Archive for the ‘Ephesians 2’ Tag
Above: A Vineyard
Image in the Public Domain
Tenants, Not Landlords
OCTOBER 15, 2023
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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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Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-14 (LBW) or Psalm 118:19-24 (LW)
Philippians 3:12-21
Matthew 21:33-43
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Our Lord Jesus, you have endured
the doubts and foolish questions of every generation.
Forgive us for trying to be judge over you,
and grant us the confident faith to acknowledge you as Lord. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 28
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O God, whose almighty power is made known chiefly
in showing mercy and pity,
grant us the fullness of your grace
that we may be partakers of your heavenly treasures;
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 84
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The Bible moves past preaching and immediately starts meddling. Good! It ought to do this.
The vineyard is an image of the people of God in the Bible. In Isaiah 5, the image of vineyard full of wild (literally, noxious) grapes condemns the population doomed to suffer exile and occupation. Psalm 80 likens the people of Israel to a vine and prays for the restoration of Israel in the midst of exile. The Parable of the Tenants condemns fruitless religious authority figures–a timeless warning.
That parable also quotes Psalm 119 when the Matthean text refers to the cornerstone the builders had rejected. The cornerstone is a messianic theme, as in Isaiah 8:14; 28:16; and Zechariah 3:9; 4:7. For other applications of the cornerstone to Jesus, read Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:4f; Ephesians 2:20; and 1 Corinthians 3:11.
Years ago, I had a discouraging conversation with a female student at the college where I taught. She told me before class one day that she did not care about what happened to and on the Earth, for her citizenship was in Heaven. I vainly attempted to persuade her to care. Her attitude contradicted the Law of Moses, the witness of the Hebrew prophets, the teachings of Jesus, and the epistles–Judaism and Christianity, in other words.
The Golden Rule requires us–collectively and individually–to care for and about each other and the planet. Judaism and Christianity teach that people are stewards–not owners–of the planet. (God is the owner.) The state of ecology indicates that we are terrible stewards, overall. The lack of mutuality during the COVID-19 pandemic proves that many people do not give a damn about others and the common good.
God remains God. God still cares. God cannot exist without caring. That should comfort many people and terrify many others. Divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 18, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTEMISIA BOWDEN, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF ERDMANN NEUMEISTER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS JOHN MCCONNELL, U.S. METHODIST BISHOP AND SOCIAL REFORMER
THE FEAST OF JONATHAN FRIEDRICH BAHNMAIER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF PETTER DASS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: The Age of Innocence, by Joshua Reynolds
Image in the Public Domain
Humility Before God
SEPTEMBER 23 and 24, 2022
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The Collect:
O God, rich in mercy, you look with compassion on this troubled world.
Feed us with your grace, and grant us the treasure that comes only from you,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 49
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The Assigned Readings:
Proverbs 28:3-10 (Friday)
Proverbs 28:11-28 (Saturday)
Psalm 146 (Both Days)
Ephesians 2:1-10 (Friday)
Luke 9:43b-48 (Saturday)
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The LORD loves the righteous;
the LORD cares for the stranger;
he sustains the orphan and the widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.
–Psalm 146:8, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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He who covers up his faults will not succeed;
He who confesses and gives them up will find mercy.
–Proverbs 28:13, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
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Winston Churchill (the British Prime Minister, not the American novelist) was openly critical of his successor and predecessor, Clement Attlee. Attlee, Churchill said, was a humble man who had many reasons to be humble.
Each of us in the human race has many reasons to be humble. We cannot save ourselves from our sinfulness (Ephesians 2), and, in the Kingdom of God, a powerless child is the model to emulate (Luke 9). All of this is consistent with the Law of Moses, in which we mere mortals depend on God for everything and also on the labor of our fellow human beings. We depend on God directly and indirectly, and rugged individualism has no place in the divine order. In God’s order there is no room for hubris or the illusion of self-sufficiency. No, we must come to God as a helpless child and receive each other in the same manner.
That, in my setting, is a counter-cultural message. It is one with which I have struggled, for culture and society exert powerful influences on one’s opinions. Nevertheless, I have, thankfully, arrived at the point of embracing the truth of this counter-cultural teaching.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 20, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALCUIN OF YORK, ABBOT OF TOURS
THE FEAST OF JOHN JAMES MOMENT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF LUCY ELIZABETH GEORGINA WHITMORE, BRITISH HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/humility-before-god-4/
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Above: Job Speaks With His Friends, by Gustave Dore
Image in the Public Domain
“Received Wisdom”
JUNE 20 and 21, 2022
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The Collect:
O Lord God, we bring before you the cries of a sorrowing world.
In your mercy set us free from the chains that bind us,
and defend us from everything that is evil,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 40
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The Assigned Readings:
Job 18:1-21 (Monday)
Job 19:1-22 (Tuesday)
Psalm 64 (Both Days)
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (Monday)
Ephesians 2:11-22 (Tuesday)
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They sharpen their tongues like a sword,
aim their arrows of poisonous abuse,
shoot at the innocent from cover,
shoot suddenly, with nothing to fear.
–Psalm 64:3-4, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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Blaming victims is among the oldest of human practices. Consider the Book of Job, O reader. Chapters 1 and 2 explain why the eponymous character suffers; God allows it. Job is upright; he suffers not because of any sins he has committed but because he has become a pawn in a heavenly wager. Job protests repeatedly that he is innocent. Bildad the Shuhite, however, will hear nothing of it. The righteous flourish and the wicked suffer, according to Bildad. This does not lift Job’s spirits, of course.
Sometimes “received wisdom” is actually foolishness. The example of Jesus of Nazareth belies the theology of Bildad the Shuhite, a system of thought which has staying power, unfortunately. Sometimes innocent and righteous people suffer, even die unjustly. Jesus was not only innocent but the most righteous person ever, and he died unjustly.
I wonder how much “received wisdom” we assume to be valid and true is actually invalid and false. I also wonder how often we, acting on that erroneous assumption, harm others when we should help them. May God show us the errors of our ways and forgive us for them. And may we, by grace, succeed in changing them so that we will become agents of divine healing, comfort, and reconciliation for all who need them and whose paths cross ours.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 5, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF OZORA STEARNS DAVIS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT EUPHRASIA OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF HARRIET KING OSGOOD MUNGER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF THOMAS HORNBLOWER GILL, ENGLISH UNITARIAN THEN ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/received-wisdom/
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Above: Christ Pantocrator
Image in the Public Domain
Radical Inclusion in Christ
SEPTEMBER 1-3, 2023
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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 236
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Kings 18:1-19 (September 1)
1 Kings 18:20-40 (September 2)
1 Kings 19:1-21 (September 3)
Psalm 110 (Morning–September 1)
Psalm 62 (Morning–September 2)
Psalm 13 (Morning–September 3)
Psalms 66 and 23 (Evening–September 1)
Psalms 73 and 8 (Evening–September 2)
Psalms 36 and 5 (Evening–September 3)
Ephesians 1:1-23 (September 1)
Ephesians 2:1-22 (September 2)
Ephesians 3:1-21 (September 3)
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What I have written briefly of this above will explain to you my knowledge of the mystery of Christ. This secret was hidden to past, generations of mankind, but it has now, buy the Spirit, been made plain to God’s consecrated messengers and prophets. It is simply this: that the gentiles are to be equal heirs with his chosen people, equal members and equal partners in God’s promise given by Christ Jesus through the gospel.
–Ephesians 3:4-6, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972)
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The account from 1 Kings boils over with peril–for Obadiah, for Elijah, and for all those who worshiped Baal and other false gods. The body count is staggering–four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal in 18:40 and an undisclosed number of idol worshipers in 19:18. The underlying reason for hostility to many Gentiles in the Old Testament was that many Hebrews succumbed to Gentile false gods and cultic practices, thereby ceasing to be a light to the nations. But was a massacre the right way to shine positive light? Of course not!
There were, of course, as I have written in other posts, faithful Gentiles. Ruth comes to mind immediately. She even became an ancestor of David and Jesus. But she adopted the Hebrew religion.
That provides a nice segue into Ephesians. Paul or someone writing as Paul or revising dictations of an imprisoned Paul wrote of unity in Christ. In Christ God reconciled with people and brought about human unity. The church was (and is) the chosen instrument of this unity. In Christ, the great epistle says, all other divisions fall away. All of us in Christ are children of God, so we will receive a great inheritance.
This is grand and lofty theology. So why have we of organized Christianity turned on each other so often? Why have we even slaughtered each other sometimes? We do not understand. Or, if we do understand, we reject the message. We (broadly speaking) use God as a blunt weapon to marginalize those whom God has called “insiders”, so many who have thought of themselves as insiders have betrayed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Inclusion in Christ is too radical a notion for many people to accept, for hurdles to jump through make us confortable. They provide labels which reassure many falsely. These labels are idols, in fact. But Jesus jumped through the hurdles and knocked them down; may we cease to re-erect them.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 4, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
THE FEAST OF MIEP GIES, RIGHTEOUS GENTILE
THE FEAST OF SAINT DAVID I, KING OF SCOTLAND
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FOX, QUAKER FOUNDER
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAULINUS OF AQUILEIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/radical-inclusion-in-christ/
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Above: An Ecumenical Environmental Stewardship Meeting at St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, September 24, 2011
Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Unity in Christ
OCTOBER 17 and 18, 2022
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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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COMPOSITE FIRST READING
Ephesians 2:1-22 (Revised English Bible):
You once were dead because of your sins and wickedness; you followed the ways of this present world order, obeying the commander of the spiritual powers of the air, the spirit now at work among God’s rebel subjects. We too were once of their number: we were ruled by our physical desires, and did what instinct and evil imagination suggested. In our natural condition we lay under the condemnation of God like the rest of mankind. But God is rich in mercy, and because of his great love for us, he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead because of our sins; it is by grace you are saved. And he raised us up in union with Christ Jesus and enthroned us with him in the heavenly realms, so that we might display in the ages to come how immense are the resources of his grace, and how great his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you are saved through faith; it is not your own doing. It is God’s gift, not a reward for work done. There is nothing for anyone to boast of; we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the life of good deeds which God designed for us.
Remember then your former condition, Gentiles as you are by birth, “the uncircumcised” as you are called by those who call themselves “the circumcised” because of a physical rite. You were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the community of Israel, strangers to God’s covenants and the promise that goes with them. Yours was a world without hope and without God. Once you were far off, but now in union with Christ Jesus you have been brought near through the shedding of Christ’s blood. For he is himself our peace. Gentiles and Jews, he has made the two one, and in his own body of flesh and blood has broken down the barrier of enmity which separated them; for he annulled the law with its rules and regulations, so as to create out of the two a single new humanity in himself, thereby making peace. This was his purpose, to reconcile the two in a single body to God through the cross, by which he killed the enmity. So he came and proclaimed the good news: peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access to the Father in the one Spirit.
Thus you are no longer aliens in a foreign land, but fellow-citizens with God’s people, members of God’s household. You are built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the corner-stone. In him the whole building is bonded together in the Lord. In him you also are being built with all the others into a spiritual dwelling for God.
RESPONSE FOR MONDAY
Psalm 100 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Be joyful in the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
2 Know this: The LORD himself is God;
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are the sheep of his pasture.
3 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his name.
4 For the LORD is good;
his mercy is everlasting;
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.
RESPONSE FOR TUESDAY
Psalm 85:8-13 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
8 I will listen to what the LORD God is saying,
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The LORD will indeed grant prosperity,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him,
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
GOSPEL READING FOR MONDAY
Luke 12:13-21 (Revised English Bible):
Someone in the crowd said to him [Jesus],
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family property with me.
He said to the man,
Who set me over you to judge or arbitrate?
Then to the people he said,
Beware! Be on your guard against greed of every kind, for even when someone has more than enough, his possessions do not give him life.
And he told them this parable:
There was a rich man whose land yielded a good harvest. He debated with himself: “What am I to do? I have not the space to store my produce. This is what I will do, ” said he: ”I will pull down my barns and build them bigger. I will collect in them all my grain and other goods, and I will say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid by, enough for many years to come: take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’” But God said to him, “You fool, this very night you must surrender your life; and the money you have made, who will get it now?” That is how it is with the man who piles up treasure for himself and remains a pauper in the sight of God.
GOSPEL READING FOR TUESDAY
Luke 12:35-38 (Revised English Bible):
[Jesus continued,]
Be ready for action, with your robes hitched up and your lamps alight. Be like people who wait for their master’s return from a wedding party, ready to let him in the moment he returns and knocks. Happy are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I tell you: he will hitch up his robe, seat them at table, and come and wait on them. If in the middle of the night or before dawn when he comes he still finds them awake, and they are happy indeed.
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The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have 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 Jesus Christ our Lord, 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 24: Monday, Year 1:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/week-of-proper-24-monday-year-1/
Week of Proper 24: Tuesday, Year 1:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/week-of-proper-24-tuesday-year-1/
A Prayer for All Bishops of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/a-prayer-for-all-bishops-of-the-one-holy-catholic-and-apostolic-church/
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Ephesians 2 speaks of unity in Christ. In the Pauline historical context, the unity was that of Jews and Gentiles. Times have moved along and circumstances have changed. To stay local, with a radius of about seven miles from my front door in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, congregations of various Christian denominations have their meeting places. A partial list follows:
- African Methodist Episcopal–1
- United Methodist–3
- Episcopal–1
- Roman Catholic–1
- National Baptist–1
- Free Will Baptist–1
- Southern Baptist–2
- Cooperative Baptist–1
- Presbyterian (U.S.A.)–2
- Presbyterian in America–1
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)–2
- Churches of Christ–1
- Christian Church and Churches of Christ–1
- Independent–1
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America–1
- Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod–1
Of course, separate denominational identities need not lead to hostilities, mutual or otherwise. I am ritualistic, but some of my best friends are not. We bear different denominational labels, but we all follow Jesus. So, as a saying goes,
It’s all good.
Yet many lack this positive attitude. I recall a late-season episode of Cheers (1982-1993). Woody and Kelly had discovered on their honeymoon that they belonged to different Lutheran denominations, he to the Missouri Synod and she to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). They spent much of the episode arguing until he agreed to convert, saying,
Yes, dear.
The episode highlighted the relatively minor differences between and among many denominations, and how much many of us emphasize them.
Our unity as Christians is in Christ, first and foremost. May we focus on that.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/unity-in-christ/
Above: Mosaic of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, from Ravenna, Italy
Beyond Estrangement
The Sunday Closest to July 20
The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
JULY 18, 2021
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FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #1
2 Samuel 7:1-14a (New Revised Standard Version):
When David, the king, was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan,
See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.
Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.
But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:
Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
Psalm 89:20-37 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
20 I have found David my servant;
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 My hand will hold him fast
and my arm will make him strong.
22 No enemy shall deceive him,
nor any wicked man bring him down.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him,
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
25 I shall make his dominion extend
from the Great Sea to the River.
26 He will say to you, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
27 I will make him my firstborn
and higher than the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my love for him for ever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his line for ever
and his throne as the days of heaven.”
30 ”If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my judgments;
31 If they break my statutes
and do not keep my commandments;
32 I will punish their transgressions with a rod
and their iniquities with the lash;
33 But I will not take my love from him,
nor let my faithfulness prove false.
34 I will not break my covenant,
nor change what has gone out of lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness:
‘I will not lie to David.
36 His line shall endure for ever
and his throne as the sun before me;
37 It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon,
the abiding witness in the sky.'”
FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #2
Jeremiah 23:1-6 (New Revised Standard Version):
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people:
It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing,
says the LORD.
The days are surely coming,
says the LORD,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Psalm 23 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.
3 He revives my soul
and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
SECOND READING
Ephesians 2:11-22 (New Revised Standard Version):
Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” — a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands– remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
GOSPEL READING
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 (New Revised Standard Version):
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them,
Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
The Collect:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, 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 11, Year A:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/proper-11-year-a/
2 Samuel 7:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/fourth-sunday-of-advent-year-b/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-24/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/week-of-3-epiphany-wednesday-year-2/
Jeremiah 23:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/advent-devotion-for-december-18/
Mark 6:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/third-day-of-epiphany/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/week-of-4-epiphany-saturday-year-1/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/week-of-5-epiphany-monday-year-1/
Matthew 14 (Parallel to Mark 6):
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/proper-13-year-a/
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The Pauline reading from Ephesians (from perhaps 58-59 C.E.) speaks of reconciliation in Christ between Jews and Gentiles. Members of the two groups “are no longer strangers and aliens, but…citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” It is a beautiful vision.
History, however, tells a different story. The estrangement between Christians and Jews was unmistakable by 85 C.E., at the composition of the Gospel of Matthew, written to Jewish Christians, marginalized members of the Jewish community. And, about a decade later, came the Gospel of John, which utilizes invective against Jews. From there the history of Christian Anti-Semitism spans millennia and includes shameful instances of violence and discrimination.
It did not have to be this way. Beyond Jewish-Christian relations, there is a long and shameful history of professing Christians justifying and perpetrating racism, xenophobia, nativism, and other forms of hatred toward their fellow human beings. It did not have to be this way. It does not have to be this way. It does not have to continue to be this way.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd of all sheep who will come to him and all whom he draws successfully to himself. We sheep are Gentiles, Jews, members of various racial and ethnic groups, parts of various cultures and subcultures, heterosexuals and homosexuals. In Christ there is no hostility among us. So, if such hostility does exist among us, we are not mutually in Christ, are we?
There is much work to do. We have communities to build and walls to destroy. All of this work is in Christ, our Good Shepherd.
KRT
http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/beyond-estrangement/
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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