He who is wise will consider these words,

Above:  Jesus Before Pilate, First Interview, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

Human Agents of God

APRIL 3, 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:

Hosea 14:1-9 (Protestant and Anglican)/Hosea 14:2-10 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox)

Psalm 34

Colossians 3:12-4:6

John 18:28-40

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He who is prudent will take note of them.

For the paths of the LORD are smooth;

The righteous can walk on them,

while sinners stumble on them.

–Hosea 14:10, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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I would feel better about Colossians 3:12-4:6 if it did not accept slavery.

Repent and return to God, Hosea 14, urges.  Accept divine forgiveness and act accordingly.  Forgive each other.  After all, everybody needs forgiveness.  And, although grace is free, it is not cheap.  Become a vehicle of grace.  Remain a vehicle of grace.  And do not be an in instrument of injustice, as Pontius Pilate was.  That is my composite summary of the four readings.

And, of course, never accept cultural practices that run afoul of the Golden Rule.

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/human-agents-of-god-part-ii/

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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:  The Angel at the Tomb of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

Doing What Love Requires

APRIL 3, 2024

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The Collect:

Almighty God, you give us the joy of celebrating our Lord’s resurrection.

Give us also the joys of life in your service,

and bring us at last to the full joy of life eternal,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

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

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 32

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The Assigned Readings:

Song of Solomon 3:1-11

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Mark 16:1-8

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I will give thanks to you, for you answered me

and have become my salvation.

The same stone which the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the LORD’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

On this day the LORD has acted;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

–Psalm 118:21-24, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Today we have an interesting juxtaposition of texts.  In the Song of Songs a woman seeks her lover and speaks of a royal wedding procession.  Meanwhile, in Mark 16:1-8, women arrive at Christ’s tomb to anoint his corpse properly.  They find an empty tomb and a messenger in a white robe.  He informs them of Christ’s resurrection.  The women flee the scene in fear, terror, and amazement.  Thus the Gospel of Mark came to end, until people started tacking endings (at least three of them) onto it.

In one pericope we have an orderly, stately, and joyous procession, in the other, a fear-inspired recession.  In both pericopes the female(s) act(s) out of devotion.  And in neither pericope does the central man appear.  These readings inspire us to use our imaginations.  What is Jesus doing at that moment?  Where is the monarch?

Jesus is a powerful and mysterious figure in the Gospel of Mark.  There he remains mysterious until the original ending and powerful through the tacked-on conclusions.  There is also a sense of the danger he was in throughout the Gospel of Mark, just as the two lovers in the Song of Songs are in danger.  It is sad that such a beautiful thing as devotion to another (as in romance or friendship) or to a larger group puts one in danger from fearful people sometimes.  Yet this is an accurate summary of reality, is it not?  But pure love–as Christ embodied it in the flesh–proves more powerful and enduring than fear hostility, hatred, and violence.

May we focus on that which builds up others and ourselves, for what we do to others, we do to ourselves.  May we affirm the sacred worth of people–including those quite different from us–by words and deeds.  And, if love–regardless of the form of it of which one speaks and thinks–requires sacrifice and entails risk, may we do what love requires.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 17, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF MARIA STEWART, EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB, FOUNDER OF SAVE THE CHILDREN

THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER

THE FEAST OF SAINT OLYMPIAS, ORTHODOX DEACONESS

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/doing-what-love-requires/

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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:  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:  The Gathering of the Manna

Exodus and Hebrews, Part XI: Faith, Apostasy, and Judgment

APRIL 3, 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:

Exodus 16:13-35

Psalm 99 (Morning)

Psalms 8 and 118 (Evening)

Hebrews 10:19-39

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A Related Post:

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/prayer-for-wednesday-of-easter-week/

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The same stone which the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the LORD’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

On this day the LORD has acted;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

–Psalm 118:22-24, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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We humans use the word “faith” to mean different things.  We have faith in one another.  We keep the faith.  We adhere to one faith tradition or another or none at all.  Likewise, the Bible uses the word “faith” to mean different things.  For St. Paul the Apostle faith was a matter of both attitudes and works.  After all, as a man or woman thinks, so he or she is.  In the Letter of James, however, faith is a mater of intellectual assent to theological propositions.  So, according to that definition, one must pair faith with works; faith alone is inadequate.  And, in the Letter to the Hebrews, faith is that which enables a persecuted Christian not to shrink back, and therefore to retain the pleasure of God.  In Hebrews 11:1

Faith means that we are certain of the things we hope for, convinced of the thing we do not see.

(translated by William Barclay)

The Israelites did see in Exodus.  They saw repeatedly.  They saw how God liberated them from slavery in Egypt.  They saw God feed them and provide drinkable water for them in the desert.  And still many of them grumbled.  Many of them lacked faith according to any of the Biblical definitions.  Others had it then lost it.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

–10:31, The New Jerusalem Bible

while warning against apostasy.  Read the narrative in Exodus:  judgment and mercy coexisted.  Human actions led to consequences, positive or negative much of the time.  But God was patient for a long time.  That was merciful.  Then judgment came, and the liberated generation doomed itself never to enter the Promised Land.

May we, by combination of grace and free will, delight in God until the end.  And may God delight in us.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 2, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN OF SWEDEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY, BISHOP, AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF LYONS (A.K.A. SAINT BLANDINA AND HER COMPANIONS)

THE FEAST OF REINHOLD NIEBUHR, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST THEOLOGIAN

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/exodus-and-hebrews-part-xi-faith-apostasy-and-judgment/

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Above:  Statue of Reconciliation, Ruins of Old Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, England, United Kingdom

Image Source = Rebecca Kennison

Forgiveness and the Future

APRIL 3, 2022

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Isaiah 43:16-21 (New Revised Standard Version):

Thus says the LORD,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself

so that they might declare my praise.

Psalm 126 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

then were we like those who dream.

2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy.

3 Then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

4 The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are glad indeed.

5 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like the watercourses of the Negev.

6 Those who sowed with tears

will reap with songs of joy.

7 Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,

will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

Philippians 3:4b-14 (New Revised Standard Version):

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 12:1-8 (New Revised Standard Version):

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom had raised from the dead.  They gave a dinner for him.  Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him.  Mary took a pound of costly perfume made from pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,

Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?

(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; the kept the common purse and used to steal what was put in it.)  Jesus said,

Leave her alone.  She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.  You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

The Collect:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Some Related Posts:

A Prayer Not To Live in the Past:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/a-prayer-not-to-live-in-the-past/

Prayer of Praise and Adoration:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/prayer-of-praise-and-adoration-for-the-fifth-sunday-in-lent/

Prayer of Confession:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/prayer-of-confession-for-the-fifth-sunday-in-lent/

Prayer of Dedication:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/prayer-of-dedication-for-the-fifth-sunday-in-lent/

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/prayer-for-the-fifth-sunday-in-lent/

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Sometimes I read Sunday lectionary texts and realize that I can tie all but one together.  Today, however, all of them fit together nicely.

Isaiah 43 has God promising restoration to the exiled Jews, descendants of subjects of the former Kingdom of Judah.  God says,

Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

–Isaiah 43:18-19, New Revised Standard Version

Psalm 126 echoes that reading:

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

then we were like those who dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy.

–Psalm 126:1-2, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Meanwhile, in Philippians, Paul of Tarsus, once a persecutor of Christians, now an occasionally persecuted Christian, wrote

…forgetting what lies behind, and straining on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

–3:13b-14, New Revised Standard Version

For

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

–3:10-11, New Revised Standard Version

That resurrection followed his death, after which people anointed his corpse.  Mary of Bethany’s anointing of Jesus in John 12:1-8 prefigured that pre-Resurrection anointing.

(Aside:  Shortly before I drafted this post I published one, which also brought me around to John 12:1-8 by means of another lectionary.  It is interesting how lectionaries intersect that way.)

As a student of history I grasp the value of knowing what happened in the past.  I also recognize the danger of getting lost back there.  My studies have uncovered examples of people reaching back a thousand years or so, speaking of those events as if they occurred last week, and inciting violence.  On the other extreme, I live in the United States of America, which Gore Vidal, novelist and essayist, has called the United States of Amnesia.  Twenty years ago seems like ancient history to many people.  There is a happy medium between the two.

The main idea is that we ought not live in the past, for the future lies ahead.  It is our destination.  God forgives us, and we ought to extend the same courtesy to ourselves and each other.  Paul had to focus on his goal, not his past.  The exiles of Judah needed to focus on rebuilding, not why they had to rebuild.  While acknowledging their past they needed not to become mired in it.

The same is true of each of us.  I have never had a sordid life or a dramatic conversion experience.  I cannot say truthfully that I became a Christian at 2:00 P.M. on a certain date, for example.  No, God entered my life subtly and gradually.  Yet I can identify moments when God broke through more dramatically and obviously than others.  And I have had to forgive myself for certain failings before I could pres on toward my goal.

We humans are social creatures, some of us more so than others.  We ought not only forgive ourselves but each other for each other’s failings.  Then we should help each other on toward each other’s goals in God.  We are here on the planet for each other; may we act accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 23, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT DESIDERIUS/DIDIER OF VIENNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT GUIBERT OF GORZE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BAPTIST ROSSI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, SCIENTIST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/forgiveness-and-the-future/

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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

Above:  A Scene from the March for Troy Davis, September 16, 2011

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

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God of justice,

may we have proper priorities.

Taking our cues from the prophets and Jesus,

may we eschew idolatry,

love you fully,

love our neighbors as we love ourselves,

care for widows and orphans,

plead their cases,

feed the hungry,

clothe the naked,

visit the sick and the imprisoned,

resist and condemn judicial corruption and other official injustice,

and value the most vulnerable members of society.

May we love the unloved,

comfort the comfortless,

give hope to the hopeless,

include the improperly excluded,

and recognize your image in each other.

May we succeed by grace and for your glory and our common good.

Amen.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF VALENCIA

THE FEAST OF PHILANDER CHASE, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH