Above: St. Simon Peter
Image in the Public Domain
Not Standing in God’s Way
APRIL 18, 2021
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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:
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 30
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Luke 24:36-53
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The four assigned readings share the context of an uneasy situation. We read a prayer of thanksgiving of a person who has recovered from a potentially fatal illness in Psalm 30. The slime in the pit of Sheol will not praise God, but a living person does. We also read of St. Simon Peter defending his actions (from Acts 10) to his fellow Jewish Christians, whom he persuades. We read of past suffering in 1 Thessalonians 2. And we read of Jesus comforting and empowering frightened Apostles in Luke 24.
My keynote for this post comes from Acts 11:17b:
How could I stand in God’s way?
—The Revised English Bible (1989)
When God refuses to fit into or respect the categories that provide psychological comfort to us and reinforce our defense mechanisms, how do we respond or react? Do we respond or do we react? (Yes, those words have different definitions.) Many of us, regardless of where we fall on the liberal-conservative scale overall and on each issue, identify ourselves as insiders and others as outsiders. Outsiders exist, of course, but God’s criteria for defining insiders and outsiders differ from ours. And what if one who imagines oneself to be an insider is actually an outsider?
No devout person tries to stand in God’s way, I suppose. Yet many do, sometimes. We humans frequently mistake our standards for those of God. We may do our best, according to what we know or think we know, but we can and do err.
May we, by grace, never stand in God’s way.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 6, 2020 COMMON ERA
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF CARTHAGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 413
THE FEAST OF BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, GREEK AND LATIN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF DANIEL G. C. WU, CHINESE-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF EMIL BRUNNER, SWISS REFORMED THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF MILNER BALL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, LAW PROFESSOR, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, AND HUMANITARIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT NOKTER BALBULUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/04/06/not-standing-in-gods-way/
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LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS 
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