According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
One may use the word “mystery” in at least two ways. One may think of a situation in which gathering more information will eliminate confusion and enable arriving at a firm answer. The Holy Trinity is a mystery, but not in that way. Even if we mere mortals had all the information about the nature of God, we could not understand it. We can barely grasp what we do know, and what we know raises more questions than it resolves. So be it. The second meaning of “mystery” is an ancient definition: One can know something only by living into it. One can know God by faith, for example.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is the only Christian feast of a doctrine. It is more than that, though. Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher recommends thinking of Trinity Sunday as:
…the celebration of the richness of the being of God and the occasion of a thankful review of the now completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on theLutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
A doctrine–especially the Holy Trinity–can seem abstract. Some people (including moi) like abstractions. However, abstractions leave others cold and spiritually unmoved. Salvation is not abstract, however; it is tangible. And how it works is a mystery in at least the second meaning of the word.
Happy Trinity Sunday!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY; AND HIS SON, WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF ALBANY; HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET AND RELIGIOUS WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND SAINTS OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZITA OF TUSCANY, WORKER OF CHARITY
Trinity Sunday is the creation of Bishop Stephen of Liege (in office 903-920). The feast, universal in Roman Catholicism since 1334 by the order of Pope John XXII, is, according to the eminent Lutheran liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher, author of the Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship (1990), not so much about a doctrine but
the now completed mystery of salvation, which is the work of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
–page 301
Famously the word “Trinity” appears nowhere in the Bible, and no single verse or passage gives us that doctrine. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the result of much debate, some fistfights, ecumenical councils, Roman imperial politics, and the pondering of various passages of scripture. The conclusion of 2 Corinthians and Matthew are two of those passages. Perhaps the best summary of that process in the fourth chapter in Karen Armstrong‘s A History of God (1994).
I, being aware that a set of heresies has its origin in pious attempts to explain the Trinity, refrain from engaging in any of those heresies or creating a new one. No, I stand in awe of the mystery of God and affirm that the Trinity is as close to an explanation as we humans will have. We cannot understand the Trinity, and God, I assume, is more than that.
The great myth in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, itself a modified version of the Enuma Elish, affirms, among other key theological concepts, (1) the goodness of creation and (2) the image of God in human beings. We are not an afterthought. No, we are the pinnacle of the created order. These themes carry over into Psalm 8. The standard English-language translation of one verse (which one it is depends on the versification in the translation one reads) is that God has created us slightly lower than the angels. That is a mistranslation. TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985) renders the germane passage as
The Hebrew word is Elohim, originally a reference to the council of gods, and therefore a remnant of a time before Jews were monotheists. An alternative translation is English is
a little lower than God,
which is better than
a little lower than the angels.
Studies of religious history should teach one that Elohim eventually became a synonym for YHWH.
“Little less than divine” seems like an optimistic evaluation of human nature when I consider the past and the present, especially when I think about environmental destruction and human behavior. But what if Pfatteicher is correct? What if the work of salvation is complete? What if the image of God is a great portion of our nature than the actions of many of us might indicate?
In Christ we can have liberation to become the people we ought to be. In Christ we can achieve our spiritual potential–for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
May we, by grace, let the image of God run loose.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 13, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CLIFFORD BAX, POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT EUGENIUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF JOHANNES RENATUS VERBEEK, MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF PETER RICKSEEKER, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER, MISSIONARY, MUSICIAN, MUSIC EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER; STUDENT OF JOHANN CHRISTIAN BECHLER, MORAVIAN MINISTER , MUSICIAN, MUSIC EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER; FATHER OF JULIUS THEODORE BECHLER, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER, MUSICIAN, EDUCATOR, AND COMPOSER
After all, Christ me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel, and not by means of wisdom of language, wise words which would make the cross of Christ pointless. The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God.
Words matter. Psalm 96 exhorts people to use words to proclaim divine glory and the message of salvation. And we read of King Saul cursing out his son Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:30. The Living Bible, usually a substandard version, gets Saul’s tone right and places it in a familiar, modern idiom. (Aside: Later printings of The Living Bible replaced “son of a bitch” with “fool,” which has less of an impact.) So words can humiliate or encourage, tear down or build up.
And sometimes words prove to be irrelevant. The message of the cross contradicts conventional wisdom regarding who died that way and why, so of course one cannot cite conventional wisdom on the topic to explain the crucifixion, much less the subsequent resurrection, properly. But words did play a vital part in Paul’s message; witness his epistles, O reader. And he had to use words to preach the good news of Jesus.
Words have power. According to myth, God spoke and thereby transformed chaos into order in Genesis 1. Much of the time, however, we mere mortals speak and thereby convert order into chaos. We speak and thereby either build up or tear down. May we use our words for positive purposes, glorifying God and building up others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 14, 2012 COMMON ERA
PROPER 23: THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF ALL CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL ISAAC JOSEPH SCHERESCHEWSKY, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF SHANGHAI
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.
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him so that he might show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who in telling all that he saw has borne witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Happy is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and happy those who listen if they take to heart what is here written; for the time of fulfillment is near.
…
To the angel of the church at Ephesus write:
These are the words of the One who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven gold lamps: I know what you are doing, how you toil and endure. I know you cannot abide wicked people; you have put to the test those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you have found them to be false. Endurance you have; you have borne up in my cause and have never become weary. However, I have this against you: the love you felt at first you have now lost. Think from what a height you have fallen; repent, and do as once you did. If you do not, I will come to you remove your lamp from its place.
Psalm 1 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and the meditate on his law day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither,
everything they do shall prosper.
4 It is not so with the wicked;
they are like the chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the ways of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
Luke 18:35-43 (Revised English Bible):
As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man sat at the roadside begging. Hearing a crowd going past, he asked what was happening, and was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Then he called out,
Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
The people in front told him to hold his tongue; but he shouted all the more,
Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came up Jesus asked him,
What do you want me to do for you?
He answered,
Sir, I want my sight back.
Jesus said to him,
Have back your sight; your faith has healed you.
He recovered his sight instantly and followed Jesus, praising God. And all the people gave praise to God for what they had seen.
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.
Procedural Comments on the Monday-Saturday Posts for the Weeks of Propers 28 and 29:
The Canadian Anglican lectionary I am following leads me through Revelation for the last two weeks of the church year every other year. This being the first post of that series, I make some procedural comments here and now.
Religious imagination is important, for the most effective way to communicate some religious truths is imaginatively, as in poetry and other symbolic language. Word pictures can be more vivid than dry explanations. I recognize and embrace this fact. You, O reader, also need to know that I am not an avid consumer of prophesy-themed content, much of which is full of bologna (to use a polite term) anyway. My training is in history and the analysis of texts. So, when I approach a part of the Bible, I want to know, in context, what the message was or the messages were to the original audience. Then I extrapolate to today.
That said, here is some of what we know:
The author was one John of Patmos, an exile who did not write the Gospel of John. He probably composed the Revelation, or Apocalypse, of John in the 90s C.E., a time of sporadic persecutions throughout the Roman Empire.
The main purposes of the book were to encourage persecuted Christians and Christians who might face persecution, and to remind them of the contrast between Christianity and the dominant Greco-Roman culture.
The Apocalypse’s language is symbolic. Fortunately, we can decode it. “Babylon,” for example, is the Roman Empire. And sometimes the text decodes language, as in 1:20.
Revelation is an essentially positive book, one which tells us that God will win and evil will face destruction.
Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli detested Revelation. They would have removed it from the New Testament, had that been possible.
Now I proceed to my comments specific to this day’s assigned readings.
The blind man in Luke 18:35-43 called out for Jesus as people told him to be quiet. But the man refused to obey them. His persistence paid off, for the got our Lord’s attention and regained his sight. Those who told the man to be quiet–to cease to be inconvenient and annoying–did not act out of love for him.
Active love is of the essence in today’s post. The message to the church at Ephesus commended it for holding to orthodoxy during persecution yet condemned it for waning in either devotion to Christ or care for each other or both. The church did, however, have an opportunity to repair its ways, thereby avoiding dispossession by Jesus. This message reminds me of Matthew 25:31-46, in which the test of devotion is active love.
The lesson remains as germane for us today as it was for ancient Christians. None of us can do everything, but each of us can do something, at least some of the time. The challenge is to do what we can as opportunities present themselves. Fortunately, helping others can assume many forms. Some women grow their hair long then sell it for use in wigs for women who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy. And certain professions are inherently human service-oriented. I have heard of medical professionals who prefer to work in an Emergency Room setting out of a religious obligation. Furthermore, volunteer opportunities abound, providing opportunities outside time on the clock. And comedy can help people through difficult times; sometimes we need to laugh.
Purely intellectualized orthodoxy is not helpful; it must find compassionate expression. Likewise, good deeds themselves are inadequate; love must animate them for the maximum effect. (See 1 Corinthians 13.) If I, for example, affirm that each person bears the image of God, I make an orthodox doctrinal statement rooted in Genesis 1:27. (I do affirm it, by the way.) But, if I do not act on that proposition, it is useless. How ought that item of orthodox doctrine inform my life? I cannot, in good conscience, approve of racism if I really believe that each person bears the image of God. (I have an interest in civil rights.)
May our love for God and our fellow human beings deepen and become more active as time passes. I wonder how much the world will improve as that happens. By grace, may we and those who succeed us on this planet learn the answer.
Above: Paul Writing His Epistles (1500s C.E. Painting)
Image in the Public Domain
The Victory Belongs to God Alone
The Sunday Closest to July 6
The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
JULY 9, 2023
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FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #1
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67 (New Revised Standard Version):
The servant said to Laban,
I am Abraham’s servant. The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, `You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’
I came today to the spring, and said, `O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also” — let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, `Please let me drink.’ She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, `Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her, `Whose daughter are you?’ She said, `The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.
And they called Rebekah, and said to her,
Will you go with this man?
She said,
I will.
So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes.
Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant,
Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?
The servant said,
It is my master.
So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
AND
Psalm 45:11-18 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
11 “Hear, O daughter; consider and listen closely;
forget your people and your father’s house.
12 The king will have pleasure in your beauty;
he is your master; therefore do him honor.
13 The people of Tyre are here with a gift,
the rich among the people seek your favor.”
14 All glorious is the princess as she enters;
her gown is cloth-of-gold.
15 In embroidered apparel she is brought to the king;
after her the bridesmaids follow in procession.
16 With joy and gladness they are brought,
and enter into the palace of the king.
17 “In place of fathers, O king, you shall have sons;
you shall make them princes over all the earth.
18 I will make your name to be remembered
from one generation to another;
therefore nations will praise you for ever and ever.”
OR
Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (New Revised Standard Version):
The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
FIRST READING AND PSALM: OPTION #2
Zechariah 9:9-12 (New Revised Standard Version):
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war-horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Zion,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
Psalm 145:8-15 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 The LORD is loving to everyone
and his compassion is over all his works.
10 All your works praise you, O LORD,
and your faithful servants bless you.
11 They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power;
12 That the peoples may know of your power
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
14 The LORD is faithful in all his words
and merciful in all his deeds.
15 The LORD upholds all those who fall;
he lifts up those who are bowed down.
SECOND READING
Romans 7:15-25a (New Revised Standard Version):
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law oat war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
GOSPEL READING
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 (New Revised Standard Version):
Jesus said to the crowd,
To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
At that time Jesus said,
I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The Collect:
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sometimes I can tie all lectionary readings for a day together neatly via a common thought. This unifying theme might be easy or difficult to locate, but I can find it–much of the time. Proper 9, Year A, is an exception to this rule. So I state quickly that genuine romantic love between adult human beings, especially those bound to each other by the sacrament of marriage, is beautiful and that God is present there. Now I move along to Zechariah, Paul, and Matthew.
I take these readings in chronological order.
The Book of Zechariah exists in two parts: Chapters 1-8 and 9-14, each section having separate authorship. Zechariah 9-14 contains prophesies about how God will deal with the Jewish people from the time of Hellenistic domination of the Holy Land to the coming of the Messiah. The texts say that God will act, so the victory will belong to God. Worthless shepherds will not obstruct these deeds, for God will replace them with a worthy shepherd, the Messiah.
Jesus, of course, was (and is) that Messiah. People criticized him for many reasons: he ate and drank too much or he fasted too much; he healed on the Sabbath; the man could not satisfy some people regardless of how good he was. Some people will find fault with anyone, even Jesus. But he was (and is) the Good Shepherd, and through him God has made atonement for sins.
Speaking of sins, Paul struggled with them. I know this feeling, but I take it as more positive than negative. The term “immoral” indicates that one knows the difference between right and wrong, and chooses the latter. But “amoral” indicates that one cannot make the distinction. At least the person who is immoral at least some to the time knows the difference, and God can work with that. It is vital to try and to want to do the right thing. We humans are deeply flawed, “but dust” as the Book of Psalms says, but we also bear the image of God (Genesis 1). So we need to honor the divine image within ourselves and each other, and to trust God to help us distinguish between right and wrong, and to believe that God will help us choose what is correct.
Culture can affect our perceptions of morality, sometimes for the worse. As a student of U.S. history, I know that many Antebellum Southerners thought that keeping slaves was moral, and that anyone who said or thought otherwise did not understand the Bible correctly. Also, I have a book containing a 1954 sermon from Texas entitled “God the Original Segregationist.” The pastor continued to sell copies of this sermon via the mail through at least 1971. It is easy for me to point out these moral misunderstandings, but I am blind to my own.
So I read Paul’s confession and identify with it. And I take comfort that the victory is God’s work, and that neither I nor anyone else will stand in its way. But I hope I am not and will never be a would-be obstacle God must sweep aside. No, I want to be on God’s side. By grace, may as many of us as possible be there.
Above: Hands of God and Adam, from the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican (Painted by Michelangelo)
In the Image of God
FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
JUNE 4, 2023
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The Assigned Readings for This Sunday:
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8 or Canticle 13 from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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As I read the assigned readings for Trinity Sunday in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary I came to focus on first creation myth from Genesis. This is a beautiful tale about human nature and divine nature, not a science text.
Next I poured over study notes in The Jewish Study Bible (available from Oxford University Press) and Professor Richard Elliott Friedman’s Commentary on the Torah (available from HarperCollins). I commend all these notes to anyone.
One note from The Jewish Study Bible stood out in my mind:
In the ancient Near East, the King was often said to be the “image” of the god and thus to act with divine authority. (page 14)
Then the note explains that the Biblical command is to care for nature, not exploit it.
In Genesis all people–not just monarchs–bear the image of God. This statement carries great implications for ethics. If we really believe that we bear the image of God, we will treat ourselves and each other with great respect.
Yet we need to balance the reality of the image of God with the fact of our sinfulness and weakness, the reality that we are dust. In Genesis God pronounced creation, of which we are part, “good.” So we are good, but we are flawed, too. We cannot save ourselves, but neither are we beyond hope. We might be lost, but we can be found. There is good news and there is bad news; to place excessive emphasis one side or to ignore the other is to misunderstand our spiritual reality.
Our spiritual reality is that, as St. Augustine of Hippo stated, our souls are restless until they rest in God. We came from God. From God we have strayed. And to God we need to return.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 21, 2010 COMMON ERA
Published originally at SUNDRY THOUGHTS OF KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR on June 21, 2010
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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