Devotion for the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B (ILCW Lectionary)

Above:  Elijah in the Wilderness, by Washington Allston

Image in the Public Domain

Eternal Life and Communal Life

AUGUST 11, 2024

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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)

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1 Kings 19:4-8

Psalm 34:1-8

Ephesians 4:30-5:2

John 6:41-51

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Almighty and everlasting God,

you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray,

and to give us more than we either desire or deserve. 

Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,

forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,

and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask,

except through the merit of your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 26

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Almighty and everlasting God,

always more ready to hear than we to pray

and always ready to give more than we either desire or deserve,

pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,

forgiving us the good things we are not worthy to ask

but through the merits and mediation

of 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), 74

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Just as the Kingdom of God is simultaneously present and future in the Synoptic Gospels, eternal life is present for those who follow Jesus.  “Eternal” carries a range of meanings in the Bible, depending upon the author one reads.  In the Johannine tradition, it means “of God,” and eternal life is knowing God via Jesus.  This definition differs from the Pauline tradition of eternal life–a blessed afterlife.   Yet consider, O reader, that the present tense of eternal life in the Gospel of John is consistent with the Realized Eschatology of the Johannine Gospel.

Amen, Amen, I say to you,

one who believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

–John 6:47-48, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

Ephesians 5:1 tells us–collectively, in context–to “become imitators of God.”  The textual context, flowing from chapter 4, is mutuality under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Forgiveness is a key feature of this model of communal life (4:32).  This is bold living.  In the historical context of the Epistle to the Ephesians, this is bold living amid a hostile culture.  So, amid hostility and persecution, the faith community could pray, in the words of Psalm 34:3:

In the LORD do I glory.

Let the lowly hear and rejoice.

–Robert Alter

Boldness had defined Elijah’s actions as recently as 1 Kings 18.  Yet, not surprisingly, Elijah’s massacre of the prophets of Baal Peor had displeased Queen Jezebel of Israel.  So, Elijah had abandoned all boldness, started hiding out in the wilderness, and commenced a pity party.  The prophet forgot about the one hundred prophets of YHWH safely hidden and supplied with food and drink in two caves (1 Kings 18:4).  If Queen Jezebel had succeeded in having Elijah killed, one hundred prophets of YHWH would have carried on his work.

Fear and ego may blind us to a key fact:  Although each of us has work from God, that work will continue via other people (agents of God) if we move away, chicken out, et cetera.  God’s work does not depend solely on you, O reader, or on me.  Nevertheless, you and I have an obligation to God to fulfill faithfully the work God has assigned us.

I lived in Athens, Georgia, for sixteen years and two months.  While there, I became so active in St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church that I became part of the woodwork, so to speak.  Immediately before I left, I had been teaching a lectionary discussion class, serving as the parish librarian, and scheduling the lectors and the money counters for a few years.  The COVID-19 pandemic had abruptly terminated the sixth year of my parish movie series in March 2020.  The film series had not resumed when I left Athens in October 2021.  Before I left, more than one person asked me how the work I did in the parish would continue.  I reassured them that the work would continue.  After I left, four people replaced me within short order.  Then a fifth person started a new movie series.

God is central.  Also, in faith community, each person is important, yet nobody is irreplaceable.  God grants spiritual gifts as necessary.  So, lest we forget this, we may need to get over ourselves.  Eternal life is her; may we–as faith communities and as individuals–frolic in it and in so doing, become imitators of God, like beloved children.  May we not grieve the Holy Spirit.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 12, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; AND HIS NEPHEW, WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST

THE FEAST OF CARL F. PRICE, U.S. METHODIST HYMNOLOGIST AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT DAVID URIBE-VELASCO, MEXICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1927

THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIUS I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA OF JESUS OF THE ANDES, CHILEAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZENO OF VERONA, BISHOP

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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