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:  Christ Before Pilate, by Mihály Munkácsy

Image in the Public Domain

Judgment and Mercy

NOVEMBER 24, 2024

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Daniel 7:13-14 (LBW, LW) or Isaiah 51:4-6 (LW)

Psalm 93 (LBW) or Psalm 130 (LW)

Revelation 1:4b-8 (LBW, LW) or Jude 20-25 (LW)

John 18:33-37 (LBW, LW) or Mark 13:32-37 (LW)

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Almighty and everlasting God,

whose will it is to restore all things to your beloved Son,

whom you anointed priest forever and king of all creation;

Grant that all the people of the earth,

now divided by the power of sin,

may be united under the glorious and gentle rule

of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 30

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Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth your Son, we pray,

that he may lead home his bride, the Church,

that we with all the redeemed may enter into your eternal kingdom;

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), 94

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The Last Sunday After Pentecost culminates some apocalyptic themes that have been building for a few weeks.  This Sunday also stands at the crossroads of ecclesiastical time as those themes continue into Advent.  God is the king, we read.  And Jesus is a sort of king, although not the type of king people expected, we read.

This time, I prefer to focus not on the “usual suspects,” but on Isaiah 51:4-6 and Psalm 130.

1. Isaiah 51:4-6 comes from Second Isaiah, preparing exiles for freedom.  The text dates to about one year prior to the termination of the Babylonian Exile.  From this pivot point we read of the impending victory and of a directive to learn from God, never defeated.
2. Divine mercy permeates Psalm 130.  We read that God forgives, and that nobody could stand if God were to mark iniquities.  Consistent with Psalm 130 is Psalm 103, which tells us that God, who knows that we are dust, does not repay us according to our iniquities, and that divine anger does not persist forever.

Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance in the Old and New Testaments.  God knows that balance; we mere mortals cannot grasp it.  As Karl Barth‘s theology insists, the divine “no” works for God’s “yes.”  God is neither a warm fuzzy nor the deity of hellfire-and-damnation preachers.  God, who balances judgment and mercy, is a monarch worthy of respect, awe, and cherishing.

So, O reader, as we stand near the cusp of the transition from one church year to the next one, I encourage you to take that thought into Advent.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 12, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GERMANUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND DEFENDER OF ICONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF OSTIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, CARDINAL, AND LEGATE; AND SAINT DOMINIC OF THE CAUSEWAY, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT

THE FEAST OF PAUL MAZAKUTE, FIRST SIOUX EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF ROGER SCHÜTZ, FOUNDER OF THE TAIZÉ COMMUNITY

THE FEAST OF SYLVESTER II, BISHOP OF ROME

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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 Christ Pantocrator

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Suffering and Spiritual Doltage

OCTOBER 20, 2024

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Isaiah 53:10-12

Psalm 91:9-16

Hebrews 4:9-15

Mark 10:35-45

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Almighty and everlasting God,

in Christ you revealed your glory among the nations. 

Preserve the works of your mercy,

that your Church throughout the world may persevere

with steadfast faith in the confession of your name;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 28

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Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us

that we may continually be given to good works;

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), 86

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In historical context, (Second) Isaiah 53:10-12 is about the Jews–a seemingly unimportant group of people–as they approached the conclusion of the Babylonian Exile.  They had suffered greatly.  Yet they, having survived, had suffered in such a way as to benefit exiles.  Second Isaiah, writing circa 540 B.C.E., looked ahead about one year, to freedom, not five and a half centuries, to Jesus of Nazareth.

Suffering is also a theme in Psalm 91.  Biblically, well-being is in God.  So, suffering for the sake of righteousness does not preclude the maintenance of well-being.

Speaking of suffering and Jesus, we turn to the New Testament.  The inappropriate request of Sts. James and John (sons of Zebedee and first cousins of Jesus) immediately follows Mark 10:32-34, a prediction of the Passion of Jesus.  The other bookend is Mark 10:46-52, in which Jesus heals a blind man.  The bookends comment upon the lection in Mark:  Sts. James and John were blind to the Passion of Jesus and the cost of discipleship shortly prior to the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11).

Yet Sts. James, John, and the other disciples did not have a monopoly on spiritual doltage.  So, as we turn to ourselves and to the Epistle to the Hebrews, may we also turn to Jesus, the sinless high priest who empathizes with us.  Are we as forgiving of our foibles and ourselves as Jesus is?  Are we as forgiving of the foibles and sins of other people as Jesus is?  And, returning to the theme of suffering, do we identify our suffering with that of Jesus, who identifies with us–as individuals, communities, and a species?

All these questions may present challenges.  So be it.  We need not face these challenges on our own strength.  Indeed, we cannot do so.

Let us, then, approach the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and to find grace in time f need.

–Hebrews 4:16, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 2, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA; PATRIARCH; AND SAINT ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, PATRIARCH AND “FATHER OF ORTHODOXY”

THE FEAST OF CHARLES SILVESTER HORNE, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HASSE, GERMAN-BRITISH MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF ELIAS BOUDINOT, IV, U.S. STATESMAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND WITNESS FOR CIVIL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF JULIA BULKLEY CADY CORY, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIGISMUND OF BURGUNDY, KING; SAINT CLOTILDA, FRANKISH QUEEN; AND SAINT CLODOALD, FRANKISH PRINCE AND ABBOT

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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:  Cross Out Slums, by the U.S. Office of War Information, 1943-1945

Image in the Public Domain

National Archives and Record Administration ID 513549

Judgment and Mercy

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

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Isaiah 50:4-10

Psalm 116:1-8

James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18

Mark 8:27-35

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O God, you declare your almighty power

chiefly in showing mercy and pity. 

Grant us the fullness of your grace,

that, pursuing what you have promised,

we may share your heavenly glory;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 27

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O God, without whose blessing we are not able to please you,

mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit

may in all things direct and govern our hearts;

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), 80

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Deuteronomistic theology–ubiquitous in the Hebrew Bible–teaches that the Babylonian Exile was justified punishment for centuries collective and habitual disregard of the Law of Moses.  This is the position of Second Isaiah shortly prior to the promised vindication of the exiles by God.  Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

Many exiles did not expect the Babylonian Exile to end; they had become accustomed to the status quo and fallen into despair.  This was psychologically predictable.

Likewise, St. Simon Peter, immediately following his confession of faith in Jesus, did not expect the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  And how many Christians have expected to suffer and perhaps to die for their faith?  Yet many have taken up their crosses and followed Jesus to humiliation and/or martyrdom.  St. (John) Mark, supposedly the author of the Gospel of Mark, died by dragging through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt.

The messages in the lection from James 2 may shock some people, too.  The category of the “deserving poor” is old, even in traditionally Christian cultures.  The opposite category, of course, is the “underserving poor.”  So, allegedly, we may help the “deserving poor” and ignore the “undeserving poor” with a clear moral conscience, right?  Wrong!  The categories of the “deserving poor” and the “undeserving poor,” taken together, constitute a morally invalid and false dichotomy.  God takes mistreating the poor seriously.  All of the poor are the “deserving poor.”

Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy, but mercy triumphs over judgment.

–James 2:13, The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

James 2:13 is consistent with the Sermon on the Mount:

Judge not, that you may not be judged; For by whatever verdict you pass judgment you shall be judged, and in whatever measure you measure it will be meted out to you.

–Matthew 7:1-2, David Bentley Hart, The New Testament:  A Translation (2017)

Clarence Jordan‘s Cotton Patch Version of the Gospel of Matthew puts a Southern Low Church Protestant spin on these verses:

Don’t preach just to keep from getting preached to.  For the same sermon you preach will be applied to you, and the stuff you dish out will be dished up to you.

Jordan’s rendering of James 2:13 also gets to the point:

For there is merciless judgment on a merciless man, and mercy is much more preferred than judgment.

Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF EASTER

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN, MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND “PASTOR OF THE REFORMATION”

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND SAINTS GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHIARA BOSATTA, CO-FOUNDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SAINT MARY OF PROVIDENCE

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN X, KING OF DENMARK AND ICELAND; AND HIS BROTHER, HAAKON VII, KING OF NORWAY

THE FEAST OF MARION MACDONALD KELLARAN, EPISCOPAL SEMINARY PROFESSOR AND LAY READER

THE FEAST OF ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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 and His Disciples

Image in the Public Domain

Agents of God

SEPTEMBER 8, 2024

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Isaiah 35:4-71

Psalm 146

James 1:17-22 (23-25)

Mark 7:31-37

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Almighty and eternal God,

you know our problems and our weaknesses

better than we ourselves. 

In your love and by your power help us in our confusion,

and, in spite of our weaknesses, make us firm in faith;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 27

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Grant, merciful Lord, to your faithful people pardon and peace

that they may be cleansed from all their sins

and serve you with a quiet mind;

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), 79

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The Epistle of James may be the ultimate New Testament text about shaping up morally, in community context.  Its orientation toward works has commended it to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.  That orientation has also made many Protestants, still hung over theologically over 1517, squirm in their chairs.  So be it.

God is central.  God has issued decrees for our own benefit.  God demands social justice, especially of the economic variety.  God, in Isaiah 34, vowed to transform the lands of Judah’s enemies into a desert.  In Isaiah 35, however, God promised to transform the desert into a blooming, well-watered place in time for the exodus following the termination of the Babylonian Exile.  God acts in surprising ways sometimes.

Mark 7:31-37 tells us of Jesus healing a deaf man.  This man could not participate in his community until Christ healed him.  And, of course, people were going to spread news of this healing, with its dramatic results.

You, O reader, and I may not be able to give any deaf person the sense the hearing, but we can reach out to marginalized people and treat them with dignity.  God may provide some form of healing, through us, and experience may transform us positively, too.  What we do matters.  What we do not do also matters.  The ways in which God acts through us may surprise us.

Will we cooperate with God?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 17, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE NINTH DAY OF EASTER

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 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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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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:  Marriage Cross

Image in the Public Domain

Being Subject to One Another

AUGUST 25, 2024

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Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18

Psalm 34:15-22

Ephesians 5:21-31

John 6:60-69

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God of all creation,

you reach out to call people of all nations to your kingdom. 

As you gather disciples from near and far,

count us also among those

who boldly confess your Son Jesus Christ as Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 27

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O almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life,

grant us without doubt to know your Son Jesus Christ

to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life

that, following his steps,

we may steadfastly walk in the say that leads to eternal life;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 77

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Cultural context is crucial.  Consider that assertion, O reader, as we ponder Ephesians 5:21-31.

1. Patriarchy was ubiquitous.  The text did not question it.  We may justly question patriarchy, though.
2. A household was like a small fortress with bolted outer gates and inner doors.  These security measures were necessary because the society lacked domestic police forces.
3. Wives were frequently much younger than their husbands.
4. So, the theme of reciprocal service and protection within marriage was relatively progressive.  The husband had the duty to sacrifice himself to protect his wife, if necessary.

David Bentley Hart translates 5:21 to read:

Being stationed under one another in reverence for the Anointed, ….

The Revised New Jerusalem Bible offers a variation on the standard English-language translation:

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

J. B. Phillips‘s final translation (1972) of the New Testament provides a different and thought-provoking version of this verse:

And “fit in with” each other, because of your common reverence for Christ.

Clarence Jordan‘s version of this epistle, the Letter to the Christians in Birmingham, renders this verse as follows:

Put yourselves under one another with Christ-like respect.

I, without justifying ancient social norms I find objectionable, do try to understand them in context.  I also recognize that a text says what it says, not what (a) I wish it ways, and (b) what it may superficially seem to say.  So, within the context of ancient Roman society, we have a text about reciprocal service and protection within marriage.  The text makes clear that there is no room for exploitation in marriage.  The model for the husband is Jesus, who laid down his life.

Speaking of Jesus, he lost some followers in John 6:66.  Yet may we say with St. Simon Peter:

Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life, and we know that you are the Holy One of God.

—The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

The theme of the importance of following God exists in Joshua 24, a book edited together from various sources after the Babylonian Exile.  The Book of Joshua benefits from centuries of hindsight.  Other portions of the Hebrew Bible tell us which choice–polytheism–adherents of the Hebrew folk religion made for centuries.  Yet the authorial voice in the sources of the Hebrew Bible is that of the priestly religion.  This is appropriate.

Serve God and God alone, that authorial voice repeats.  Avoid idolatry and practical atheism, it tells us again and again.  This is a message for the community first and the individual second.  Western rugged individualism is alien to the Bible.

If we apply the advice to be subject to one another/fit in with each other/be stationed under one another/put ourselves under one another out of reverence for Christ–or God, if you, O reader, prefer–to our communities, congregations, and mature (as opposed to casual or immature) relationships, we will have stronger communities, congregations, and mature relationships.  To value other people because of who they are–not what they can do for us–is to orientate relationships in a mutually healthy direction.  Everyone benefits, regardless of the cultural context, with its societal norms.  This approach, if it becomes normative, will transform those societal norms for the common good.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 14, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTH DAY OF EASTER

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

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

THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL, COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIEN BOTOVASOA, MALAGASY ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1947

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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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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:  King Jeroboam II of Israel

Image in the Public Domain

Not Nullified

JULY 14, 2024

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Amos 7:1-15

Psalm 85:8-13 (LBW) or Psalm 126 (LW)

Ephesians 1:3-14

Mark 6:7-14

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Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word. 

By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy,

live according to it,

and grow in faith and hope and love;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

or

Lord God, use our lives to touch the world with your love. 

Stir us, by your Spirit, to be neighbors to those in need,

serving them with willing hearts;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25

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O almighty and most merciful God,

of your bountiful goodness keep us, we pray,

from all things that may hurt us that we,

being ready in both body and soul,

may cheerfully accomplish whatever things you want done;

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), 69

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The (northern) Kingdom of Israel was doing relatively well.  King Jeroboam II (reigned 788-747 B.C.E.) sat on the throne in Samaria.  The borders were secure and the army was strong.  The economy was thriving.  The economy, in the aggregate, was thriving.  Yet the Neo-Assyrian Empire was a developing foreign threat.  Also, corruption, artificial scarcity, and rampant poverty constituted domestic threats.

Briefly, into this context stepped Amos of Tekoa, a sheep herder and a tender of sycamore trees from the (southern) Kingdom of Judah.  He preached a message of doom and gloom.  The message of the fall of the dynasty then the kingdom constituted treason in Jeroboam II’s Israel.  Yet Amos was correct.  King Jeroboam II died in 747 B.C.E.  His dynasty fell later that year.  And the (norhtern) Kingdom of Israel, reduced to vassalage in the ensuing years, fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C.E.

The rejection of God’s message does not nullify it.

The assigned psalms exist in temporal and spiritual tension.  God has delivered the people.  God, please deliver them again.  Lord, please save us from our oppressors.

Not yet.

Given the history of oppressions of the Jewish people, these psalms have a sad, timeless quality.  Yes, they stem from a historical situation, but one could have prayed Psalms 85 and 1 26 just as plaintively after the Fall of Samaria as after the Fall of Jerusalem as during the difficult early decades following the end of the Babylonian Exile, during the Seleucid persecution, and during many periods since then.  Collective arrogance and the disregard of moral obligations of the Law of Moses were as much perils as hostile foreign governments.

We ought to read Mark 6:7-13 in the context of 6:1-6.  As I read them together on the page, the contrast between verses 5-6 and 13 is obvious.  One motif in the Gospels is that rejection of the message of God/Jesus stymied the performance of works of power, and that acceptance of the message facilitated the performance of such works of power.

Just as Jesus was the source of his disciples’ authority and power, he is the source of Christians’ “filial adoption” (verse 5) and his blood is the source of our “fee for liberation, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (verse 7), to quote David Bentley Hart’s translation of the New Testament.  That is especially impressive for one whom many in religious authority had rejected and whom Pontius Pilate had ordered crucified.  May we also recall that most of the Twelve died as martyrs and that the Gospels teach that each Christian should take up a cross and follow Jesus.

The rejection of God’s message does not nullify it.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 9, 2023 COMMON ERA

EASTER DAY

THE FEAST OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MARTYR, 1945

THE FEAST OF JOHANN CRUGER, GERMAN LUTHERAN ORGANIST, COMPOSER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR

THE FEAST OF JOHN SAMUEL BEWLEY MONSELL, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND POET; AND RICHARD MANT, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF DOWN, CONNOR, AND DROMORE

THE FEAST OF LYDIA EMILIE GRUCHY, FIRST FEMALE MINISTER IN THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN LITURGIST, BISHOP OF TURKU, AND “FATHER OF FINNISH LITERARY LANGUAGE”

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LAW, ANGLICAN PRIEST, MYSTIC, AND SPIRITUAL WRITER

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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 Raising of Jairus’ Daughter, by Paolo Veronese

Image in the Public Domain

Never Alone

JUNE 30, 2024

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Lamentations 3:22-33

Psalm 30 (LBW) or Psalm 121 (LW)

2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-14

Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43 or Mark 5:24b-34

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O God, you have prepared for those who love you

joys beyond understanding. 

Pour into our hearts such love for you that,

loving you above all things,

we may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 25

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O God, because you have prepared for those who love you

such good things as surpass our understanding,

pour into our hearts such love towards you that we,

loving you above all things,

may obtain your promises,

which exceed all that we can desire;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 67

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Lamentations is hardly the most exuberant book in the canon of Jewish and Christian scripture.  Its name is accurate; the book contains lamentations from the Babylonian Exile.  Lamentations likens God to a predator–a lurking bear and a lion (verse 10).  The male persona in chapter 3 writes that God has mangled him, shot him full of arrows, broken his teeth on gravel, and ground him into the dust.  This persona–representing the exiles–then states that he still has hope in God, who does not reject forever, but afflicts then pardons.  Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.

That remarkable statement of collective faith is consistent with Psalms 30 and 121, in which God protects people.  That remarkable statement of collective faith is consistent with the ethos of 2 Corinthians 8:1-14, in which God provides for people via other people.  That statement of collective faith is consistent with the double healing in Mark 5, in which the body of Christ destroyed the cause of the desperate woman’s ritual impurity and Jesus restored a daughter to her bereft father.

We do not always receive what we seek, at least when we think we should receive it.  We may, for example, pray for the healing of one who is seriously ill.  Yet that person may die.  Or we may receive what we prayed for, but later than we anticipated.  But God still cares.  And we have human agents of grace all around us.  We may recognize this fact if we pay attention.  Furthermore, God can still act directly.  Our perspective is limited.  We do not always distinguish between needs and wants, between what is best and what is not.  Yet we are never alone.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 6, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE THIRTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT

MAUNDY/HOLY THURSDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 413

THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, GREEK AND LATIN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

THE FEAST OF DANGIEL G. C. WU, CHINESE-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF EMIL BRUNNER, SWISS REFORMED THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF MILNER BALL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, LAW PROFESSOR, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AND HUMANITARIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT NOKTER BALBULUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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This is post #1050 of ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS.

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

Above:  Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

Hope

NOVEMBER 26, 2023

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Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23-24 (LBW, LW) or Isaiah 65:17-25 (LW)

Psalm 95:1-7a (LBW) or Psalm 130 (LW)

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (LBW, LW) or 2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-10a, 13 (LW)

Matthew 25:31-46 (LBW, LW) or Matthew 25:1-13 (LW)

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Almighty and everlasting God,

whose will it is to restore all things to your beloved Son,

whom you anointed priest forever and king of all creation;

Grant that all the people of the earth,

now divided by the power of sin,

may be united under the glorious and gentle rule

of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 30

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Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth your Son, we pray,

that he may lead home his bride, the Church,

that we with all the redeemed may enter into your eternal kingdom;

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), 94

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I wrote about Matthew 25:31-46 in the previous post in this series and about Matthew 25:1-13 here.

We–you, O reader, and I–have arrived at the end of Year A of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship Lectionary (1973).

This journey concludes on divine judgment and mercy, ever in balance and beyond human comprehension.  Much of this divine judgment and mercy exists in the context of impending apocalypse, in certain readings.  Maintaining hope can prove challenging to maintain during difficult times, but that is another motif.  Apocalypse offers hope for God’s order on Earth.

1. We read of YHWH as the Good Shepherd (in contrast to bad shepherds–Kings of Israel and Judah) in Ezekiel 34, during the Babylonian Exile.
2. Third Isaiah (in Isaiah 65) offered comfort to people who had expected to leave the Babylonian Exile and to return to a verdant paradise.  Instead, they returned to their ancestral homeland, which was neither verdant nor a paradise.
3. Psalm 130 exists in the shadow of death–the depths of Sheol.
4. Even the crucifixion of Jesus became a means of bestowing hope (1 Corinthians 15).

So, may we all cling to hope in God.  The lectionary omits the parts of Psalm 95 that recall the faithlessness in the desert after the Exodus.  No, we read the beginning of Psalm 95; we read an invitation to trust in the faithfulness of God and to worship sovereign YHWH.  We read that we are the sheep of YHWH’s pasture (see Ezekiel 34, too).

We are sheep prone to stray prone to stray.  We have a Good Shepherd, fortunately.

If You keep account of sins, O LORD,

Lord, who will survive?

Yours is the power to forgive

so that You may be held in awe.

–Psalm 130:3-4, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Hope always exists in God.  So, are we mere mortals willing to embrace that hope?

As I type these words, I know the struggle to maintain hope.  For the last few years, current events have mostly driven me to despair.  Know, O reader, that when I write about trusting and hoping in God, I write to myself as much as I write to you.  I am no spiritual giant; I do not have it all figured out.  Not even spiritual giants have it all figured out; they know this.  They also grasp that no mere mortal can ever figure everything out anyway.

God has figured everything out.  That must suffice.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 24, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE, MARTYR

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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:  Madonna and Child, by Filippo Lippi

Image in the Public Domain

Like a Child in Its Mother’s Arms

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

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Malachi 2:1-2, 4-10 (LBW, LW) or Job 14:1-6 (LW)

Psalm 131 (LBW) or Psalm 90:1-12 (LW)

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (LW) or 1 Thessalonians 2:8-13 (LBW, LW)

Matthew 23:1-12 (LBW, LW) or Mathew 24:15-28 (LW)

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Lord God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds

by your Holy Spirit that,

always keeping in mind the end of all things and the day of judgment,

we may be stirred up to holiness here

and may live with you forever in the world to come,

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 29

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O Lord, absolve your people from their offenses

that from the bonds of sins,

which by reason of our weakness we have brought upon us,

we may be delivered by your bountiful goodness;

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), 91

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Malachi 2:3 is not an assigned verse.  I suppose that hearing it read aloud in church would raise some awkward issues and prompt gasps of shock.  Set in the context of priests offering sacrifices wrongly after the end of the Babylonian Exile, Malachi 2:3 reads:

I will put your seed under a ban, and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festal sacrifices, and you shall be carried out to its [heap].

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures 

God seems to take proper worship seriously in Malachi 2.

For all the John 3:16 signs at sporting events, I cannot recall one Malachi 2:3 sign.  Perhaps a wiseacre should correct that oversight.

Eschatological overtones in the New Testament combine with musings about the human condition and about trust in God in the Hebrew Bible.  Psalm 131 speaks of individual and collective trust in God, described in maternal terms.  Matters individual and collective are inseparable, as John Donne (1572-1631) wrote:

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Therefore, in faith community, encouraging one another is part of

a life worthy of God.

–1 Thessalonians 2:12, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Lives worthy of God, by grace, build up people.  Lives worthy of God seek and find the common good.  Lives worthy of God play out both individually and collectively.  Lives worthy of God remain deeply flawed–sinful.  That is the human condition.  Yet these lives do not wallow in that sin.  No, these lives

…keep tranquil and quiet

like a child in its mother’s arms,

as content as a child that has been weaned.

–Psalm 131:2, The Jerusalem Bible (1966).

Consider that image, O reader.  Live accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 24, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW THE APOSTLE, MARTYR

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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:  Statue of Tiberius

Image in the Public Domain

The Sovereignty of God

OCTOBER 29, 2023

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Isaiah 45:1-7

Psalm 96

1 Thessalonians 1:1-5a

Matthew 22:15-21

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Almighty and everlasting God,

in Christ you revealed your glory among the nations. 

Preserve the works of your mercy,

that your Church throughout the world may persevere

with steadfast faith in the confession of your name;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 28

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Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us

that we may continually be given to good works;

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), 86

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The Roman census tax of one denarius (a day’s wage for a laborer) per year reminded the people of their subjugation.  The denarius in the story from Matthew 22 bore the image of the emperor Tiberius, as well as the Latin inscription that translates as

Tiberius Caesar, Divine Son of Augustus.

The coin was a graven image, according to the Law of Moses.  When Jesus requested to see the coin and one of the Herodians produced it, Christ reversed the trap meant for him.  Jesus taught that God outranked Tiberius and deserved full allegiance.  It was a skillful answer that got him in trouble with nobody among the Romans, whose soldiers were watching the religious pilgrims filling Jerusalem ahead of Passover, the annual celebration of the Exodus from slavery in Egypt.  And those Jewish religious leaders could not dispute that God deserved complete allegiance.

Most Jews of the time assumed that, regardless of the name of the Roman emperor at any given moment, Satan was the power behind the throne.  Jesus taught that Tiberius, despite himself, had to answer to and worked for God.  That would have been news to Tiberius.

The assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible affirm the sovereignty of God, evident in nature, as well as in potentates, the moral characters of whom varied.  The Bible favors Cyrus II of the Persians and the Medes, who ended the Babylonian Exile.  In fact, most Persian kings named in the Bible–except in that work of fiction called the Book of Esther–receive good press.

God is sovereign, despite all appearances to the contrary.  Some rulers and other people are consciously agents of God.  Others are agents of God despite themselves.  The sovereignty of God is sufficient reason to persevere in hope.  Writing the previous sentence is easier than fulfilling it.  I write during extraordinarily dark times.  Therefore, when I write about persevering in hope, I address myself first then everyone else second.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACCHAEUS, PENITENT TAX COLLECTOR AND ROMAN COLLABORATOR

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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