According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
God (YHWH, Elohim, or whichever other name one prefers to use; a Christian term is God the Father) is one. God is sovereign. God is just. These characteristics come from the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible, before I turn to Romans 8 and John 3.
The readings from Romans 8 and John 3 add Jesus and the Holy Spirit to the mix. Thus, we have all the ingredients for the formula of the Trinity. The word “Trinity” never appears in the New Testament. The ingredients of it do, however. The current, orthodox form of that doctrine is the result of successive councils and rebuttals against heresies during the first few centuries of Christianity.
I have read enough books and portions of books to know that every Trinitarian heresy began as a well-meaning attempt to explain the Trinity. So, I choose not to play that game. No, I embrace the mystery and focus on its meanings. One meaning is that, although God is one, God is complex, not simple.
In Christian terms, spiritual birth via the Holy Spirit is essential. This may be quiet or dramatic. Itay include an event one can mark as the time of spiritual renewal or it may sneak up on someone. I belong the company of people who have, within their active memory, always known God via Jesus. The dates I can mark on a timeline are mostly sacramental. They include one baptism, one confirmation, and three reaffirmations, with each of the last four occurring in the presence of a bishop in Apostolic Succession.
Lutheran minister and liturgist Philip H. Pfatteicher tells us that Trinity Sunday is:
not the feast of a doctrine but…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 thorugh the Holy Spirit.
—Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context (1990), 301
So, on Trinity Sunday, as well as all other days, may we thank God for the
now-completed mystery of salvation.
And, with the author of Psalm 96, may we ascribe glory and might to God. May our words, thoughts, and actions glorify God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 27, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE PHILIPPINES, BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SAINTS NICHOLAS OWEN, THOMAS GARNET, MARK BARKWORTH, EDWARD OLDCORNE, AND RALPH ASHLEY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1601-1608
THE FEAST OF PETER LUTKIN, EPISCOPAL COMPOSER, LITURGIST, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
THE FEAST OF STANLEY ROTHER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN GUATEMALA, 1981
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
The Roman census tax of one denarius (a day’s wage for a laborer) per year reminded the people of their subjugation. The denarius in the story from Matthew 22 bore the image of the emperor Tiberius, as well as the Latin inscription that translates as
Tiberius Caesar, Divine Son of Augustus.
The coin was a graven image, according to the Law of Moses. When Jesus requested to see the coin and one of the Herodians produced it, Christ reversed the trap meant for him. Jesus taught that God outranked Tiberius and deserved full allegiance. It was a skillful answer that got him in trouble with nobody among the Romans, whose soldiers were watching the religious pilgrims filling Jerusalem ahead of Passover, the annual celebration of the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. And those Jewish religious leaders could not dispute that God deserved complete allegiance.
Most Jews of the time assumed that, regardless of the name of the Roman emperor at any given moment, Satan was the power behind the throne. Jesus taught that Tiberius, despite himself, had to answer to and worked for God. That would have been news to Tiberius.
The assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible affirm the sovereignty of God, evident in nature, as well as in potentates, the moral characters of whom varied. The Bible favors Cyrus II of the Persians and the Medes, who ended the Babylonian Exile. In fact, most Persian kings named in the Bible–except in that work of fiction called the Book of Esther–receive good press.
God is sovereign, despite all appearances to the contrary. Some rulers and other people are consciously agents of God. Others are agents of God despite themselves. The sovereignty of God is sufficient reason to persevere in hope. Writing the previous sentence is easier than fulfilling it. I write during extraordinarily dark times. Therefore, when I write about persevering in hope, I address myself first then everyone else second.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 20, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZACCHAEUS, PENITENT TAX COLLECTOR AND ROMAN COLLABORATOR
Merciful Lord God, we do not presume to come before you
trusting in our own righteousness,
but in your great and abundant mercies.
Revive our faith, we pray; heal our bodies, and mend our communities,
that we may evermore dwell in your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 38
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Kings 6:23-38 (Thursday)
1 Kings 8:14-21 (Friday)
1 Kings 8:31-40 (Saturday)
Psalm 96:1-9 (All Days)
2 Corinthians 5:11-17 (Thursday)
2 Corinthians 11:1-6 (Friday)
Luke 4:31-37 (Saturday)
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Great is Yahweh, worthy of all praise,
more awesome than any of the gods.
All the gods of the nations are idols.
–Psalm 96:4-5a, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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King Solomon presided over the construction of the first Temple at Yahweh. That process entailed forced labor, unfortunately. That structure functioned both religiously, housing the Ark of the Covenant, and politically, boosting the monarchy. The crown controlled the place where God dwelt, according to the orthodoxy of the day. How convenient was that?
Jesus engaged in conflicts with people attached to the successor of Solomon’s Temple. The Second Temple, expanded by the order of King Herod the Great as a political and self-serving policy, was the seat of collaboration with the occupying Roman forces. Yes, much of the Jewish populace of Palestine had great respect for the Temple, but the fact of the exploitative system rooted in that place remained. That Jesus competed with the Temple and the priesthood, healing people and offering reconciliation with God, contributed to animosity between him and people invested in the Temple system financially.
Christ became the new Temple, the figure via whom people can become new creations. He was the figure whom St. Paul the Apostle proclaimed jealously, defending his version of the Christian gospel. Christ became the timeless Temple free of corruption, the Temple no power can control or destroy.
May all nations worship God at that Temple.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
FEBRUARY 28, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF THOMAS BINNEY, ENGLISH CONFORMIST MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND “ARCHBISHOP OF NONCONFORMITY”
THE FEAST OF ANDREW REED, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, HUMANITARIAN, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ANNA JULIA HAYWOOD COOPER AND ELIZABETH EVELYN WRIGHT, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATORS
THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH C. CLEPHANE, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
Above: The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, by Caravaggio
Image in the Public Domain
Oppression
OCTOBER 21, 2023
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The Collect:
Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts.
Created by you, let us live in your image;
created for you, let us act for your glory;
redeemed by you, let us give you what is yours,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 50
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 14:3-11
Psalm 96:1-9 [10-13]
Matthew 14:1-12
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He [the LORD] will judge the world with righteousness
and the people with his truth.
–Psalm 96:13, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Herod Antipas(reigned 4 B.C.E.-39 C.E.) was a bad character and a client ruler (a tetrarch, not a king, by the way) within the Roman Empire. He had married Herodias, his niece and daughter-in-law, an act for which St. John the Baptist had criticized him. This incestuous union violated Leviticus 18:16 and 20:21 and did not come under the levirate marriage exemption in Deuteronomy 25:5. John, for his trouble, lost his freedom and his life. Salome (whose name we know from archaeology, not the Bible), at the behest of her mother, Herodias, requested the head of the holy man on a platter.
The text from Isaiah 14 is an anticipated taunt of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence has ceased!
–Isaiah 14:3b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
That oppression and insolence did cease in the case of Herod Antipas. He had deserted the daughter of King Aretas IV of the Nabateans to wed Herodias. In 36 C.E. Aretas took his revenge by defeating Herod Antipas. The tetrarch sought Roman imperial assistance yet gained none, for the throne had passed from Tiberius to Caligula. Herod Antipas, encouraged by Herodias, requested that Caligula award him the title of “King” as the Emperor had done to the tetrarch’s nephew (and brother of Herodias), Herod Agrippa I (reigned 37-44 C.E.). Yet Herod Agrippa I brought charges against Herod Antipas, who, having traveled to Rome to seek the new title in person, found himself exiled to Gaul instead. The territories of Herod Antipas came under the authority of Herod Agrippa I who was, unfortunately, one of the persecutors of earliest Christianity (Acts 12:1-5).
Oppression has never disappeared from the face of the Earth. Certain oppressive regimes have ended, of course, but others have continued the shameful tradition. You, O reader, can probably name some oppressive regimes in the news. Sometimes they fight each other, so what is one supposed to do then? I remember that, during my time as a graduate student at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, I took a course about World War II. The professor asked us one day that, if we had to choose between following Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler (a decision many in Eastern Europe had to make in the early 1940s), whom would we select? I said, “Just shoot me now.” That, I imagine is how many people in Syria must feel in 2014.
Only God can end all oppression. Until God does so, may we stand with the oppressed and celebrate defeats of oppressors. Some good news is better than none, after all.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 31, 2014 COMMON ERA
PROPER 17: THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT AIDAN OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
The themes of being a good example and of leading intertwine in these days’ assigned readings. Indeed, one may have fine moral character and be a bad or ineffective leader, but a good leader–a fine shepherd of the people–will possess proper moral qualities. As an old Greek maxim tells us, character is destiny.
We read of two bad examples–people not to emulate. Micah of Ephraim (Judges 17:1-6) practiced idolatry. He went on in the succeeding verses to hire a Levite as his priest.
Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because the Levite has become my priest.
–Judges 17:13, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Yet the idolatry remained and no ritual, regardless of its sanctity, functioned as a talisman against the consequences of sin. And Diotrephes (3 John 9-12) used a local congregation as his power base and lied about others to protect his status. He disobeyed the advice in 1 Peter 5:1-5, for he used his position to lord it over the congregation.
Proper leadership entails functioning as a good example. To exercise the trust that is a leadership role as one should is to build up the people–to work for the common good–and not to line one’s proverbial pockets. Official corruption is one of the major causes of poverty, as numerous examples (especially in oil-rich areas with rampant poverty yet a relative few very wealthy people) demonstrate. Also, how one behaves speaks more loudly than what one says. Political talk is cheap, but actions count. I recall an editorial in a Roman Catholic magazine in the middle 1990s. The author, who had no kind words for politicians, who used the rhetoric of “family values” to win elections then did little or nothing to help the poor, much less families, wrote,
GET OFF YOUR VALUES AND GET TO WORK.
The criticism remains valid in a host of circumstances.
The words of Psalm 96:13 (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979) can function as both encouragement and as bad news.
He [the LORD] will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his truth.
It is good news for the oppressed and the downtrodden and terrifying news for the oppressors and those who trod upon people. So be it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 31, 2014 COMMON ERA
PROPER 17: THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT AIDAN OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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 eternal 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:
Isaiah 1:1-28
Psalm 96 (Morning)
Psalms 132 and 134 (Evening)
1 Peter 1:1-12
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Wash yourselves clean;
Put your evil things
Away from My sight.
Cease to do evil;
Learn to do good.
Devote yourselves to justice;
Aid the wronged.
Uphold the rights of the orphan;
Defend the cause of the widow.
–Isaiah 1:16-17a, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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For the word of the LORD is right,
and all his judgments are sure.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the loving-kindness of the LORD fills the whole earth.
–Psalm 33:4-5, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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This is a great joy to you, even though for a short time yet you must bear all sorts of trials; so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved–to your praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. You have not seen him, yet you love him, and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.
Rituals can have great value and convey great meaning. Yet a ritual without sincerity is like a special effect without a relevant plot point; it is meaningless and distracting. And what constitutes sincerity in this setting? Isaiah tells us that holiness is the essential element, and that the standard for holiness is objective: love of one’s fellow human beings and pursuit of social justice. After all, as we read in Genesis 1, each person bears the image of God. Faith, when it is what it ought to be, in inherently active. So Christian faith, rooted in following the example of Jesus, must entail reaching out to the marginalized, as our Lord did.
This devotion is for a fixed date, one which can fall in either Advent or the Season after Pentecost, depending on the day of the week on which December 25 falls. The readings work well on both sides of the seasonal boundary line. An old name for the Season after Pentecost or the latter part thereof is Kingdomtide, with an emphasis on demonstrated righteousness. And Advent, as a preparatory season for Christmas, contains a penitential element.
The take-away for today is this: Are you, O reader, keeping rituals yet mocking God by not even trying to uphold human dignity? If so, what will you do about that? The Incarnation of Jesus affirms the dignity of human nature, does it not? Faith ought to be about lived orthodoxy, not adherence to fossilized and ossified doctrine consisting mostly or entirely of words.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 1, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST FROM NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
All who enter the Kingdom of God must do so as powerless children. All who labor for God will receive the same reward regardless of tenure. He who serves is greater than he who does not. The Messiah is the servant of all and the ransom for many, not a conquering hero. All this content points to one unifying theme: the first will be last, and the last will be first.
This is a description of a social world turned upside-down. Prestige is worthless, for God does not recognize such distinctions. Even the great Moses died outside of the Promised Land, for justice took precedence over mercy. Prestige, honor, and shame are socially defined concepts anyway, so they depend upon what others think of us. And the Song of Moses refers to what happens when God disapproves of a people.
The last can take comfort in the seemingly upside down Kingdom of God. Likewise, the first should tremble. Good news for some can constitute bad news for others. This reversal of fortune occurs elsewhere in the Gospels—in the Beatitudes and Woes (Matthew 5:3-13 and Luke 6:20-26), for example. This is a subversive part of the Christian tradition, not that I am complaining. I do, after all, follow Jesus, the greatest subversive.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 9, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE FEAST OF THOMAS TOKE LYNCH, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ANNA LAETITIA WARING, HUMANITARIAN AND HYMN WRITER; AND HER UNCLE, SAMUEL MILLER WARING, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE
THE FEAST OF SAINTS WILLIBALD OF EICHSTATT AND LULLUS OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT WALBURGA OF HEIDENHELM, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; SAINTS PETRONAX OF MONTE CASSINO, WINNEBALD OF HEIDENHELM, WIGBERT OF FRITZLAR, AND STURMIUS OF FULDA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS; AND SAINT SEBALDUS OF VINCENZA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT AND MISSIONARY
Deuteronomy 3-4 functions well as one unit, as does Matthew 7. Lectonaries are wonderful, helpful guides to reading the Bible intelligently, but sometimes they become too choppy. They work well because one of the best ways to read one part of the Bible is in the context of other portions thereof, thereby reducing the risk of prooftexting.
There is much to cover, so let us begin.
I start with the violence–er, genocide–in Deuteronomy 3. I notice the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 also. Genocide is, of course, inconsistent with doing to others that which one wants done to one’s self. So I side with the Golden Rule over genocide.
The main idea which unites Deuteronomy 3-4 with Matthew 7 is the balance between divine judgment and divine mercy. In simple terms, there is much mercy with God, but justice requires a judgment sometimes. Mercy exists in Matthew 7:7-11 yet judgment takes central stage in 7:24-27. And divine judgment is prominent in Deuteronomy 3:23-28 and chapter 4, mixed in with mercy.
One tradition within the Torah is that the sin which kept Moses out of the Promised Land was a lack of trust in God, for the leader had struck a rock twice–not once–to make water flow from it. He had drawn attention and glory away from God in the process back in Numbers 20:6-12. A faithless and quarrelsome generation had died in the wilderness. Yet their children inherited the Promised Land. Judgment and mercy coexisted.
Richard Elliott Friedman’s Commentary on the Torah informs me of textual parallels and puns. For example, Moses imploring God for mercy is like Joseph’s brothers imploring the Vizier of Egypt for the same in Genesis 42. And the Hebrew root for “Joseph” is also the root for the divine instruction to stop speaking to God about entering the Promised Land. God is cross at Moses for asking to cross the River Jordan–the only time that a certain Hebrew word for anger occurs in the Torah. That word becomes evident in Friedman’s translation of Deuteronomy 3:25-26 and 27b:
“Let me cross and see the good land that’s across the Jordan, this good hill country and the Lebanon.” But YHWH was cross at me for your sakes and He would not listen to me. “Don’t go on speaking to me anymore of this thing…..you won’t cross this Jordan.”
The TANAKH rendering is more stately, but Friedman’s translation does bring out the double entendres nicely.
I do not even pretend to understand how divine judgment and mercy work. Both, I think, are part of divine justice. I, as a matter of daily practice, try not to pronounce divine judgment o others, for that is God’s task. So I try to extend the assumption of mercy toward them with regard to this life and the next one, so as to avoid the sin of hypocrisy mentioned in Matthew 7:1-5 and to work toward living according t the Golden Rule more often. For, as I think so I do. As William Barclay wrote in his analysis of Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus demands hearing and doing (The Gospel of Matthew, Revised Edition, Volume 1, Westminster Press, 1975, pages 291-292). That is the same requirement of the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 4.
Hearing and doing the commandments of God is difficult. May we succeed by a combination of divine grace and human free will. And, when we err, may we do so on the side of kindness, not cruelty, anger, and resentment. May we leave the judgment to God. I would rather err in forgiving the unforgivable than in being improperly wrathful.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 1, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
The readings assume that God and Heaven are above the surface of the Earth and that the realm of the dead is below the surface. So, from that perspective, to go to God, one must ascend. Hence readings say that Elijah and Jesus went up. I read accounts of assumptions and ascensions and interpret them as poetic elements. But, whatever really happened, somebody went to God; that mattered.
We read in Ephesians that Jesus descended before he ascended. This explains a line from the Apostles’ Creed:
He descended to the dead.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 120
The implication is that those Jesus visited in the realm of death were not beyond hope. If nobody who has died is beyond hope, neither are we who have pulses. And what does God expect of us but to renew our minds and spirits, to be humble and gentle, and to put up with each other’s failings in a spirit of love? (It is difficult, I know.) We have work to do, and we need to help each other do it. Elisha needed a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. We have the Holy Spirit and each other. Shall we proceed or continue?
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
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
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
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