Above:  Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, by Jacob Pynas

Image in the Public Domain

Cultural Blinders

APRIL 24, 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:

Acts 14:8-20

Psalm 1

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

John 20:19-31

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Culture conditions human perceptions.  One may see, for example, a man (such as St. Paul the Apostle) heal a man by the power of God.  Then one may perceive that agent of divine healing as a deity.  Being devout, by some definition, does not guarantee accurate perception of the divine.  One can misunderstand and be lost, therefore.

I, having defended the skeptical St. Thomas the Apostle (my favorite saint and Biblical character) many times, let my defense of him stand as I move along from the reading from John 20.  Some people see and perceive accurately.  Then they act accordingly.  They are like the man (yes, “man,” in the Hebrew text of Psalm 1.  They are like a tree planted beside streams of water.  They bear fruit in season.  Their foliage never fades.

How good are you, O reader, at seeing past your cultural blinder?  How good am I at that?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 10, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE GOOD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MILAN

THE FEAST OF ALLEN WILLIAM CHATFIELD, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF IGNATIOUS SPENCER, ANGLICAN THE  ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND APOSTLE OF ECUMENICAL PRAYER; AND HIS PROTEGÉE, ELIZABETH PROUT, FOUNDRESS OF THE SISTERS OF THE CROSS AND PASSION

THE FEAST OF MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM GAY BALLANTINE, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/cultural-blinders/

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Advertisement

For St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia

Above:  The Temptations of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

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Lent 2019

 

Texts:  Mark 1:12-13; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13

Reading the Bible for spiritual formation is an ancient Benedictine practice.  My primary purpose in writing this short piece is to ask, how do the accounts (mainly the Lukan and Matthean ones) of the temptations of Jesus challenge us, both as individuals and a parish, to follow Jesus better than we do.

The Temptation to Turn Stones into Bread

Bread was especially precious in ancient Palestine, with relatively little arable land.

We are blessed to be able to purchase our bread inexpensively at stores.  Bread is abundant in our context, so we probably take it for granted more often than not.  We can, however, think of some tangible needs related to scarcity.

One challenge is not to permit tangible needs to overtake intangible necessities.  We all depend entirely on God and dwell within a web of mutual responsibility and dependence.  According to the late Henri Nouwen, this temptation is the temptation to be relevant.  Relevance is not necessarily bad; in fact, it is frequently positive.  However, maintaining the proper balance of tangible and intangible needs is essential.  Furthermore, Christ’s refusal to cave into the temptation to use his power to make bread—to cease to depend on God—ought to remind us never to imagine that we do not depend entirely on God.

Questions

1. Do we permit tangible needs to distract us from intangible necessities?  If so, how?
2. Do we manifest the vain idea that we do not depend entirely on God?  If so, how?

The Temptation to Jump from the Pinnacle of the Temple

Many scholars of the New Testament have proposed what the pinnacle of the Temple was.

That matter aside, this temptation is, according to Nouwen, the temptation to be spectacular.  It is also the temptation to attempt to manipulate God by trying to force God to intervene in a miraculous way.  That effort, like turning stones into bread, would indicate a lack of faith.

We humans frequently like the spectacular, do we not?  We tell ourselves and others that, if only God would do something spectacular, we will believe.  We are like those who, in the Gospels, only wanted Jesus to do something for them, and not to learn from him.

Questions

1. Does our attraction to the spectacular distract us from the still, small voice of God?  If so, how?
2. Does our attraction to the spectacular reveal our lack of faith?  If so, how?
3. Does our attraction to the spectacular unmask our selfishness?  If so, how?

The Temptation to Worship Satan in Exchange for Earthly Authority

Many Palestinian Jews at the time of Christ thought of Satan as the power behind the Roman Empire and of the Roman pantheon as a collection of demons.  Jesus affirmed God the Father as the only source of his identity.

This temptation is about idolatry, power, and morally untenable compromises.

Many well-intentioned people—ministers, politicians, and appointed office holders, for example—have, in the name of doing good, become corrupt and sacrificed their suitability to do good.  They have sacrificed their moral integrity on the altar of amoral realism.

Some compromises are necessary, of course.  As Reinhold Niebuhr reminded us, we cannot help but commit some evil while trying to do good, for human depravity has corrupted social systems and institutions.

Questions

1. Have we established our identity apart from God?  If so, how?
2. How have we, with good intentions, committed or condoned evil?
3. Have we made morally untenable compromises?  If so, how?

The Good News

The good news is both collective and individual.

I discover the principle, then:  that when I want to do right, only wrong is within my reach.  In my inmost self I delight in the law of God, but I perceive in my outward actions a different law, fighting against the law that my mind approves, and making me a prisoner under the law of sin which controls my conduct.  Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death?  Who but God?  Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord!  To sum up then:  left to myself I serve God’s law with my mind, but with my unspiritual nature I serve the law of sin.

–Romans 7:21-25, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Jesus has modeled the way to resist temptation—to trust God and to understand scripture.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 10, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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Adapted from this post:

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/03/10/thoughts-and-questions-about-the-temptations-of-jesus/

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Above:  Good Shepherd, Roman Catacombs

Image in the Public Domain

Shepherds, Part II

APRIL 22-24, 2024

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The Collect:

O Lord Christ, good shepherd of the sheep,

you seek the lost and guide us into your fold.

Feed us, and we shall be satisfied;

heal us, and we shall be whole.

Make us one with you, for you live and reign with the Father

and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 33

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (Monday)

1 Chronicles 11:1-9 (Tuesday)

Micah 7:8-20 (Wednesday)

Psalm 95 (All Days)

1 Peter 5:1-5 (Monday)

Revelation 7:13-17 (Tuesday)

Mark 14:26-31 (Wednesday)

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Come, let us bow down and kneel,

bend the knee before the LORD our maker,

for He is our God,

and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.

–Psalm 95:6-7a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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The pericopes for these three days combine happy and somber thoughts.  Certainly the martyrs would not have become martyrs had their human “shepherds” been good ones.  Also, the prayer to God to shepherd the people (in Micah 7) came from a time of national peril.  The glory days of King David, whom the author of 1 Chronicles whitewashed, were not as wonderful as many people claimed, but they were better than the times of Micah.

Zechariah 13:7, in the literary context of the Day of the Lord and in the historical context of the Maccabean wars, reads:

This is the word of the LORD of Hosts:

Sword, awake against my shepherd,

against him who works with me.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,

and I shall turn my hand against the lambs.

—The Revised English Bible (1989)

This shepherd’s suffering will open the way for the purification and survival of one-third of his flock; the other two-thirds will perish.  Mark 14:27 has Jesus quote part of this passage in reference to himself in the context of the climactic Passover week.  The quote works mostly well that way, except for the perishing of two-thirds of the flock.  Nevertheless, this use of Zechariah 13:7 fits well with our Lord and Savior’s saying that the good shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep.

I try to be a grateful sheep of his flock.  My success rate is mixed, but I hope that it is improving, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 18, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF MARC BOEGNER, ECUMENIST

THE FEAST OF DOROTHY SAYERS, NOVELIST

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/shepherds-part-ii/

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Above:  The Original Text

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Loving God, who loves us, mourns with us, and rejoices with us,

the death of dreams and aspirations is among the most traumatic losses to endure.

It cuts to the emotional core of a person, causing great anguish, grief, and anger.

Regardless if the dream was indeed the one a person should have followed

(assuming that it was not morally wrong, of course),

the pain and disappointment are legitimate, I suppose.

I have known these emotions in this context more than once.

I wish them upon nobody, not even those who inflicted them upon me.

May we, by grace, function as your ministers of comfort

to those experiencing such a death or the aftermath of one

and who are near us or whom you send our way.

And may we, by grace, help others achieve their potential

and refrain from inflicting such pain upon others.

In the name of Jesus, who identified with us, suffered, died, and rose again.  Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 19, 2014 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY, YEAR A

Above:  Sarah

Image in the Public Domain

Grace and Obligations

APRIL 24 and 25, 2023

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The Collect:

O God, your Son makes himself known to all his disciples in the breaking of bread.

Open the eyes of our faith, that we may see him in his redeeming work,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 33

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 18:1-14 (16th Day)

Proverbs 8:32-9:6 (17th Day)

Psalm 134 (Both Days)

1 Peter 1:23-25 (16th Day)

1 Peter 2:1-3 (17th Day)

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Behold now, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,

you that stand by night in the house of the LORD.

Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the LORD;

the LORD who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.

–Psalm 134, Book of Common Worship (1993)

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In my corner of Christianity, that is Anglicanism-Lutheranism, spiritual regeneration, the topic of 1 Peter 1:22-2:3, is bound up with baptism, especially the hearing of the language of the baptismal rite.  In other words, baptism is more about what God is doing than about what we are doing.  Yet, as I know well, other interpretations of spiritual regeneration exist in Christianity.  According to some of them, I am not regenerate, despite my baptism, confirmation and two reaffirmations of faith, each of the last three in the presence of a bishop in Apostolic Succession from Jesus.  Anyone who says I am not regenerate is mistaken on that point.

I like the God-centered theology of baptism, for we humans do not occupy the center of theology; God does.  So baptism says more about grace (therefore God) than about us, and divine promises are rock-solid ones.  This latter point holds true even under the most unlikely circumstances, such as the pregnancy of Sarah.  And grace requires much of us, for it is free yet not cheap.  We must, to quote assigned readings for these days,

Lay aside immaturity, and live,

and walk in the way of insight.

–Proverbs 9:6, The New Revised Standard Version:  Catholic Edition (1993)

and rid ourselves

of all spite, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and carping criticism.

—The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

We must respond favorably to God in Christ, laying aside judgmental attitudes and embracing mercy.

I have not achieved all of these goals.  Fortunately, my power, which is woefully inadequate to do that, is not at issue anyway.  No, I have come as far as I have by grace.  My desire to move in a positive direction has been good, of course, yet I interpret its existence as evidence of grace.  I wonder how far grace will carry me next.  And I am curious about how far it will continue to carry others, especially those I know and will know.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 15, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT:  THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF THOMAS BENSON POLLOCK, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PROXMIRE, UNITED STATES SENATOR

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/grace-and-obligations-2/

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Above:  Easter Vigil, St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, Dunwoody, Georgia, April 8, 2012

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

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The congregational response to “We pray to God” is “Lord, hear our prayer.”

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, we bring our thanksgivings and concerns to the throne of grace.

We pray for

• Justin, the Archbishop of Canterbury;
• Katharine, our Presiding Bishop;
• Robert and Keith, our Bishops;
• Beth, our Rector;

and all lay and clergy members of the the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for economic justice, environmental stewardship, good government, and a better society.  We pray especially for

• those who struggle with financial, career, job, and/or vocational issues;
• those who suffer because of tyrants and violence; and
• those who suffer because of the apathy or prejudices of their neighbors.

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for shalom among people everywhere.

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We give thanks for everything which causes God to rejoice, especially

• the beauty of the natural world;
• the beauty which people have created;
• [the birth of G, son/daughter of H and I;]
• loving relationships;
• X, Y, and Z, who celebrate their birthdays this week; and
• A and B, C and D, and E and F, who celebrate their anniversaries this week.

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for all military personnel, especially (insert list here).

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for others for whom we care, especially (insert list here).

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who have died, that they will have eternal rest.

We pray to God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

[The celebrant concludes with a Collect.]

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 3, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT CUNEGOND OF LUXEMBOURG, HOLY ROMAN EMPRESS THEN NUN

THE FEAST OF SAINT GERVINUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY, ANGLICAN PRIESTS

Above:  Lent Wordle

I found the image in various places online, including here:  http://standrewauh.org/a-study-for-lent/

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The congregational response to “We pray to you, O God” is “Hear our prayer.”

We pray for the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, that it may show the face of Christ to the world and draw people to you,

We pray to you, O God.

We pray for

• Katharine, our Presiding Bishop;
• Robert and Keith, our Bishops; and
• Beth, our Rector;
• and all clergy and lay members,
• that they may serve you faithfully,

We pray to you, O God.

We pray for

• Barack, our President;
• Nathan, our Governor;
• Nancy, our Mayor; and
• all others who hold positions of authority and influence,

that justice may prevail,

We pray to you O God.

That we may, by grace, do your will each day,

We pray to you, O God.

That all who suffer may find succor,

We pray to you, O God.

We pray for (_____) and all who have died, that they may enjoy and glorify you forever,

We pray to you, O God.

We pray for our own needs and those of others.

Congregationally specific petitions follow.

The Celebrant adds a concluding Collect.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 2, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

Above:  Jews at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, on Yom Kippur, Between 1934 and 1939

Image Source = Library of Congress

Leviticus and Luke, Part III:  Humility

APRIL 24, 2024

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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 everlasting 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:

Leviticus 16:1-24

Psalm 99 (Morning)

Psalms 8 and 118 (Evening)

Luke 10:1-22

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Some Related Posts:

Yom Kippur:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/yom-kippur/

Yom Kippur Litany of Confession:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/yom-kippur-litany-of-confession/

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The instructions for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Leviticus 16, emphasize humility before God.  People ought not to think too highly of themselves; arrogance was a sin of Nadab and Abihu, after all.  Indeed, arrogance has led to many other sinful acts throughout history.  It plays out in headlines in contemporary times, for human nature is a constant.  I wonder how much better off the world would be if more people were humble before God and content with what they have.

Humility was an attitude Jesus told his seventy-two disciples to model.  And humility was a virtue our Lord exemplified; his exaltation in the Gospel of John was his crucifixion.  We read in the Gospels that the servant of all is the greatest in the Kingdom of God.  Also, the first will be last, and the last will be first.

I cannot say it better than that.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 13, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA  ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF GILBERT KEITH (G. K.) CHESTERTON, AUTHOR

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/leviticus-and-luke-part-iii-humility/

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Above:  Lamb of God

Seeking the Peace of God

APRIL 24, 2022

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THE FIRST READING

Acts 5:27-32 (New Revised Standard Version):

When the temple police had brought the apostles, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying,

We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.

But Peter and the apostles answered,

We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

THE RESPONSE:  OPTION #1

Psalm 118:14-29 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

14  The LORD is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.

15  There is a sound of exultation and victory

in the tents of the righteous:

16  ”The right hand of the LORD has triumphed!

the right hand of the LORD is exalted!

the right hand of the LORD has triumphed!”

17  I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works of the LORD.

18  The LORD has punished me sorely,

but he did not hand me over to death.

19  Open for me the gates of righteousness;

I will enter them;

I will offer thanks to the LORD.

20  ”This is the gate of the LORD;

he who is righteous may enter.”

21  I will give thanks to you, for you answered me

and have become my salvation.

22  The same stone which the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

23  This is the LORD’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24  On this day the LORD has acted;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

25  Hosanna, LORD, hosanna!

LORD, send us now success.

26  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;

we bless you from the house of the LORD.

27  God is the LORD; he has shined upon us;

form a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar.

28  ”You are my God, and I will thank you;

you are my God, and I will exalt you.”

29  Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his mercy endures for ever.

THE RESPONSE:  OPTION #2

Psalm 150 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Hallelujah!

Praise God in his holy temple;

praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him for his mighty acts;

praise him for his excellent greatness.

3 Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn;

Praise him with lyre and harp.

4 Praise him with timbrel and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe.

5 Praise him with resounding cymbals;

praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath

praise the LORD.

Hallelujah!

THE SECOND READING

Revelation 1:4-8 (New Revised Standard Version):

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:  Grace to you and peace from him who is and was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

Look!  He is coming with the clouds;

every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him;

and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wait.

So it is to be.   Amen.

I am the Alpha and the Omega,

says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

THE GOSPEL READING

John 20:19-31 (New Revised Standard Version):

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said,

Peace be with you.

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again,

Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him,

We have seen the Lord.

But he said to them,

Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said,

Peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas,

Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.

Thomas answered him,

My Lord and my God!

Jesus said to him,

Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

Prayer of Praise and Adoration:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter/

Prayer of Dedication:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter/

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/prayer-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter/

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Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

–John 20:22b-23, New Revised Standard Version 

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Jesus had returned from the dead, a death which human authorities had ordered.  So, in Acts 5:27, St. Simon Peter could defy human authority in good conscience.  (That adds a wrinkle to an argument I made here.    Back in time, closer to the Resurrection, Jesus comforted his surviving eleven Apostles, saying

Peace be with you.

The Apostles’ task was to spread that peace to others.

What, then, does John 20:22b-23 mean?  In other words, who retains unforgiven sins?

Recently I watched The Twenty (2010), an independent movie which deals with that question.  The three main characters loathe themselves.  The recovering alcoholic who has been sober for just a few weeks before resuming drinking detests himself.  The pedophile who has apologized to his victims and lived as a recluse for twenty-two years is ashamed of himself.  Two of his three victims have forgiven him.  The third victim, now a bar waitress and a devout person, has yet to find a way to live with herself either.  The lack of forgiveness of others and of self causes problems for all three characters.  And all these lives intersect because of a message on a twenty-dollar bill, hence the title of the movie.

The film ends ambiguously.  Will the self-exiled pedophile confess his sins in public?  Will the bar waitress force him to do so?  Will the recovering alcoholic save his fragile marriage?  Will anybody forgive himself or herself and find a way to live with the person in the mirror?  And will anybody forgive anybody else?

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,

have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,

grant us your peace.

—A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989), page 426

Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 3, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MORAND OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND MISSIONARY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS LIPHARDUS OF ORLEANS AND URBICIUS OF MEUNG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF UGANDA

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/seeking-the-peace-of-god/

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Above:  An Old Family Bible

Image Source = David Ball

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God of glory,

as we prepare to study the Bible,

may we approach the texts with our minds open,

our intellects engaged,

and our spirits receptive to your leading,

so that we will understand them correctly

and derive from them the appropriate lessons.

Then may we act on those lessons.

For the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Amen.

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KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 7, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG, SHEPHERD OF LUTHERANISM IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES

THE FEAST OF FRED KAAN, HYMNWRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHN WOOLMAN, ABOLITIONIST