Archive for the ‘Ernest Lee Stoffel’ Tag
Above: The Tower of Babel, from Metropolis (1927)
A Screen Capture
Glorifying God
SEPTEMBER 4, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 11:1-9 or Acts 28:16-31
Psalm 135:1-14
Revelation 6:1-17
John 9:1-41
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The gospel of Christ will always stand in judgment of the things that are happening in the political, economic, and social spheres of communities and nations. And if this is so, then martyrdom is not as far away as we think. The word “martyr” in Greek is the same word from which we get the word “witness.”
–Ernest Lee Stoffel, The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), 49-50
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To be a witness to God can be risky. The risk may or may not involve violence, injury or death. However, even under the best of circumstances, to ignore or minimize that risk is foolish. Risk may even come from conventionally religious people–from powerful ones, perhaps.
I detect an element of humor in John 9:1-41. (Reading the Bible in such a way as to miss humor is far too common.) By the time a reader arrives at the end of the story, one may imagine steam pouring out of the ears of some of the Pharisees, if this story were in the form of a Looney Tunes cartoon. This would make for a wonderful scene in verse 27, with the healed man’s question,
Do you want to become his disciples yourselves?
—The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
At the end of that story, the healed man found himself expelled from the synagogue. His plight must have resonated with members of the Johannine Jewish Christian community, on the margins of their Jewish communal life. Therefore, some Jews referred to other Jews as “the Jews.”
At the end of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul the Apostle lived under house arrest in Rome. Ultimately, he did via beheading.
God may have struck down many enemies and oppressors of Israel, but many of the faithful have suffered and/or died for the faith, too.
The story of the Tower of Babel is a myth. Anyone consulting it in search for a reliable source of linguistic origins is on a doomed mission. That is not to say, however, that the story contains no truth.
This is a story about the folly of self-importance–collective self-importance, in this case. Verse 5 reads:
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
That verse conveys the insignificance of human achievements relative to God.
The desire to make a name for ourselves–collectively and individually–is a great value in many societies. It is not, however, a value the Bible champions. Psalm 135 reads, in part:
Hallelujah.
Praise the name of the LORD;
give praise, you servants of the LORD,
who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing hymns to His name, for it is pleasant.
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself,
Israel, as His treasured possession.
–Verses 1-4, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
If we–collectively or individually–have a name that should last for generations, centuries, and millennia, God will give it to us. That name may not persist in human memory, though.
Some of them left a name behind them,
so that their praises are still sung.
While others have left no memory
and disappeared as though they had not existed.
They are now as though they had never been,
and so too, their children after them.
–Ecclesiasticus 44:8-9, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
So be it.
To seek to glorify God and to maintain divine standards of political, economic, and social justice can be dangerous. At minimum, the risk is social marginalization and scorn. Much of this contempt may come from conventionally devout people who should know better. To serve God or to serve Caesar. To glorify God or to glorify oneself? To worship God or to worship country? The decisions are ours to make?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 23, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE ALMSGIVER, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES KINGSLEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST, NOVELIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EDWARD GRUBB, ENGLISH QUAKER AUTHOR, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES D. SMART, CANADIAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF PHILLIPS BROOKS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MASSACHUSETTS, AND HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/glorifying-god-vii/
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Above: The Logo of the Moravian Church
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
The Victory of Suffering Love
AUGUST 28, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 8:13-22; 9:12-17 or Acts 28:1-10
Psalm 134
Revelation 5:1-14
John 8:48-59
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Revelation 5:1-14 provides the keynote for this blog post. This scriptural text is one I cannot read without hearing the finale of Handel’s Messiah thundering inside my cranium.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Ernest Lee Stoffel, writing in The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), summarized verses 6-14 with five words:
THE VICTORY OF SUFFERING LOVE.
Stoffel elaborated:
What is this really saying? I believe it is saying the suffering love of God is the key that will help us live with our suffering and ourselves. There is something in the universe that has not been defeated by pain and evil and sin. That something is the crucified love of the Creator. I have to believe that love is the key to the world’s destiny, and that it will triumph over my pain and sin. I believe I can give my pain and sin to that love, which is also wisdom….
–43-44
I go off the Humes lectionary briefly to bring in a germane text:
“I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have hardship,
but be courageous:
I have conquered the world.”
–John 16:33, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
Divine, suffering love has triumphed and conquered. This love figuratively hung up its bow of war in the beautiful mythology of Genesis 9:12-17. This divine love called and accompanied St. Paul the Apostle. This love has long inspired people to bless the Lord.
What should a person or a faith community do with the “victory of suffering love” in the context of heartbreaking, preventable human suffering? I write this post during the COVID-19 pandemic. The news is mostly grim. The temptation to curse God, fate, or whatever, then to curl up in a ball of despair is great. Yes, vaccines are available, to an extent. Yes, more vaccines are in the process of gaining official approval. And yes, people continue to die needlessly, before they can receive a vaccination. We, as a species, will spend a long time digging our way out of the wreckage of this pandemic. Furthermore, many people will never recover from the economic carnage. Many people will always have health-related effects of COVID-19. And the dead will remain deceased. None of this had to happen.
Do we trust that the crucified love of the Creator has remained unconquered? Do we trust that Jesus has conquered the world? Depending on the time of day, I may or may not so trust. Yet I know that I must take my fears and doubts to the foot of the cross of Christ and deposit them there. Having faith is not living free of doubts. No, having faith entails wrestling with them and even with God. Having faith entails never giving up the idol of false certainly and resisting the allure of easy answers to difficult questions.
God is faithful. God is faithful when we neglect to be faithful. God is faithful when we strive unsuccessfully to be faithful. God is faithful when we are faithful. May we stand, sit, or assume any posture we can in the presence of God wherever we are. And may we bless the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, whose love remains unconquered. May we cooperate with that love. May it conquer our despair and grief. May it heal the world.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 22, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN JULIAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF ALEXANDER MEN, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1990
THE FEAST OF SAINT LADISLAO BATTHÁNY-STRATTMANN, AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PHYSICIAN AND PHILANTHROPIST
THE FEAST OF LOUISE CECILIA FLEMING, AFRICAN-AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY AND PHYSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT VINCENT PALLOTTI, FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE CATHOLIC APOSTALATE, THE UNION OF CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE, AND THE SISTERS OF THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/the-victory-of-suffering-love/
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Above: Stamps of Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Image in the Public Domain
The Idol of Success
AUGUST 14, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 7:11-24 or Acts 24:1, 10-23, 27
Psalm 131
Revelation 3:7-13
John 8:12-30
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We Gentiles need to be very careful to push back against any Anti-Semitic interpretations of our assigned readings from Revelation 3, John 8, and Acts 24. We may need someone to remind us that the struggle within the Gospel of John was intra-Jewish. So was the conflict between the Jewish Christian community that produced it and the Jews around them. We may need a reminder that St. Paul the Apostle was Jewish, too.
The church at Philadelphia was Gentile. It was also small, poor, and at odds with many local Jews. Conflict produced invective.
Being small may or may not be beautiful. What is beautiful is being faithful. And Christ promises to honor that faithfulness.
–Ernest Lee Stoffel, The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), 34
If we stop thinking about importance in human terms, we will do well spiritually. Large does not equal important, in the eyes of God. Neither does wealthy. Neither does successful. Neither does being free. Neither does being popular.
St. Teresa of Calcutta said that God calls us to be faithful, not successful. Many people have worshiped at the altar of success, long a popular idol. The heresy of Prosperity Theology has appealed to many people for a very long time. Yet the prophet Jeremiah, by human standards, was a failure. So was Jesus.
Does anyone reading this post want to argue that Jeremiah and Jesus were failures? Not I.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 20, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FABIAN, BISHOP OF ROME, AND MARTYR, 250
THE FEAST OF SAINTS EUTHYMIUS THE GREAT AND THEOCRISTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS
THE FEAST OF GREVILLE PHILLIMORE, ENGLISH POET, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF HARRIET AUBER, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF RICHARD ROLLE, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/20/the-idol-of-success/
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Above: Icon of Noah’s Ark
Image in the Public Domain
The Peace of God
JULY 31, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 6:9-22 or Acts 22:21-30
Psalm 127
Revelation 2:18-29
John 6:60-71
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Context matters.
Thyatira was a frontier city and a center of commerce. Idolatry was also commonplace, as in meat sacrificed to false deities. St. Paul the Apostle had addressed other churches regarding this matter. He recognized that, given the non-existence of those gods and goddesses, one could, in good conscience, eat meat sacrificed to them. St. Paul the Apostle also treated that matter cautiously. He knew that many people, still strongly influenced by their culture, did not know that there was only one God.
Whether to consume meat offered to idols remained an issue for many Christians. In my cultural context, however, that is a non-issue. Nevertheless, the question of what an equivalent issue in my time and place may be germane.
Ernest Lee Stoffel, in The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), wrote about improper compromises the Church makes with culture–an evergreen issue. The Church made unacceptable compromises with culture during the age of Christendom. The Church of 2021, increasingly on the margins of society in places where it used to be prominent, has continued to face the pressure to make improper compromises.
May we of the Church be careful, both collectively and individually. May we avoid mistaking being serial contrarians for being faithful disciples of Jesus. The larger culture is not wrong about everything.
And may we never lose faith that God is in charge. God still cares about us and remains with us. We may or may not receive protection from unfortunate events. Nevertheless, God will be with us. we still depend entirely on God. We continue to depend on each other and to be responsible to and for each other. Together, with God’s help, we will come through storms of life, even if they consume us physically, emotionally, and/or economically.
Consider Jesus and St. Paul the Apostle, O reader. Both of them suffered terribly. St. Paul died as a martyr. Jesus died on a cross. (He did not remain dead for long, of course.) As Daniel Berrigan (1921-2016) said, Christians should look good on wood.
I have heard of certain Evangelical megachurches without a cross in sight. Crosses are depressing, some people have explained. How do such people think Jesus felt?
The servant is not greater than the master.
The peace of God, it is no peace,
But strife closed in the sod.
Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing:
The marvelous peace of God.
–William Alexander Percy (1885-1942), 1924; quoted in Pilgrim Hymnal (1958), #340
Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 18, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER THE APOSTLE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/18/the-peace-of-god-part-ii/
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Above: The Stoning of Saint Stephen, by Rembrandt Van Rijn
Image in the Public Domain
Wickedness
JULY 24, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 6:1-8 or Acts 22:1-22
Psalm 125
Revelation 2:12-17
John 6:41-59
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The Humes lectionary divides Genesis 6 across two Sundays: Today’s portion of Genesis 6 includes the debut of the Nephilim in the Bible. This is an example of pagan folklore adapted for scriptural purposes. And Richard Elliott Friedman, in his Commentary on the Torah (2001), describes stories of the Nephilim as being elements of a larger story
widely separated, distributed across great stretches of the narrative.
–33
According to Dr. Friedman, Genesis 6:1-5 links to Numbers 13:33, Joshua 11:21-22, and 1 Samuel 17:4. Dr. Friedman describes Goliath of Gath as the last of the Nephilim, the final one to go down to defeat.
The big idea in Genesis 6:1-8 is the increasing wickedness of the human race. “Wicked” and “wickedness” are words many use casually, with little or not thought about what they mean. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1973) offers various definitions of “wicked.” The most helpful one, in this context is:
evil or morally bad in principle or in practice; sinful; vicious; iniquitous.
In Jewish theology, wickedness (or one form of it) flows from the conviction that God does not care what we do, therefore we mere mortals are on our own. The dictionary’s definition of wickedness as being evil in principle or practice is helpful and accurate. Moustache-twirling villains exist in greater numbers in cartoons than in real life. Most people who commit wickedness do not think of themselves as being wicked or or having committed wickedness. Many of them think they have performed necessary yet dirty work, at worst. And many others imagine that they are doing or have done God’s work.
One may point to Saul of Tarsus, who had the blood of Christians on his hands before he became St. Paul the Apostle. One lesson to take away from St. Paul’s story is that the wicked are not beyond repentance and redemption.
On a prosaic level, each of us needs to watch his or her life for creeping wickedness. One can be conventionally pious and orthodox yet be wicked. One can affirm that God cares about how we treat others and be wicked. One can sin while imagining that one is acting righteously.
Unfortunately, some of the references in Revelation 2:12-17 are vague. Time has consumed details of the Nicolaitian heresy, for example. And the text does not go into detail regarding what some members of the church at Pergamum were doing. According to Ernest Lee Stoffel, The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), the offense was probably a perceived license to sin, predicated on salvation by grace–cheap grace, in other words. Grace is cheap yet never cheap.
Moral compartmentalization is an ancient and contemporary spiritual ailment. The challenge to be holy on Sunday and on Monday remains a topic on the minds of many pastors. Related to this matter is another one: the frequent disconnect between private morality and public morality. Without creating or maintaining a theocracy, people can apply their ethics and morals in public life. The main caveat is that some methods of application may not work, may be of limited effectiveness, and/or may have negative, unintended consequences. I feel confident, O reader, in stating that the idealistic aspects of the movement that gave birth to Prohibition in the United States of America did not not include aiding and abetting organized crime. But they had that effect.
By grace, may we seek to avoid wickedness and succeed in avoiding it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 16, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERTO DE NOBOLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN INDIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BERARD AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS IN MOROCCO, 1220
THE FEAST OF EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, U.S. UNITARIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF GUSTAVE WEIGEL, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/16/wickedness/
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Above: Ruins of Ephesus
Image Source = Google Earth
Keeping Faith
JULY 17, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 4:1-16 or Acts 21:8-15
Psalm 124
Revelation 2:8-11
John 6:25-40
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Keep the faith, we read. Keep the faith, even though a congregation is small in membership and poor by economic standards. Keep the faith even though one or one’s fellow congregants must suffer and perhaps die for the faith. Keep the faith while enemies of the people of God assail them. Keep the faith in the name of Jesus, the bread of life.
Why does God prefer X to Y? The answer may never become obvious to we mere mortals, as in the matter of the sacrifices Cain and Abel made to God. What is clear, however, is how people respond or react to God’s choosing. One may respond well, as in Acts 2:14:
The Lord’s will be done.
—The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (2019)
Or one may respond badly.
Keep the faith amid disappointment and anger, we read. Keep the faith when hopes and realities do not resemble each other. Do not lash out and behave in an unfortunate and indefensible manner.
Ernest Lee Stoffel, writing in 1981, wrote words (based on Revelation 2:8-11) that are more applicable to the state of the church in 2021.
The church’s present “poverty” in the world–declining membership, gaining little attention in the world, losing her place as a dominant institution in most communities–may be the way to her becoming “rich,” to the recovery of her real power in Christ’s power. The way of bigness and wealth (and this is not to inveigh against large, rich churches) may not be the way. Sometimes it is when we have nothing, when we have been stripped of our securities, and feel no affirmation at all, that we have the most power. The way may be the way of “poverty” before Christ, standing before him, stripped of any affirmation or security.
—The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), 29
After all, we all depend entirely on God, who is faithful. May we keep the faith.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 16, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROBERTO DE NOBOLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN INDIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BERARD AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS IN MOROCCO, 1220
THE FEAST OF EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS, U.S. UNITARIAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF GUSTAVE WEIGEL, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF RICHARD MEUX BENSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST; CHARLES CHAPMAN GRAFTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, COFOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, AND BISHOP OF FOND DU LAC; AND CHARLES GORE, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WORCESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND OXFORD; FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION; AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND WORLD PEACE
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/16/keeping-faith-part-ii/
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Above: Ruins of Ephesus
Image Source = Google Earth
Deeds and Creeds
JULY 10, 2022
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 3:1-19 or Acts 20:17-38
Psalm 123
Revelation 2:1-7
John 6:16-24
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Words have power. Libel and slander are threats. Some words build up. Other words tear down. Some words make truths plain. Other words confuse. Some words heal, but other words harm. And misquoting God is always a bad idea.
Consider Genesis 2:16-17, O reader:
The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From it you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
Then, O reader, consider Genesis 3:2-3:
The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, “You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die!”
—The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
God said nothing about touching the fruit in Genesis 2:16-17.
Misquoting God opens a door that should remain closed.
Nevertheless, I have this complaint to make; you have less love than you used to.
–Revelation 2:4, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
Concern for resisting heresy can come at a high cost, if a congregation, person, et cetera, goes about affirming orthodoxy the wrong way. That cost is too little love. This is also a moral in Morris West’s novel Lazarus (1990), about the fictional Pope Leo XIV, a harsh yet extremely orthodox man.
The late Presbyterian minister Ernest Lee Stoffel offered useful analysis of the message to the church at Ephesus:
This is to say that a church can lose its effectiveness if it has no love. As I think about the mission of the church, as I hear calls for “more evangelism” and a stronger application of the Gospel to the social issues of the day, I wonder if we can do either unless we can love first–love each other and love the world, for Christ’s sake.
—The Dragon Bound: The Revelation Speaks to Our Time (1981), 27
To quote St. Paul the Apostle:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
–1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
Orthodoxy without love is devoid of value. May we who say we follow Jesus really follow him. May we love as he did–unconditionally and selflessly. May we–collectively and individually–love like Jesus. May our orthodoxy and our orthopraxy be like sides of one coin. May our deeds reveal our creeds and not belie our professions of faith.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 15, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AND MARTYR, 1968
THE FEAST OF ABBY KELLEY FOSTER AND HER HUSBAND, STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS
THE FEAST OF BERTHA PAULSSEN, GERMAN-AMERICAN SEMINARY PROFESSOR, PSYCHOLOGIST, AND SOCIOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF GENE M. TUCKER, UNITED METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF JOHN COSIN, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF COSIN
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/deeds-and-creeds-v/
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ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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