Above: Ecce Homo, by Luca Giordano
Image in the Public Domain
Peer Pressure
APRIL 10, 2022
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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:
Procession of the Palms
John 12:12-16
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Liturgy of the Word
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:1-13
John 19:1-42
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I offer, O reader, a few thoughts I hope will prove useful to you. They, nevertheless, can never match the power of the assigned portions of scripture.
Inserting oneself into a Biblical story can be helpful. Ask yourself, O reader,
Who would I have been in this story? What would I have said or done?
The answer may be either pleasant or distressing.
We know from psychology and sociology, as well as from experience, that people will commit some actions and utter some words in a crowd they will not do alone. The group dynamic and the pressure to conform are powerful. Satirists, such as the Yes Men and Sacha Baron Cohen, know this. They use it to peal back the masks concealing the ugly, dark side of human nature, often to the displeasure of their subjects.
Ask yourself, O reader, how easily you, in a world, would have joined in the cry,
Crucify him!
Then ask yourself if you would, a few days earlier, in a different crowd, just as easily have shouted,
Hosanna!
What do your honest answers reveal about you?
Peer pressure has a relatively weak pull on me. I have spent my life resisting peer pressure. Some of my fellow students (my “peers”) bullied me for this reason when I was a youth in public schools in southern Georgia, U.S.A. Some people still criticize me for being rebellious in this way. That is their failing, not mine. “Conformity” is the most profane word in the English language.
Despite my rebellious ways regarding peer pressure, I am not immune to it. I cannot honestly tell you, O reader, that I know I would have resisted the peer pressure to shout,
Crucify him!
That disturbs me.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 8, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT THORFINN OF HAMAR, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF A. J. MUSTE, DUTCH-AMERICAN MINISTER, LABOR ACTIVIST, AND PACIFIST
THE FEAST OF ARCHANGELO CORELLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS AND GALILEO GALILEI, SCIENTISTS
THE FEAST OF HARRIET BEDELL, EPISCOPAL DEACONESS AND MISSIONARY
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/08/peer-pressure/
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LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS 
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