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:  Moses with the Ten Commandments, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Image in the Public Domain

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Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19:7-14

1 Corinthians 1:22-25

John 2:13-22

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Eternal Lord, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world

through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. 

Help us to hear your Word and obey it,

so that we become instruments of your redeeming love;

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), 18

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Almighty God, because you know

that we of ourselves have no strength,

keep us both outwardly and inwardly that we may be defended

from all adversities that may happen to the body

and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul;

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), 36

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Anti-intellectualism, rife in segments of the Christian tradition, is unfortunate and destructive.  I, as an intellectual, recall being int the presence of professing Christians who have spoken dismissively of education and of having a faith allegedly superior to those of educated people.  I also recall hearing to my face that I will go to Hell for asking too many questions and thinking too much.  I bristle whenever I sense that anyone is even getting close to this attitude.

Willful ignorance is not a saving work.  Neither is it a theological virtue.

The wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 is speculative, philosophical wisdom of the Greek variety.  As much as I value the Greek philosophical foundations of Western civilization, I do not mistake them for anything salvific.  In context in 1 Corinthians, the message of St. Paul the Apostle is that salvation via Christ violates expectations, whether from Jewish tradition or Greek philosophy.  In other words, God refuses to fit into our theological and philosophical boxes.

Instead of speculative wisdom, we have a covenant with God.  We have a covenant into which God invites us–Jesus and Gentiles alike.  Actually, the Jews have the older covenant.  The Gentiles have a separate covenant.  Both covenants lead to the same result.  Both covenants impose moral demands upon those in covenant relationship with God.  Those moral demands pertain to how we treat each other, both individually and collectively.  Those moral demands boil down to the Golden Rule.

So, Jews and Gentile Christians alike can say, with equal conviction:

The LORD’s teaching is perfect,

restoring to life.

The LORD’s pact is steadfast,

it makes the fool wise.

The LORD’s precepts are upright;

delighting the heart.

–Psalm 19:8-9a, Robert Alter

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 16, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, SAINT RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR, 1183

THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THOMAS WYATT TURNER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTIST, EDUCATOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST; FOUNDER OF FEDERATED COLORED CATHOLICS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HENRY MONK, ANGLICAN ORGANIST, HYMN TUNE COMPOSER, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR

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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:  Icon of the Transfiguration of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

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2 Kings 2:1-12a

Psalm 50:1-6

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Mark 9:2-9

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Almighty God, on the mountain you showed your glory

in the transfiguration of your Son. 

Give us the vision to see beyond the turmoil of our world

and to behold the king in all his glory;

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

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

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 17

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O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed

the mysteries of faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah,

and in the voice from the bright cloud

you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. 

Make us with the king heirs of your glory,

and bring us to enjoy its fullness,

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), 17

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O God, in the glorious transfiguration of your only-begotten Son

once confirmed the mysteries of the faith

by the testimony of the ancient fathers,

and in the voice that came from the bright cloud

you wondrously foreshadowed our adoption by grace. 

Therefore, mercifully make us coheirs with our King of his glory,

and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 31

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I have been writing lectionary-based weblog posts for more than a decade.  I have, therefore, written about the Transfiguration of Jesus–upon the occasions of August 6 and the Last Sunday After the Epiphany–already.

My comments from previous years, accessible at ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS and BLOGA THEOLOGICA, remain available for reading.  I choose not to duplicate them in full here.

The glory of Christ, evident in one way at the Transfiguration, was usually evident in his faithful and compassionate service.  Yet a visual demonstration–the fulfillment of Mark 9:1–was helpful.

Sometimes we mere mortals need the visual element to reinforce that of which we have heard.  We, like apostles in the Gospel of Mark, may not understand despite the evidence we have seen.  Then, after the spectacular show, we may still not understand as we should.

Psalm 50:1-6, with its imagery of fire, fits well with the First Reading.  The psalm, as a whole, contains contrasts–the faithfulness of God, the fidelity of some, and the judgment of the faithless.  I mention this for the sake of completeness, so that nobody may legitimately accuse me of cherry-picking verses in this matter of divine judgment and mercy.  One may also recall that, in readings from the Hebrew Bible for the last two Sundays on this series, we have read of God forgiving faithless peoples for divine purposes.  Yet we read this week, if we keep reading Psalm 50 past verse 6:

Understand this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, with no one to save you.

–Verse 22, Robert Alter

Divine judgment and mercy exist in a perpetual balance I know I do not understand.  May none of us begrudge divine mercy, upon which we depend.  Some mercy is an example of divine glory.

May this glory shine in our lives as we deal with each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF FANNIE LOU HAMER, PROPHET OF FREEDOM

THE FEAST OF ALBERT LISTER PEACE, ORGANIST IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

THE FEAST OF HARRIET KING OSGOOD MUNGER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALISTS HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF NEHEMIAH GOREH, INDIAN ANGLICAN PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENZINA CUSMANO, SUPERIOR OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR; AND HER BROTHER, SAINT GIACOMO CUSMANO, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR AND THE MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661

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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 Hosea

Image in the Public Domain

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Hosea 2:14-16 (17-18) 19-20

Psalm 103:1-13

2 Corinthians 3:1b-6

Mark 2:18-22

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Almighty and everlasting God, ruler of heaven and earth: 

Hear our prayer and give us your peace now and forever;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

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O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers,

and having set us free from the bonds of our sins,

defend us from all evil;

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), 30

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…our sufficiency is from God….

–2 Corinthians 3:5b, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition

Our (individual and collective) sufficiency is from God.  God qualifies us (individually and collectively) for our callings from God.  God, who has given us many reasons to rejoice, provides our sufficiency.  God, who forgives more readily than many human beings do, gives us sufficiency.

This truth contradicts an old and ubiquitous lie in my culture.  I refer to the lie of the self-made person, as in the self-made millionaire.  Considering even only human factors, one should need only a second or so–if that long–to realize the falsehood of the proposition.  One may realize quickly that teachers, bankers, and road builders, among others, enabled the so-called self-made millionaires on the way to such wealth.  Furthermore, we all depend entirely on God.  We depend upon each other, but we also depend completely on God.  If we think otherwise, we delude ourselves.

When one reads past Psalm 103:13, one finds this verse immediately:

For [God] knows our devisings, 

recalls that we are dust.

–Verse 14, Robert Alter

Psalm 103 goes on to speak of the transience of human lives and the timeliness of God, whose kindness to the faithful never ends.  And, as Hosea 2 tells us this week and Isaiah 43 told us last week, God chooses sometimes to forgive the faithless.

We mere mortals are dust.  If we are to have sufficiency, it must come from God, not ourselves.  May we demonstrate proper humility before God, from whose love we are inseparable.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF FANNIE LOU HAMER, PROPHET OF FREEDOM

THE FEAST OF ALBERT LISTER PEACE, ORGANIST IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

THE FEAST OF HARRIET KING OSGOOD MUNGER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALISTS HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF NEHEMIAH GOREH, INDIAN ANGLICAN PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENZINA CUSMANO, SUPERIOR OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR; AND HER BROTHER, SAINT GIACOMO CUSMANO, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR AND THE MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661

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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:  Jesus Heals the Man with Palsy, by Alexandre Bida

Image in the Public Domain

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Isaiah 43:18-25

Psalm 41 (LBW) or Psalm 130 (LW)

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Mark 2:1-12

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Lord God, we ask you to keep your family, the Church, faithful to you,

that all who lean on the hope of your promises

may gain strength from the power of your love;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 16

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God of compassion, keep before us the love

you have revealed in your Son, who prayed even for his enemies;

in our words and deeds help us to be like him

through whom we pray, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 16

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O Lord, keep your family and Church continually in the true faith

that they who lean on the hope of your heavenly grace

may ever be defended by your mighty power;

through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 28

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The key word this week is forgiveness.  A second word–faithfulness–relates to it.  As we read in 1 Corinthians 1:18, God is faithful.

I, I wipe away your transgressions for My sake,

and your offenses I do not recall.

–Isaiah 43:15, Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible:  A Translation with Commentary, Vol. 2, Prophets (2019), 766

Those are words addressed to Jews at the twilight of the Babylonian Exile.  This forgiveness is unconditional and absolute, apparently without any sign of repentance.

Psalm 130 reminds us that nobody could endure if God were to “watch for wrongs” (Robert Alter) and encourages the chosen people of God to wait for God, in whom is steadfast kindness.

Psalm 41 cites the betrayal by the author’s enemies, including a former friend.  The author, not forgiving, seeks divine vindication:

But you, LORD, take note of me to raise me up

that I may repay them.

–Psalm 41:11, The New American Bible–Revised Edition

A rejoinder from the Gospels is appropriate:

For if you forgive others, the wrongs they have done, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs that you have done.

–Matthew 6:14-15, The Revised English Bible

Forgiveness, from a human perspective, can be challenging to commit or to accept.  Committing forgiveness liberates one, regardless of the effect on the person or persons forgiven.  Lugging a grudge around is never spiritually helpful and healthy.

Forgiving someone is a matter separate from seeking justice.  Some deeds are inexcusable and indefensible.  Sometimes justice requires punishment.  Forgiveness precludes revenge, not justice.

Isaiah 43:25 occurs in a particular context.  I notice the lack of penitence and repentance between verses 24 and 25.  This does not mean that penitence and repentance are irrelevant; they occur in other passages.  Yet Isaiah 43:25 tells us that sometimes God forgives for divine purposes.

Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance throughout the Bible.  Trust nobody, O reader, who pretends to know what that balance is.  I have some guesses.  Some may be correct for the same reason for the same reason that a broken clock is correct twice a day.  Grace remains a glorious mystery.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF FANNIE LOU HAMER, PROPHET OF FREEDOM

THE FEAST OF ALBERT LISTER PEACE, ORGANIST IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

THE FEAST OF HARRIET KING OSGOOD MUNGER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALISTS HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF NEHEMIAH GOREH, INDIAN ANGLICAN PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENZINA CUSMANO, SUPERIOR OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR; AND HER BROTHER, SAINT GIACOMO CUSMANO, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS SERVANTS OF THE POOR AND THE MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE POOR

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LEDDRA, BRITISH QUAKER MARTYR IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 1661

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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:  U.S. Highway 93, Near Ely, Nevada

Image Source = Google Earth

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Isaiah 40:1-10

Psalm 85 (LBW) or Psalm 19 (LW)

2 Peter 3:8-14

Mark 1:1-8

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Stir up in our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. 

By his coming give us strength in our conflicts

and shed light on our path through the darkness of the world; 

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), 13

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Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only-begotten Son

that at his second coming we may worship him in purity;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 11

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The assigned readings for this week, taken together, are more positive in tone than last week’s readings.  God forgives us, both individually and collectively.  In Isaiah 40, the focus is on the impending end of the Babylonian Exile, followed by a second Exodus.  Yet none of this absolves us–individually and collectively–of our obligations to God and each other.  The seeming delay in divine actions is to our advantage, we read.  We–individually and collectively–need to use this gift of time well.  And, when God does act, the manner of that action may not be what we–individually and collectively–expect.  So, we may miss it if we are not properly attentive.

Expectations can be tricky.  They establish a standard of human satisfaction or disappointment.  This standard may be unfair.  We human beings are entitled to our informed opinions.  Alas, many expectations flow from uninformed opinions.  Therefore, we may unwittingly set ourselves–individually and collectively–up for disappointment.  Then we complain to God, as if God is responsible for our disappointment.

Arguing faithfully with God is my second favorite aspect of Judaism.  (Monotheism is my first.)  I, as a Christian, embrace arguing with God as part of my inheritance from Judaism.  Yet I grasp that arguing faithfully differs from merely arguing.  Merely arguing can function as a distraction from admitting how little I know.

Isaiah 40:8, in Robert Alter’s translation, reads:

Grass dries up, the flower fades,

but the word of our God stands forever.

The “word,” in this case, means what God says, not any particular canon of scripture.  The word of God, whom we can describe partially and never fully understand, stands forever.  In other words, God is faithful forever.  And God refuses to fit inside any theological box.

Does that disappoint us?  If so, it is our problem, not God’s.

I know an Episcopal priest who deals deftly with people who tell him they do not believe in God.  He asks these individuals to describe the God in whom they do not believe.  They invariably describe a deity in whom the priest does not believe either.

God created us in the divine image.  We have imagined God in our image.  Then we have become disappointed with this false image of God while mistaking it for God.  This is one of those forms of “unperceived guilt” (Psalm 19:13, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures) of which we need God to clear us.

By grace, may we perceive and frolic in the gracious surprises of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF ANNA JULIA HAYWARD COOPER AND ELIZABETH EVELYN WRIGHT, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATORS

THE FEAST OF MARY LYON, U.S. CONGREGRATIONALIST FEMINIST AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH BADGER, SR., U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER; FIRST MISSIONARY TO THE WESTERN RESERVE

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL SIMON SCHMUCKER, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND SOCIAL REFORMER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN CASSIAN AND JOHN CLIMACUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS AND SPIRITUAL WRITERS (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS DE LEON, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

THE FEAST OF PATRICK HAMILTON, FIRST SCOTTISH PROTESTANT MARTYR, 1528 (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

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Adapted from this post

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXXVIII

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Psalms 135, 136, and 138

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Psalms 135 and 136 are both litanies.  The primary difference between them is that Psalm 136 uses only response.  Robert Alter’s translation of that response is:

for His kindness is forever.

In TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures, the response is:

His steadfast love is eternal.

Psalms 135 and 136 praise God, the Creator, active in history.  They recall God’s mighty acts of deliverance.  One may reasonably imagine a postexilic Temple liturgy as returned exiles struggled to rebuild their lives in their ancestral homeland.  As they recalled what God had done, they waited for what God would do next.  Some of the people praying did so impatiently; why had God not done more and done it sooner?

Psalm 138, an individual prayer, shares a link with Psalm 136.  Psalm 138:8 reads:

The LORD will settle accounts for me.

O LORD, Your steadfast love is eternal;

do not forsake the work of Your hands.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures 

This prayer follows praise of God and remembrance of deliverance from enemies of God.  The psalmist needs rescue again.

Why has God not done more and done it sooner?  Why is divine deliverance necessary again?  This is the tension in which many individuals, families, congregations, and communities live.   Yet we recall what God has done and hope for what God will do next.  Such impatience is predictable.  I know the feeling of such impatience.  Perhaps you, O reader, know it, also.  Such impatience does not constitute an offense in my theology; it recurs throughout the Psalter and finds a relative in the Book of Job.  The spiritual issue which demands attention is what we do with it.  Do we, like Job and the Psalter, take it to God?  If so, we handle this impatience properly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 21, 2023 COMMON ERA

SHROVE TUESDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST-CARDINAL

THE FEAST OF SAINT ARNULF OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT GERMANUS OF GRANFEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND MARTYR, 677

THE FEAST OF HENRY JOHN GAUNTLETT, ANGLICAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERT SOUTHWELL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1595

THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS PORMORT, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1592

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Above:  The Harrowing of Hell, by Fra Angelico

Image in the Public Domain

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PART LXXV

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Psalms 130 and 131

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Were You, O Yah, to watch for wrongs,

Master, who could endure?

For forgiveness is Yours,

so that you may be feared.

–Psalm 130:3-4, Robert Alter

As I keep writing at this and other weblogs, “fear of God” is an unfortunate expression.  TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures captures the meaning:

Yours is the power to forgive

so that you may be held in awe.

We all have learned childhood lessons we may question or renounce later in life.  The more I mature in faith, the more I question childhood assumptions regarding theology.  I have not, for a long time, regarded entrance to Heaven as depending upon passing a divine canonical examination.  If it did, theological orthodoxy would constitute a saving work, and salvation would not be by grace.  The most recent development in my thinking regarding Hell is approaching the concept as something nearer to Purgatory–a temporary reality and state of being.  The Harrowing of Hell (1 Peter 4:6) influences me, as it has for years.  The reasoning is:  If Jesus did this once, he can do it again.

A more recent influence is Eastern Orthodox scholar David Bentley Hart, the author of Atheist Delusions:  The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (2009), the translator of a “ruthlessly literal” translation of the New Testament (2017), the author of That All Shall Be Saved:  Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation (2019), and the author of Tradition and Apocalypse:  An Essay on the Future of Christian Belief (2022).  My copy That All Shall Be Saved contains marginalia in which I critique arguments and pieces thereof.  One of Hart’s arguments proceeds from creation ex nihilo, a proposition I reject in favor of the Jewish doctrine of the creation of order from chaos (Genesis 1).  So, that particular argument does not hold water with me.  If x, then y.  If x is a faulty proposition, that particular argument collapses upon itself.  Nevertheless, Hart provides much food for thought, makes many cogent points, and offers a fine lesson in the history of theology, especially from the first five centuries of Christianity.

Hellfire-and-damnation preachers and teachers depict God as one who chomps at the bit to condemn people for their sins.  Fear–not awe, but fear–is a powerful force for controlling behavior and changing it.  Yet fear is not the approach in Psalm 130.  No, hesed–steadfast love–is the approach in Psalm 130.  And the focus in Psalm 130 is simultaneously individual and collective.

So is the focus in Psalm 131.  In Psalm 131, God is like a mother and the psalmist is like an infant.  That is a beautiful and potent image.

Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance.  A good parent loves a child.  Love includes discipline when necessary.  Yet discipline is not abuse.  God, as some of the faithful describe the deity, is an abusive and tyrannical figure.  Any “orthodoxy” which requires thinking of God in those terms is a heresy.  On the other end of the spectrum, any theology which gives short shrift to the judgment side of divine judgment and mercy is heretical, too.  I do not pretend to know what the balance of divine judgment and mercy is, but my theology favors mercy more often than judgment.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS COLMAN OF LINDISFARNE, AGILBERT, AND WILFRID, BISHOPS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS BARBASYMAS, SADOTH OF SELEUCIA, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 342

THE FEAST OF EDWARD SHIPPEN BARNES, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN ORGANIST, COMPOSER, AND WRITER

THE FEAST OF BLESSED GUIDO DI PIETRO, A.K.A. FRA ANGELICO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND ARTIST

THE FEAST OF JAMES DRUMMOND BURNS, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES DANIEL FALK, GERMAN POET, HYMN WRITER, AND SOCIAL WORKER

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXXIV

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Psalms 124 and 129

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Let Israel now say,

we read in Psalms 124 and 129.

The ancient Hebrews were not naive; they understood geopolitical perils, the Fall of Samaria, the Fall of Jerusalem, and the Babylonian Exile.  In subsequent generations, they also understood the Seleucid oppression and the Roman occupation.  Furthermore, Jews of the Diaspora understood localized oppression and marginalization.  Generations of ancient Jews prayed Psalms 124 and 129 in full awareness of repression and national defeat.  Through it all, they prayed:

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

maker of heaven and earth.

–Psalm 124:8, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

They also prayed:

The LORD is just.

He has slashed the bonds of the wicked.

–Psalm 129:4, Robert Alter

Why not?  Divine love is always more powerful than human hatred.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 17, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF AUGUST CRULL, GERMAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, POET, PROFESSOR, HYMNODIST, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTONI LESZCZEWICZ, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 1943

THE FEAST OF EDWARD HOPPER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JANINI LUWUM, UGANDAN ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP AND MARTYR, 1977

THE FEAST OF JOHANN HEERMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN MEYENDORFF, RUSSIAN-FRENCH-AMERICAN ORTHODOX PRIEST, SCHOLAR, AND ECUMENIST

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXIX

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Psalms 114 and 115

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Psalms 114 and 115 are one psalm in the Septuagint.

Before I address the content these texts, I note that the Latin text of the opening line of Psalm 115 is

Non nobis, Domine.

This calls to mind Patrick Doyle’s superb track of that title from his soundtrack to Henry V (1989).

Walter Brueggemann tells us that exile and exodus are the two major themes of the Hebrew Bible.  Both themes feature prominently in Psalm 114, which fixates on water.  The text opens with the Exodus from Egypt, continues with the crossing of the River Jordan, and concludes (out of chronological order) with the supplying of water in the Sinai Desert.  Psalm 114 celebrates the Exodus from Egypt as

an event through which all nature came to see the power of power of God.  The exodus is a cosmic theophany that alters the course of nature.

—The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), 1397

Internal evidence may support composition following the death of King Solomon (928 B.C.E.) and prior to the Fall of Samaria (722 B.C.E.); verse 2 mentions Israel and Judah side-by-side.  Yet the germane note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) posits a different hypothesis:

The language suggest that this is a late psalm and is commemorating the return from the Babylonian exile.

–1397

Regardless of the temporal origin of Psalm 114, the merger of that text with Psalm 115 in the Septuagint makes sense.  The second seems to flow from the first.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us

but to Your name give glory

for Your kindness and Your steadfast truth.

–Psalm 115:1, Robert Alter

Psalm 115 contrasts YHWH with the false gods of the nations.  The text–like other Biblical texts which condemn idolatry–overlooks an important distinction, though.  We must, if we are to understand this matter accurately, realize that the ancients regarded objects–such as statues–as items their deities briefly inhabited, and through which the worshipers encountered their gods.  The Letter of Jeremiah, a.k.a. the sixth chapter of Baruch, for example, likewise fails to make this distinction; it is too caught up in invective and polemic to use nuanced language.

Psalm 115 addresses the faith community of YHWH, defined by YHWH.  Exegetes disagree wither the reference to “You who fear the LORD” includes Gentiles who worshiped YHWH.  We do know, however, that Gentiles who worshiped YHWH became part of Israel in the Hebrew Bible.  Yet, if the hypothesis that Psalm 115 dates to the period following the Babylonian Exile is accurate, an anti-Gentile attitude may exist in this text.  Psalm 115, despite declaring that YHWH is the sole deity and that the heavens belong to YHWH, does not emphasize universalist tendencies.

Psalm 115 also indicates a belief in Sheol:

The dead do not praise the LORD

nor all who go down into silence.

–Verse 17, Robert Alter

This theological position places Psalm 115 no later than a particular phase of the postexilic period, given the historical development of Jewish doctrines of the afterlife.  Psalm 115:17 indisputably precedes the Apocalypse of John, in which the dead in Heaven praise God.

Psalm 115, which speaks of the divine blessings of prosperity and children, envisions a three-tiered cosmos.  God lives in the heavens, the earth is the domain of human beings, and the dead reside in the underworld.  This is also the assumption in the New Testament, hence Christ’s descent into Hades and his Ascension into Heaven.

Another prominent theme in Psalm 115 is the call to trust in YHWH.  Why not?  Witness Psalm 114, for example, O reader.

Idols abound.  They need not be false deities.  An idol is anything which or anyone who functions as an idol for a person.  The definition of an idol depends on function.  An idol for one person may not be an idol for another person.  And an idol may be either tangible or intangible.  For example, a sports team or an idea may be an idol for Person A yet not for Person B.  An idol distracts someone from God.  One cannot trust in God if one is distracted from God.

So, O reader, what are your idols?  We all have our collections of idols.  If we are wise, we will acknowledge this fact and ask God to reveal them to us.  And, just as individuals have collections of idols, so do groups of people.  Psalm 115 speaks of and to nations, not individuals.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 12, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF ABSALOM JONES, RICHARD ALLEN, AND JARENA LEE, EVANGELISTS AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN SCHMOLCK, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHARLES FREER ANDREWS, ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF JULIA WILLIAMS GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN ABOLITIONIST AND EDUCATOR; HER HUSBAND, HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND ABOLITIONIST; HIS SECOND WIFE, SARAH J. SMITH TOMPKINS GARNET, AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUFFRAGETTE AND EDUCATOR; HER SISTER, SUSAN MARIA SITH MCKINNEY STEWARD, AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHYSICIAN; AND HER SECOND HUSBAND, THEOPHILUS GOULD STEWARD, U.S. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL MINISTER, ARMY CHAPLAIN, AND PROFESSOR

THE FEAST OF MICHAEL WEISSE, GERMAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER AND TRANSLATOR; AND JAN ROH, BOHEMIAN MORAVIAN BISHOP AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ORANGE SCOTT, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER, ABOLITIONIST, AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION

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READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART LXIV

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Psalms 105, 106, 107, 126, and 137

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Psalms 106, 126, and 137 reflect the harrowing experience of the Babylonian Exile.  Psalms 105, 106, and 107 are similar yet different. Hence, I write based on these five psalms in this post.

The Hebrew Bible has a small collection of repeated “God is…” statements.  The more common manner of explaining divine attributes is to recall what God has done and to state what God does.  By extension, we humans–both collectively and individually–are like what we do and have done.  Judaism, having neither invented nor accepted Augustinian Original Sin, teaches that we can keep the covenant if only we will; doing so is neither beyond our reach nor too difficult for us (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).  Sirach 15:15, a Jewish text from the Hellenistic period, agrees:

If you wish, you can keep the commandments,

and to behave faithfully is within your power.

—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Psalms 105, 106, and 107, taken together, present a stark contrast between divine faithfulness and human infidelity, with its terrible consequences.

Although Robert Alter dates the composition of Psalm 137 to the early part of the Babylonian Exile, The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014) places composition after the Babylonian Exile.  Either way, the anger and resentment of exiles is palpable in the text.  Why should it not be so?  The treacherous Edomites bear the brunt of particularly potent venom.  Without attempting a justification of

Happy who seizes and smashes your infants against the rock,

(to quote Robert Alter’s translation), I ask one question:

What else did you expect?

Treating a population harshly frequently and predictably leads to such resentment, complete with revenge fantasies.

Etymology tells us that the English word “anger” derives from the Old Norse angr, meaning “grief.”  We mourn that which we have lost.  So, we become angry.  If all we do with that anger is to take it to God, we do well.  However, if we permit that anger to consume us, we harm ourselves.

Whether Psalm 126 anticipates the end of the Babylonian Exile or reflects upon it, having happened, is a matter of scholarly debate.  Either way, the juxtaposition of Psalm 126 to Psalms 106 and 137 works well and continues the story.  That God ended the Babylonian Exile pays off Psalm 106:47:

Deliver us, O LORD our God,

and gather us from among the nations.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail a portion of the troubles returned exiles endured.  Beside those books one may properly read the conclusion of Psalm 126:

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like watercourses in the Negeb.

Those who sow in tears

shall reap with songs of joy.

Though he goes along weeping,

carrying the seed-bag,

he shall come back with songs of joy,

carrying his sheaves.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HELDER CAMARA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF OLINDA AND RECIFE

THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBERT NIERYCHLEWSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1942

THE FEAST OF DANIEL J. HARRINGTON, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF GREGORIO ALLEGRI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, COMPOSER, AND SINGER; AND HIS BROTHER, DOMENICO ALLEGRI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND SINGER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MOSES, APOSTLE TO THE SARACENS

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM BOYCE AND JOHN ALCOCK, ANGLICAN COMPOSERS

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