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 story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, present in all four canonical Gospels, is a topic about which I have written many times during the years I have been composing lectionary-based posts. I refer you, O reader, to those posts for more about that event.
Second Isaiah applied the Davidic Covenant to the people of Judah, delivered from the Babylonian Exile. He wrote that the Jewish people had royal status, not a human king. This transformation of the Davidic Covenant accounted for the fall of the Davidic Dynasty in 587/586 B.C.E. Historically, that dynasty never returned to power. Second Isaiah, having democratized the Davidic Covenant, did not include an idealized future king–the Messiah–in his theology. This vision of the future contrasted with Second Zechariah, who wrote of such a Davidic monarch in Zechariah 9:9-12.
God provided for that royal nation. The authors of Psalms 104 and 136 also understood God as being active in nature and history. The theme of God feeding people carried over into the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power in the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
–Romans 8:38-39, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
This is excellent news! Do you, O reader, trust that this is true?
Psalm 23 tells us that divine kindness and faithful love either pursue or accompany (depending on the translation) us, even in the presence of our enemies. God is on our side. Are we on God’s side?
The people of God are a royal nation. May we think and act accordingly, loving God fully and our neighbors (all people) as ourselves.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 20, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH AUGUSTUS SEISS, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF BERNARD ADAM GRUBE, GERMAN-AMERICAN MINISTER, MISSIONARY, COMPOSER, AND MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF CHARLES COFFIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HANS ADOLF BRORSON, DANISH LUTHERAN BISHOP, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN SPARROW-SIMPSON, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND PATRISTICS SCHOLAR
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 reading from 1 Kings 3 marinates in hindsight and the wasted potential of King Solomon, who had come to power like Michael Corleone, settling disputes with murder. One may reasonably speculate that King Solomon had already cast his die before 1 Kings 3. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal, to quote a cliché.
We read a portion of Psalm 119, in which the author extols God’s commandments in the context of human oppression.
Single Predestination (Romans 8:28-30) is to Heaven. Those not so predestined have the witness of the Holy Spirit available to them.
We read that, at the end of the age, the angels will separate the wicked from the righteous. This is good news for the righteous and bad news for the wicked. Divine judgment and mercy exist in balance.
I paid little attention to predestination when I was a Methodist. My theology has shifted, however, into Anglican-Lutheranism, which includes Single Predestination. After growing up ignoring passages such as Romans 8:28-30, I have embraced them.
The good news of Single Predestination, paired with the witness of the Holy Spirit, is grace. Those predestined receive one form of grace. Those not predestined receive another form of grace. Their free will to accept or reject the witness of the Holy Spirit exists because of grace. Everything boils down to grace.
We human beings do not have to earn everything. We cannot earn grace. If we accept it, we also accept its demands on our lives. Grace is free, not cheap.
Good news and bad news come together. We mere mortals make our bad news and some of our good news. God brings us good news. Are we receptive to it?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYL0R
JUNE 18, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM BINGHAM TAPPAN, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER. POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ADOLPHUS NELSON, SWEDISH-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF BERNARD MIZEKI, ANGLICAN CATECHIST AND CONVERT IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA, 1896
THE FEAST OF JOHANN FRANCK, HEINRICH HELD, AND SIMON DACH, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF RICHARD MASSIE, HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF VERNARD ELLER, U.S. CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Second Isaiah’s insistence upon strict monotheism is consistent with Psalmists’ trust in God, especially during difficult times. St. Paul the Apostle’s encouraging words tell us that the Holy Spirit comes to our aid in our weakness and intercedes for us.
I have been writing lectionary-based posts for more than a decade. In that time, I have covered the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) a few times.
All these posts are available at this weblog.
To turn to the topic at hand, trust in God is a theme in the Parable of the Weeds. We may trust God to remove the darnel. If we are fortunate, we are not poisonous weeds. If we are unfortunate, we are darnel, and God will remove us in time.
All the readings speak of trust in God during perilous times. Romans 8:26-27 exists in the context of what precedes it immediately: suffering and hardship as birth pangs of a renewed creation. Isaiah 44:6-8 exists in the context of the waning months of the Babylonian Exile. Psalm 86 speaks of
a brutal gang hounding me to death
–verse 14, The Jerusalem Bible (1966).
Matthew 13 refers to poisonous weeds that initially resemble wheat in the Parable of the Weeds. Who is wheat and who is darnel may not always be possible or easy to tell. (I do know, however, that I habitually fail doctrinal purity tests. Many people classify me as darnel. So be it.) Given the outward similarity of wheat and darnel, whom should one trust? And, as we read in Psalm 11i:61,
…the nets of the wicked ensnare me.
—The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (2019)
Fortunately, we are not alone. The Holy Spirit comes to our aid in our weakness and intercedes for us. Do we trust that this is true? Do we trust in God?
I can answer only for myself. My answer to this question is,
Yes, usually.
What is your answer, O reader?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 17, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL BARNETT, ANGLICAN CANON OF WESTMINSTER, AND SOCIAL REFORMER; AND HIS WIFE, HENRIETTA BARNETT, SOCIAL REFORMER
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 MARK HOPKINS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, EDUCATOR, AND PHYSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINTS TERESA AND MAFALDA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESSES, QUEENS, AND NUNS; AND SAINT SANCHIA OF PORTUGAL, PRINCESS AND NUN
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
When reading the assigned lessons in preparation for drafting a post, I often notice that one lesson is an outlier. Today I choose to focus on the outlier. The theme of God sowing, complete with the Matthean version of the Parable of the Sower/the Four Soils, is a topic about which I have written and posted more than once. You, O reader, may access my analysis of that parable by following the germane tags attached to this post. I also refer you to this post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA.
Romans 8:18-25 flows from what precedes it immediately: Christians are heirs–sons, literally–of God, through Jesus, the Son of God. The gendered language is a reflection of St. Paul the Apostle’s cultural setting, in which sons, not daughters, inherited. As “sons of God,” we Christians bear witness with the Holy Spirit that we are members of the household of God.
Literally, Christians are “sons of God” or have received the “spirit of sonship” in verses 14, 15, and 23. We are “children of God” in verses 16, 17, and 21, though. (I checked the Greek texts.) These distinctions are obvious in translations that do not neuter the Greek text. I check genders (male, female, and neuter) via the Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002). My historical training tells me that before I can interpret a document in context, I must know what the document says.
Romans 8:18-30, from which we extract 8:18-25, tells of the renewal of all things. In the midst of suffering, the future glory of the human race in God still awaits. The renewal of creation itself awaits. The sufferings are birth pangs. Meanwhile, Christians must wait with patience and expectation.
For obvious reasons, I leave comments about birth pangs to women who have given birth.
St. Paul the Apostle understood suffering for Christ. St. Paul the Apostle mustered optimism in dark times, by grace. This has always astounded me. I, having endured suffering less severe than that of St. Paul the Apostle, have found depression and pessimism instead.
I write this post during dark times for the world. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world. Authoritarian forces endanger representative governments around the world. Polarization has increased to the point that opposite camps have their own facts. (Objective reality be damned!) I have found more causes for depression and pessimism than for optimism.
Yet St. Paul the Apostle, speaking to us down the corridors of time, tells us that these are birth pangs of a better world. I hope that is correct. I pray that these are not birth pangs of a dystopia.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 18, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JACQUES ELLUL, FRENCH REFORMED THEOLOGIAN AND SOCIOLOGIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT CELESTINE V, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTORNEY, PRIEST, AND ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR
Relationships with God can be difficult; read today’s lesson from Jeremiah, for example. It starts with,
O LORD, you have duped me, and I have been your dupe;
you have outwitted me and have prevailed.
A few verses later, one reads,
But the LORD is on my side, strong and ruthless,
therefore my persecutors shall stumble and fall powerless.
Nevertheless, a few verses later, one reads,
A curse on the day when I was born!
This is vintage Jeremiah. It is stronger than Psalm 107, consistent with our reading from Jeremiah. The reading from Romans 8, in contrast, is upbeat:
If God is on our side, who is against us?…for I am convinced that…nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
–Verses 31, 38, and 39, The Revised English Bible (1989)
I suppose that, depending on the time of day, Jeremiah, a prophet of God, changed his mind about whether God was on his side. That was fine, for Jeremiah had a relationship with God, at least.
My second favorite aspect of Judaism is arguing faithfully with God. (Monotheism is my favorite aspect of Judaism.) Islam is about submitting to God. In Judaism, however, one can kvetch at God and be pious. One can also be pious in the same way in Christianity, fortunately. After all, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Repentance remains vital, though. Although nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, divine judgment and mercy remain in balance. We human beings retain our free will; may we use it wisely.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 24, 2020 COMMON ERA
GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE
THE FEAST OF SAINT EGBERT OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK; AND SAINT ADALBERT OF EGMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT FIDELIS OF SIGMARINGEN, CAPUCHIN FRIAR AND MARTYR, 1622
THE FEAST OF JOHANN WALTER, “FIRST CANTOR OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH”
THE FEAST OF SAINT MELLITUS, BISHOP OF LONDON, AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
These assigned readings pertain to collective matters–sins, punishment for sins, and life in the Holy Spirit. The context is that of a group–a faith community, a kingdom, et cetera. All of that is consistent with the Biblical theme of mutuality. We are responsible to and for each other.
Collective guilt and responsibility may seem unfair, assuming a certain perspective. For example, sometimes a court releases a wrongly-convicted person who has spent years in prison yet whom evidence has exonerated. Perhaps an expert witness lied under oath. Maybe DNA has proven the prisoner’s innocence. Perhaps the prisoner pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to avoid a certain conviction on a more severe charge. Maybe the testimony of eyewitnesses proved to be unreliable, as it frequently does. Perhaps the prosecutor engaged in professional misconduct by withholding exculpatory evidence. Either way, taxpayers have borne the financial costs of what went wrong, leading to the incarceration of an innocent person. And taxpayers may bear the financial costs of paying reparations to the wrongly convicted. We not begrudge giving a liberated, wrongly-convicted person a fresh start and the financial means to begin a new life, do we? We know, after all, that the wrongly-convicted person has paid for the actions of others with time in prison.
Whatever one person does affects others, whether one behaves as a private citizen or in an official capacity. Likewise, society is people. What society does wrong and sinfully does affect even those members of it who vocally oppose those sinful actions. Those activists for justice also suffer when their society incurs punishment for its sins.
On the other hand, given that society is people, individuals can change their society. Individuals can improve their society or make it worse.
May all of us leave our societies better than we found them.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 23, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, RENEWER OF SOCIETY AND PROPHETIC WITNESS IN JAPAN
THE FEAST OF JAKOB BÖHME, GERMAN LUTHERAN MYSTIC
THE FEAST OF MARTIN RINCKART, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA MARIA OF THE CROSS, FOUNDRESS OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF SAINT TERESA OF FLORENCE
THE FEAST OF WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, SEMINARY PROFESSOR, AND HYMN WRITER
I aspire never to diminish the glorious mystery of God, or to attempt to do so. The doctrine of the Trinity, which the Church developed over centuries via debates, interpretation, and ecumenical councils, is the best explanation for which I can hope. However, the Trinity still makes no logical sense. For example, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal. Yet the Son proceeds from the Father. And, depending on one’s theology, vis-à-vis the filoque clause, the Spirit proceeds either from the Father or from the Father and the Son. Huh?
No, the Trinity is illogical. So be it. I frolic in the illogical, glorious mystery of God, who adopts us as sons (literally, in the Greek text), and therefore as heirs. I frolic in the mystery of the Holy Spirit, in whom is new new life. I frolic in the mystery and worship the unity.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 29, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
The Episcopal Church has seven Principal Feasts: Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints’ Day, Christmas Day, and the Epiphany.
The Feast of All Saints, with the date of November 1, seems to have originated in Ireland in the 700s, then spread to England, then to Europe proper. November 1 became the date of the feast throughout Western Europe in 835. There had been a competing date (May 13) in Rome starting in 609 or 610. Anglican tradition retained the date of November 1, starting with The Book of Common Prayer (1549). Many North American Lutherans first observed All Saints’ Day with the Common Service Book (1917). The feast was already present in The Lutheran Hymnary (Norwegian-American, 1913). The Lutheran Hymnal (Missouri Synod, et al, 1941) also included the feast. O the less formal front, prayers for All Saints’ Day were present in the U.S. Presbyterian Book of Common Worship (Revised) (1932), the U.S. Methodist Book of Worship for Church and Home (1945), and their successors.
The Feast of All Saints reminds us that we, as Christians, belong to a large family stretching back to the time of Christ. If one follows the Lutheran custom of commemorating certain key figures from the Hebrew Bible, the family faith lineage predates the conception of Jesus of Nazareth.
At Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta, Georgia, where I was a member from 1993 to 1996, I participated in a lectionary discussion group during the Sunday School hour. Icons decorated the walls of the room in which we met. The teacher of the class called the saints depicted “the family.”
“The family” surrounds us. It is so numerous that it is “a great cloud of witnesses,” to quote Hebrews 12:1. May we who follow Jesus do so consistently, by grace, and eventually join that great cloud.
+++++++++++++
Gendered language does not bother me. Gender is, after all, a reality of human life. Besides, neutering language frequently blurs the divide between the singular and the plural, hence my objections to the singular “they,” “them,” “their” and “themselves.” One can–and should–be inclusive linguistically in such a way as to respect the difference between the singular and the plural. I do understand the issue of clarity, however. I know that how members of one generation, in a particular cultural context, perceive a gendered term, such as “sons,” differs greatly from how others elsewhere, at another time, do. Certain modern English translations of the Bible, in an admirable attempt to be inclusive, obscure subleties of gendered terms sometimes. However, translating a text literally does not make those subtleties clear, either. Commentaries are necessary for that.
Consider, for example, Romans 8:14-17, O reader. In that passage the Greek for “sons of God” often comes across in modern English as “children of God.” Likewise, we read “children” when the Greek word means “sons.” The cultural context, in which sons, but not daughters, inherited, is vital to understanding that portion of scripture, in which Christians, whether they are biologically sons or daughters, inherit, via Jesus. Thus “sons of God” includes daughters. None of that is superficially evident, however.
In contrast, “children,” as in “children of God, as opposed to “children of Satan,” in 1 John 3:1 and 3:10 is a literal translation from the Greek; the Greek word is not gender-specific. That fact is not superficially evident, however, given the recent tendency to gloss over gendered language. A commentary is necessary to understand that aspect of 1 John 3:1 and 3:10.
Our societies condition us in ways that frequently do not apply to the cultural contexts that informed ancient texts.
In 1929 Lesbia Scott wrote:
They lived not only in ages past,
There are hundreds of thousands still,
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.
The apocalyptic hope present in Daniel 7, the community focus of Psalm 34, and the counter-cultural values of the Beatitudes should encourage us to persist is fidelity to God, to do so in faith community, and without resorting to serial contrariness, to lead lives that reject those cultural values contrary to the message of the Beatitudes. We must do this for the glory of God and the benefit of people near, far away, and not yet born. And, when our earthly pilgrimage ends, others will take up the cause we join what Hebrews 12:1 calls
a great cloud of witnesses.
Members of that great cloud of witnesses are sons and daughters of God–inheritors of the promise, by the grace of God. Certain cultures restrict inheritance rights according to gender, but God does not. Each of us, by grace and faith, can be among the sons of God and the children of the light.
And I mean to be one, too.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JUTTA OF DISIBODENBERG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND HER STUDENT, SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF GERARD MOULTRIE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND TRANSLATOR OF HYMNS
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SZCESNY FELINSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF WARSAW, TITULAR BISHOP OF TARSUS, AND FOUNDER OF RECOVERY FOR THE POOR AND THE CONGREGATION OF THE FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF THE FAMILY OF MARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SAJNA, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940
to learn love for one another. Keep our feet from evil paths.
Turn our minds to your wisdom and our hearts to the grace
revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 48
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Assigned Readings:
Ezekiel 22:17-31
Psalm 113
Romans 8:31-39
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high,
but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
He takes up the weak out of the dust and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
He sets them with the princes, with the princes of his people.
–Psalm 113:5-7, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The reading from Ezekiel 22 is full of divine judgment on the unrighteous, notably false prophets who have stolen from people, destroyed lives, and taken lives, among other offenses.
I will repay them for their conduct–declares the Lord GOD.
–Ezekiel 22:31b, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Good news for the oppressed is frequently bad news for their unrepentant oppressors.
St. Paul the Apostle made a wonderful point about the love of God in Christ:
For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
–Romans 8:38-39, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
That passage reminds me of Psalm 139, in which the author praises God for being omnipresent:
Where could I go to escape your spirit?
Where could I flee from your presence?
If I climb the heavens, you are there,
there too, if I lie in Sheol.
If I flew to the point of sunrise,
or westward across the sea,
your hand would still be guiding me,
your right hand holding me.
If I asked darkness to cover me,
and light to become night around me,
that darkness would not be dark to you,
night would be as light as day.
–Psalm 139:7-12, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
On the other hand, the author of Psalm 139 prays that God will kill the wicked and announces his hatred of those who hate God in verses 19-22. Does not the love of God extend to them? Does not God desire that they confess their sins and repent? Does not God prefer that oppressors cease their oppression and become godly? In Psalm 23 God prepares a banquet for the author in the presence of the author’s enemies, who are powerless to prevent the banquet. Furthermore, only divine goodness and kindness pursue the author; his enemies fall away, unable to keep up with divine love and might.
God does not separate us from divine love, grace, kindness, and mercy. No, we choose to acknowledge it and to act accordingly or to do the opposite. Love comes with the possibility of rejection and the duty of acceptance. Grace is free yet definitely not cheap, for it changes its recipients; it comes with obligations. God liberates us to love, glorify, and enjoy Him forever. Will we accept that grace and its accompanying duties, especially those regarding how we treat our fellow human beings?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 19, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANDREW BOBOLA, JESUIT MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT DUNSTAN OF CANTERBURY, ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF KERMARTIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND ADVOCATE OF THE POOR
ORDINARY TIME DEVOTIONS 
You must be logged in to post a comment.