Above: Apollo and Artemis
Image in the Public Domain
Choices
JULY 28, 2019
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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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Judges 7:2-8, 19-23
Psalm 83
Acts 19:21-41
John 5:25-29
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Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the LORD,
are the Most High over all the earth.
–Psalm 83:18, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
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All glory belongs to God; that is a Biblical principle. We find it, for example, in Psalm 83. We read of Gideon’s diminishing army in Judges 7. All glory belongs to God. The preaching of St. Paul the Apostle threatens the economic status of artisans who create idols for the cult of Artemis in Acts 19. All glory belongs to God.
Encountering the divine glory imposes certain responsibilities upon one. Grace is indeed free yet certainly not cheap. How should we respond to the glory of God? Will one accept it for what it is and acknowledge one’s inadequacy or will one double down on one’s idolatry? The choice one makes will have consequences for one.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 17, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF EDITH BOYLE MACALISTER, ENGLISH NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT EMILY DE VIALAR, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF SAINT JOSEPH OF THE APPARITION
THE FEAST OF JANE CROSS BELL SIMPSON, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN POET AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS TERESA AND MAFALDA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESSES, QUEENS, AND NUNS; AND SANCHIA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESS AND NUN
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/choices/
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Above: Temple of Solomon
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
The Apocalyptic Discourse, Part I
JULY 14, 2019
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The Collect:
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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The Assigned Readings:
Jeremiah 7:1-15 or Daniel 2:1-49
Psalm 17:8-14 (15) or Psalm 83
Matthew 24:1-8 or Mark 13:1-8
1 Corinthians 7:1-40
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Timothy Matthew Slemmons, creator of the Year D project and author of the book in which I find the citations for this series of devotions, sets aside five Sundays for “the Apocalyptic Discourse,” which precedes “the Prelude to the Passion” (four Sundays) and “the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (ten Sundays), which leads directly into Christ the King Sunday. This arrangement presents an opportunity to delve into material usually ignored, minimized, or squeezed into Holy Week.
Holy rituals and the Temple at Jerusalem are not protective talismans that shield us as we commit idolatry, oppress the vulnerable, victimize foreigners, shed the blood of the innocent at holy places, commit adultery, steal, and/or murder, Jeremiah says. He and other Hebrew prophets agree that proper worship of God entails not just correct ritual but good morality; the first without the second is a mockery of God and the ritual. Do not trust too much in the Temple, Jeremiah says. Jesus makes a similar statement about that Temple’s successor. Both buildings will cease to exist in time, we read.
They did.
The apocalyptic theme continues. In Daniel the quality of material in the statue from the dream becomes progressively less impressive. The world of human beings, with their military-based empires, degrades. One should not trust much in those either. Neither should one put much stock in marriage, according to St. Paul the Apostle. According to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, marriage is a cause for anxiety and distraction from a spiritual orientation during the last days (which he thought were in progress), but at least it is preferable to sinning.
Where, then, should one place one’s trust? In God, of course. The two options for this psalm this Sunday are pleas for divine vindication and destruction of one’s enemies (in contrast to the treatment of the Aramean raiders in 2 Kings 6:8-23). In Year D (2013) Slemmons emphasizes Psalm 83, with,
Cover their faces with shame, O LORD,
that they may seek your Name.
–Verse 16, The Book of Common Prayer (1979),
a rendering, with some variations, common to many translations. Yet, as I read Psalm 83, I notice that
that they may seek your Name
is out-of-place with the rest of the text, which pleads for their destruction. One might explain this inconsistency by pointing out that human beings are frequently inconsistent, holding two mutually exclusive opinions simultaneously. The translation by the late Mitchell J. Dahood, an eminent scholar of Semitic languages, for The Anchor Bible, tilts toward
a coherent exegesis within the immediate context
—Psalms II (1968), page 277,
and renders the verse in question thusly:
Fill their faces with shame,
and let your Name, Yahweh, avenge itself.
As a Presbyterian minister I know says,
Translating Hebrew is a bear.
Certainly the apocalyptic mindset and genre thrives during times of difficulty, especially oppression. We humans tend to seek the destruction of our foes anyway, but more so during times of oppression. I understand that the deliverance of the righteous by God might entail the destruction of the wicked, especially at times when the oppressors insist on oppressing and not repenting, but the story of capturing Aramean raiders, treating them kindly before repatriating them (2 Kings 6) sticks in my memory. As I wrote in the post in which I dealt with that account, how we treat others–especially our enemies–is really about who we are, not who they are.
So who are we?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, ABOLITIONIST AND FEMINIST; AND MARIA STEWART, ABOLITIONIST, FEMINIST, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB AND DOROTHY BUXTON, FOUNDERS OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER
THE FEAST OF MARY CORNELIA BISHOP GATES, U.S. DUTCH REFORMED HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/12/17/the-apocalyptic-discourse-part-i/
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