people who trust in God will be blessed.  They know that their lives depend upon God.

Comparing translations yields interesting results.

1. Most versions have the peoples plotting vain things or plotting in vain.
2. Robert Alter’s translation has people murmuring vain things.  In Psalm 1, Alter translates hagah not as “meditate” but as “murmur.”  Therefore, the righteous man murmurs divine instruction (torah) day and night.  The rebellious peoples in Psalm 2 contrast with the blessed people of God in Psalm 1.
3. The translation by Father Mitchell J. Dahood, S.J., for The Anchor Bible series goes in its own direction.  The rebellious peoples “number their troops.”  Hagah can also mean to number or to count out loud.  The picture here is of rebellious peoples relying on their military might, not on God.

Robert Alter points out the “geo-theological paradox” of the divine choice of Mount Zion:

Zion is a modest mountain on the crest of which sits a modest fortified town, the capital of a rather small kingdom, surrounded by vast empires.  Yet, the poet boldly imagines it as God’s chosen city, divinely endorsed to be queen of nations and the splendor of humankind.

—The Hebrew Bible:  A Translation with Commentary, Vol. 3, The Writings (2019), 29

God’s choice may seem to make no sense.  Nevertheless, it is what it is.

Verse 11 commands the rebellious monarchs–foes of Judah–to serve God with reverence, in awe.  “Fear of God” is an unfortunate translation, at least most of the time.  This is a matter of humility, not terror, at least most of the time.  “Fear of God” is usually an attitude of recognizing human inadequacy in the context of God.  Such inadequacy may lead many people to tremble and perhaps even to feel terrified.  Alternatively, it can prove to be liberating and can prompt rejoicing.

Translations of verse 11 can yield fascinating word choices.  For example, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985, 1999) reads in part:

…tremble with fright….

Dahood’s translation indicates reverent trembling:

…and live in trembling, O mortal men.

Alter’s translation tells the rebellious monarchs to

exult in trembling.

For the sake of honesty, I point out that, in textual context, verse 9 has threatened the rebellious monarchs with the prospect of God smashing them with a rod of iron.  Fright makes sense in that context.

I am reluctant to seek Jesus in the Hebrew Bible.  I do not mistake the Old Testament for a Where’s Waldo? book and Jesus for Waldo.  However, I do think that I must address the proverbial elephant in the room in verse 7:

You are My son.

I Myself today did beget you.

–Robert Alter’s translation

This is a reference to the regnant King of Judah, a monarch of the House of David.  It is not a reference to Jesus.

The concept of Messiah evolved.  Scholars have written thick books about this concept and its development over time.  Originally, as in Psalm 2, the Messiah was the regnant Davidic monarch.  The concept changed after the Fall of Jerusalem (587/586 B.C.E.).  By the time Jesus of Nazareth walked and taught, competing concepts of Messiahship existed within Judaism.  The translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed this diversity of ancient theological opinion and contradicted the long-standing consensus that the expectation of a military deliverer was universal.

God may not seem to be in charge.  Appearances often deceive.

J. Clinton McCann, Jr., writes:

The power of God is not the absolute power of a dictator but the power of committed love.  In worldly terms, might makes right.  But on God’s terms, right makes might.

—The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4 (1996), 691

The Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) was a prominent Presbyterian minister in the United States.  He was a polymath and a lover of nature, too.  And he was not naive, humanitarian work with refugees was one of his passions.  After Babcock’s death at the age of 42 years, his widow arranged for the publication of his poetry.  One text became a justly famous hymn.

You, O reader, may have sung the following lines or a hymnal committee-rewritten version of them many times.  Babcock wrote:

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.

Psalm 2 affirms that “God is the Ruler yet.”  The divine smashing in Psalm 2 may alarm some.  It does not, however, disturb me.  As in Revelation, the old, corrupt order must terminate before the fully-realized Kingdom of God can hold sway on Earth.  Also, the deliverance of the oppressed may be the doom of the oppressors, who have judged themselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 8, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF WALTER CISZEK, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST AND POLITICAL PRISONER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATUS OF LUXEUIL AND ROMARIC OF LUXEUIL, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS AND ABBOTS

THE FEAST OF AMBROSE REEVES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF JOHANNESBURG, AND OPPONENT OF APARTHEID

THE FEAST OF ERIK CHRISTIAN HOFF, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIN SHKURTI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1969

THE FEAST OF SAINT NARCISA DE JESÚS MARTILLO-MORÁN, ECUADORIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC AND ASCETIC

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READING DANIEL

Above:  Icon of St. Michael the Archangel

Image in the Public Domain

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PART X

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Daniel 10:1-12:13

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This passage, superficially from 586 B.C.E. or so, actually comes from a time much closer to 164 B.C.E.  The reference to the “prince of Greece” (the guardian angel of the Seleucid Empire) clues us into the actual period of composition.

Again, as I keep repeating in these posts, the Book of Daniel is not history.  Chapter 11 mentions Darius the Mede, supposedly the conqueror of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the immediate predecessors of Cyrus II of the Persians and the Medes.  Historical records tell us that Cyrus II conquered the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 B.C.E.  Records also tell us that the Persian Empire had ten kings from 559 to 330 B.C.E., with Cyrus II being the first and Darius III the last.  Daniel 11:2 reads:

Persia will have three more kings, and the fourth will be wealthier than them all; by the power he obtains through his wealth, he will stir everyone up against the kingdom of the Greeks.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

The material in the reading for this post is dense, with many references to ancient potentates.

1. The “warrior king” in Daniel 11:3 is obviously a reference to Alexander III “the Great,” given the breaking up of his empire after his death (11:4).
2. The kings of the south were kings of the Ptolemaic Empire.
3. The kings of the north were kings of the Seleucid Empire.
4. The kings of the south (11:5f) and the north (11:6f) were Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 323-285 B.C.E.) Seleucus II Callinicus (reigned 246-225 B.C.E.), respectively.
5. Daniel 11:6 refers to the murder of the daughter of a daughter of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reigned 285-246 B.C.E.).
6. Daniel 11:7 refers to the retaliation of King Ptolemy III Euergetes (reigned 246-221 B.C.E.).
7. Daniel 11 also contains references to hostile relations during the reigns of subsequent kings, including Ptolemy V Ephiphanes (reigned 204-180 B.C.E.) and Antiochus III “the Great” (reigned 223-187 B.C.E).
8. Daniel 11:20 refers to Seleucus IV Philopater (reigned 187-175 B.C.E.), who attempted to rob the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem (2 Maccabees 3).
9. Daniel 11:21f refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175-164 B.C.E.), the bête noire of Hasmonean partisans and a foe of the Ptomemaic Dynasty in Egypt.

Jews were literally in the middle of this Ptolemaic-Seleucid warfare.  Judea, incorporated into the Seleucid Empire after the Battle of Paneas (200 B.C.E.), were subject to religious persecution.  This reality set the stage for the Hasmonean rebellion, in progress during the composition of Daniel 7-12.

The message of Daniel 10-12, then, is to remain faithful despite persecution and martyrdom.  God will win in the end.

Daniel 12 contains another theologically important detail.  The resurrection of the dead in Ezekiel 37 is a metaphor for the restoration of Judah after the Babylonian Exile.  The resurrection of the dead is literal in Daniel 12, though.

Living in perilous times is stressful.  The temptation to surrender hope is strong.  Yet, as the Book of Daniel repeatedly reminds us, God is sovereign.  God is faithful.  And, to quote the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901),

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.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 22, 2020 COMMON ERA

CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY–PROPER 29:  THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF ROBERT SEAGRAVE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DITLEF GEORGSON RISTAD, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, LITURGIST, AND EDUCATOR

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That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Image in the Public Domain

God is the Ruler Yet

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

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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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2 Samuel 23:1-7

Psalm 100

Revelation 1:4b-8

Mark 15:16-20

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The mockery of Jesus by the soldiers in Mark 15:16-20 is gut-wrenching to read.  It also contrasts with the depiction of Jesus in Revelation 1:4b-8.  Not all the earth hails God and acknowledges the Son of David.  Yet Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

The Festival of Christ the King is about a century old.  Originally set by Pope Pius XI on what Lutherans and Presbyterians called Reformation Sunday, Christ the King Sunday occupies the Last Sunday after Pentecost, five Sundays before December 25.  It occupies this place in the Western Christian calendar because of the revision of the Roman Catholic calendar in 1969 and the subsequent revisions of Anglican and Protestant calendars.

The theology of Christ the King Sunday is sound.  As Presbyterian minister Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) wrote after one of his nature hikes, in a poem published posthumously and transformed into the hymn, “This is My Father’s World,”

God is the ruler yet.

May we never forget this truth.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, ANGLICAN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND BISHOP OF DURHAM; AND FENTON JOHN ANTHONY HORT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN HENRY BATEMAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHAN NORDAHL BRUN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN BISHOP, AUTHOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND RENEWER OF THE CHURCH; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, U.S. ARCHITECT AND QUAKER PEACE ACTIVIST

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2019/07/27/devotion-for-christ-the-king-sunday-year-b-humes/

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Te decet hymnus in Sion, Domine.

Above:  Grass

Image in the Public Domain

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POST XXIV OF LX

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

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

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

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

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

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

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 226

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–The first line of Psalm 65 in Latin, quoted in the Requiem Mass

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In Judaism God is like what does and has done.  Thus we read periodic accounts of divine actions past and present (from the perspective of the authors) in the Hebrew Bible.  Psalms 65, 66, and 67 fit this theme well; God’s generosity and power are evident in nature, the life of the Hebrew nation, and individual lives.  The proper responses are gratitude and obedience to divine law.

One of my favorite aspects of Reformed theology is the concept of the Book of Nature, the understanding that the created order is one way to know God:

We know God by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe,

since that universe is before our eyes is like a beautiful book

in which all creatures, great and small,

are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God:

God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse.

Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word,

as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation.

–The Belgic Confession (1561), Article 2 (2011 translation), quoted in Our Faith:  Ecumenical Creeds, Reformed Confessions, and Other Resources, Including the Doctrinal Standards of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America (Grand Rapids, MI:  Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2013), pages 26 and 27

The concept of the Book of Nature is a helpful one, for, if one seeks to learn about the Creator, creation should be part of the curriculum.  One might think of “This is My Father’s World,” by the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901), a Presbyterian minister who relished the created order and thereby came closer to God.

This is my Father’s world:

He shines in all that’s fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,

He speaks to me everywhere.

May we study the Book of Nature closely and be the best possible stewards of it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 12, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THADDEUS STEVENS, U.S. ABOLITIONIST, CONGRESSMAN, AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

THE FEAST OF SARAH FLOWER ADAMS, ENGLISH UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER; AND HER SISTER, ELIZA FLOWER, ENGLISH UNITARIAN COMPOSER

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Above:   Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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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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Daniel 1:1-17

Psalm 9:1-8

Revelation 1:9-18

Luke 17:20-21

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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.

–Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901)

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In the reading from the Book of Revelation the imagery used to describe Jesus is similar to that usually reserved for the Roman Emperor.  Thus the Apocalypse of John fits the bill of subversive literature from the beginning.  Revelation 1:9-18 is therefore an appropriate lesson to read on Christ the King Sunday.

British Congregationalist minister Charles Harold (C. H.) Dodd proposed Realized Eschatology. The Kingdom of God, he wrote, has always been present.  It has, however, been more evident at some times than on others.  Dodd must have been thinking about the assigned Gospel reading as he formulated that idea.  Psalm 9 might also have been on his mind.

If Dodd was correct, what about exploitative powers, such as the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire (in Daniel) and the Roman Empire (in Revelation), among other oppressive regimes?  The question of, if God exists, why evil does also, has vexed many people over the ages.  But why would the existence of God nullify human free will and prevent abuses of it?

As the Mennonites tell us, we are living in the age of God’s patience.  This indicates a future age of divine impatience, with good news for many and catastrophic news for many others.  Judgment is in the purview of God, not mere mortals.  May we mere mortals understand that reality and embrace it.  May we also trust in God, who, despite appearances, is the ruler yet.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 21, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, JESUIT

THE FEAST OF CARL BERNHARD GARVE, GERMAN MORAVIAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN JONES AND JOHN RIGBY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/devotion-for-proper-29-ackerman/

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This is post #1700 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.

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Above:   Icon of the Apocalypse of John

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

O God, our true life, to serve you is freedom, and to know you is unending joy.

We worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory.

Abide with us, reign in us, and make this world into a fit habitation for your divine majesty,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who reigns with you

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

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 53

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 46:18-28 (Monday)

Isaiah 33:17-22 (Tuesday)

Isaiah 60:8-16 (Wednesday)

Psalm 24 (All Days)

Revelation 21:5-27 (Monday)

Revelation 22:8-21 (Tuesday)

Luke 1:1-4 (Wednesday)

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Lift up your heads, O gates;

lift them high, O everlasting doors;

and the King of glory shall come in.

“Who is this King of glory?”

“The LORD, strong and mighty,

the LORD, mighty in battle.”

Lift up your heads, O gates;

lift them high, O everlasting doors;

and the King of glory shall come in.

“Who is this King of glory?”

“The Lord of hosts,

he is the King of glory.”

–Psalm 24:7-10, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Here are some thoughts for the time between Proper 29 (Christ the King Sunday) and the First Sunday of Advent.

God wins in the end.  Conquerors fall to other conquerors, who fall to other conquerors.  The faithful who persevere will receive their reward.  Some of them will live long enough to witness the triumph of God in the flesh.  The story of Jesus of Nazareth, attested to by eyewitnesses, contains suffering, death, and resurrection.  The victory of God in that case is one of love and power, not the smiting of enemies, for whom Christ interceded (Luke 23:34).

The Book of Revelation tells of divine creative destruction from Chapters 4 to 20.  Then, in Revelation 21 and 22, God inaugurates the new order.  There is smiting of enemies here, for the deliverance of the oppressed is frequently bad news for unrepentant oppressors.  The new, divine world order, however, contains no oppression.

That divine order has not become reality yet, of course.  Nevertheless, as the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) wrote:

This is my Father’s world,

O let my 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.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 7, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER, U.S. UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY GIANELLI, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI AND THE SISTERS OF MARY DELL’ORTO

THE FEAST OF CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN PASTOR THEN EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERT OF NEWMINSTER, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND PRIEST

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Adapted from this post:

https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/devotion-for-monday-tuesday-and-wednesday-after-proper-29-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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Above:  The Golden Calf

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross

you promise everlasting life to the world.

Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy,

that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son,

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

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

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 27

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 33:1-6

Psalm 105:1-15 [16-41] 42

Romans 4:1-12

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Search for the LORD and the strength of the LORD;

continually seek the face of God.

–Psalm 105:4, Book of Common Worship (1993)

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The reading from Exodus 33 follows on the heels of chapter 32, in which Israelites had created a golden bull (although the traditional term is golden calf) as a tangible sign of God’s presence while Moses was away on Mount Sinai/Horeb with God briefly.  God, we read, was most unhappy:

If I were to go in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you.

–Exodus 33:5b, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Moses talks God down, fortunately for the Israelites.

Faith, for St. Paul the Apostle, was inherently active.  Hence the Pauline definition of faith was that, in the absence of proof for or against a proposition, one trusts that it is true and acts accordingly.  This contradicts the definition of faith in the Letter of James, whose author wrote that faith (for him merely intellectual) is insufficient for justification with God.  No, in the Letter of James justification comes via works.  Both writers agreed that works are essential for justification with God, but St. Paul understood works to be part and parcel of faith.  These are the kinds of nuances many people overlook in the Bible.

To have an active faith in God, who is invisible, is not to go through life without tangible signs of the divine presence.  Actually, tangible indicators of God’s presence surround us.  We have no need to manufacture any such indicator, for nature is replete with them.  We need merely to open our minds, attune them to spiritual matters, and observe.  The Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901), Presbyterian minister, humanitarian, poet, and admirer of nature, summarized the point well:

This is my Father’s world,

And to my listening ears,

All nature sings, and round me rings

The music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world:

I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.

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This is my Father’s world,

The birds their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white,

Declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world:

He shines in all that’s fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,

He speaks to me everywhere.

The full text of the poem begins on page 180 of this book.

The presence of God is tangible indeed.  In my darkest hours, my happiest moments, and the times between those two extremes I have encountered God via people and animals as well as directly, without mortals as vehicles of grace.  You, O reader, might understand well what I mean because of your experiences.  If you do not, are you willing to perceive the tangible presence of God?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 15, 2015 COMMON ERA

PROPER 28:  THE TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALBERT THE GREAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF REGENSBURG

THE FEAST OF JOHANN GOTTLOB KLEMM, INSTRUMENT MAKER; DAVID TANNENBERG, SR., GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN ORGAN BUILDER; JOHANN PHILIP BACHMANN, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN INSTRUMENT MAKER; JOSEPH FERDINAND BULITSCHEK, BOHEMIAN-AMERICAN ORGAN BUILDER; AND TOBIAS FRIEDRICH, GERMAN MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/devotion-for-monday-after-the-second-sunday-in-lent-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Canticle 16 (Luke 1:68-79) or Psalm 46

then 

Colossians 1:11-20

Luke 23:33-43

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

Proper 29, Year A:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/proper-29-year-a/

Proper 29, Year B:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/proper-29-year-b/

Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/prayer-of-praise-and-adorationfor-the-last-sunday-after-pentecost-christ-the-king/

Prayer of Confession:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/christ-the-king-prayer-of-confession/

Prayer of Dedication:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-last-sunday-after-pentecost-christ-the-king/

Hope of the World:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/hope-of-the-world/

This is My Father’s World:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/this-is-my-fathers-world/

Feast of St. Dismas (March 26):

http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/feast-of-st-dismas-march-26/

Alleluia! Sing to Jesus:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/alleluia-sing-to-jesus/

Jeremiah 23:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-18/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/proper-11-year-b/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/devotion-for-november-10-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Luke 1:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-24/

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/devotion-for-january-1-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Colossians 1:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/week-of-proper-17-thursday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/week-of-proper-17-friday-year-1/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/proper-10-year-c/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/proper-11-year-c/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/devotion-for-september-13-lcms-daily-lectionary/

Luke 23:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/sunday-of-the-passion-palm-sunday-year-c/

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/devotion-for-friday-in-pentecost-week-lcms-daily-lectionary/

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Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.  Amen.

–A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989), page 181

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Colossians 1:13-20 describes Jesus well–better than I can–so I defer to it as a superior expression of Christology.  Please meditate on it, O reader.

Jesus of Nazareth, to whom Zechariah referred in Luke 1:68-79, died on a cross and under a mocking sign calling him

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Crucifixion was the way the Roman Empire executed those of whom its leaders wanted to make a public and humiliating example.  Usually nobody even buried the corpses, left for nature to consume.  Thus crucifixion, carrying great stigma, extinguished a person in society most of the time.

But it did not extinguish Jesus.  So a symbol of shame became a symbol of triumph.  Symbols mean what people agree they signify; therefore a symbol of state-sponsored terror–judicial murder–has become a symbol of perfect love.

Christ the King Sunday exists to remind people that, as the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) wrote in a hymn which his widow had published:

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.

That promise is true, although the culmination of it remains in the future tense.  But may we who claim the name “Christian” never abandon hope.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 5, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/proper-29-year-c/

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Above:  The Logo of the Moravian Church

Image Source = JJackman

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AgnusDeiWindow.jpg)

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada.  I invite you to follow it with me.

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Revelation 5:1-14 (Revised English Bible):

I saw in the right hand of the One who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, and sealed with seven seals.  And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice,

Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?

But there was no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth able to open the scroll to look inside it.  And because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and look inside, I wept bitterly.  One of the elders said do me:

Do not weep; the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the shoot growing from David’s stock, has won the right to open the scroll and its seven seals.

Then I saw a Lamb with the marks of sacrifice on him, standing with the four living creatures between the throne and the elders.  He has seven horns and seven eyes, the eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent to every part of the world.  The Lamb came and received the scroll from the right hand of the One who sat on the throne.  As he did so, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders prostrated themselves before the Lamb.  Each of the elders had a harp; they held golden bowls full of incense, the prayers of God’s people, and they were singing a new song:

You are worthy to receive the scroll and break its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you bought for God people of every tribe and language, nation and race.  You have made them a royal house of priests for our God, and they shall reign on earth.

As I looked I heard, all round the throne of the living creatures and the elders, the voices of many angels, thousands on thousands, myriads on myriads.  They proclaimed with loud voices:

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth, wisdom and might, honour and glory and praise!

Then I heard all created things, in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the sea, crying:

Praise and honour, glory and might, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb for ever!

The four living creatures said,

Amen,

and the elders prostrated themselves in worship.

Psalm 149:1-5 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Hallelujah!

Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.

2 Let Israel rejoice in his Maker;

let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his Name in the dance;

let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people

and adorns the poor with victory.

5 Let the faithful rejoice in triumph;

let them be joyful on their beds.

Luke 19:41-44 (Revised English Bible):

When Jesus came in sight of Jerusalem, he wept over it ans aid,

If only you had known this day the way that leads to peace!  But no; it is hidden from your sight.  For a time will come upon you, when your enemies will set up siege-works against you; they will encircle you and hem you in at every point; they will bring you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, and not leave you one stone standing on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s visitation.

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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 everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

Week of Proper 28:  Thursday, Year 1:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/week-of-proper-28-thursday-year-1/

This is My Father’s World:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/this-is-my-fathers-world/

At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/at-the-lambs-high-feast-we-sing/

Agnus Dei:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/agnus-dei/

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Who is worthy to pronounce the destiny of the earth and all who live on it?  John of Patmos tells us that only one is.  That one is Jesus, the incarnate Second Person of the Trinity, the victorious sacrificial lamb with complete power (seven horns) and omniscience (seven eyes).  Agents of the Roman Empire killed Jesus, but he did not remain dead for long.

The reading from Luke comes from that part of Chapter 19 set immediately after the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  I read the text again and wonder to what extent memories of the First Jewish War and the Roman destruction of the city in 70 C.E. influenced the writing of those words in Greek.  The devastation must have seemed as bad as the end of the world to many people.  So, at the end of the First Century C.E., the Romans were firmly in power, in charge of what Tacitus referred to as a “desert called peace.”  Yet, John of Patmos said, God was firmly in control and the slain Jesus was very much alive, victorious, and powerful–and beyond the range of human-inflicted harm.

As the Reverend Maltbie Davenport Babcock wrote,

God is the ruler yet.

And, as the Moravians say,

Our lamb has conquered; let us follow him.

Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 15, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALBERT THE GREAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF REGENSBURG

THE FEAST OF MARGARET MEAD, ANTHROPOLOGIST

THE FEAST OF PHILIP WILLIAM OTTERBEIN, COFOUNDER OF THE CHURCH OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST

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Adapted from this post:

http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/week-of-proper-28-thursday-year-2/

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