Archive for the ‘March 17’ Category
Above: St. Augustine in His Study, by Vittore Carpaccio
Image in the Public Domain
The Covenant Written on Our Hearts
MARCH 17, 2024
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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
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Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:11-16
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33
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Almighty God, our redeemer, in our weakness we have failed
to be your messengers of forgiveness and hope in the world.
Renew us by your Holy Spirit, that we may follow your commands
and proclaim your reign of love;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 19
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Almighty and eternal God, because it was your will that your Son
should bear the pains of the cross for us
and thus remove from us the power of the adversary,
help us so to remember and give thanks for our Lord’s Passion
that we may receive remission of our sins
and redemption from everlasting death;
through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Lutheran Worship (1982), 38
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Lent is a penitential season, and these are readings suited for Lent. They are especially suitable for the penultimate Sunday of the season.
One theme in the canonical Gospels is the priority of following Jesus. “Hate” is an unfortunate translation choice in John 12:25. The meaning is to “love less than,” not to hate, as we first understand “hate.” Therefore, John 12:25 should read:
Whoever loves his life more than me loses it, and whoever loves me more than his life (or loves his life less than me) in their world will preserve it for eternal life.
Jesus (suitable for his purpose–the meaning of “perfect” in Hebrews 5:9) had the credentials to demand and to command so high a priority.
The covenant written on hearts is possible. The Pauline tradition affirms this; the Holy Spirit makes such a covenant possible. This thread continues into the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, who wrote at length and exercised logic. A terribly simplistic reduction of paragraphs from St. Augustine of Hippo reads:
Love God and do as you please.
When one reads the full, germane text carefully, one sees the logic, lifted from St. Paul the Apostle’s discourses about natural/unspiritual people and spiritual people in 1 Corinthians 2. In Pauline terms, spiritual people–who share the will of God–can do what they please, for they want what God wants.
That is an advanced spiritual state–one I do not pretend to have reached. Yet I continue to muddle through each day, trying to live well in God, in whom I trust. That is something, anyway. Jesus can use it and multiply it, fortunately.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 16, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTIETH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, SAINT RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS
THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR, 1183
THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF THOMAS WYATT TURNER, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC SCIENTIST, EDUCATOR, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST; FOUNDER OF FEDERATED COLORED CATHOLICS
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HENRY MONK, ANGLICAN ORGANIST, HYMN TUNE COMPOSER, AND MUSIC EDUCATOR
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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA
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Above: Denial of Saint Peter, by a Follower of Gerard Seghers
Image in the Public Domain
Waiting for Good News
MARCH 17, 2024
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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:
Daniel 12:1-10
Psalm 51:1-12
2 Timothy 4:5-22
Mark 14:53-72
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With one week to go before Palm/Passion Sunday, we read downbeat lessons–an apocalypse in Daniel 12, confession of sin in Psalm 51, reports of suffering and bad treatment in 2 Timothy 4, and the railroading of Jesus by the Sanhedrin and the denial of Jesus by St. Simon Peter. All of this is seasonally appropriate.
Where, however, is the good news? God shows mercy to the contrite. God keeps company with the faithful suffering. The resurrection is temporally nearby in the Gospel narrative. Furthermore, the fully realized Kingdom of God will be good news for the faithful.
Before we get to the good news, however, we must pass through the valley of the shadow of death.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 24, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/waiting-for-good-news/
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Above: The Temptations of Jesus
Image in the Public Domain
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For St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia
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
- Do we permit tangible needs to distract us from intangible necessities? If so, how?
- 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
- Does our attraction to the spectacular distract us from the still, small voice of God? If so, how?
- Does our attraction to the spectacular reveal our lack of faith? If so, how?
- 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
- Have we established our identity apart from God? If so, how?
- How have we, with good intentions, committed or condoned evil?
- 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: Joshua and the Israelite People
Image in the Public Domain
Resisting Evil Without Joining Its Ranks
MARCH 17, 2024
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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:
Deuteronomy 7:1-5
Psalm 141:1-4
Romans 13:1-7
Mark 13:21-23
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On this, the penultimate Sunday of Lent, we read of Jesus nearing Jerusalem. If I could summarize the ministry of Jesus in one word, that word would be love, often in opposition to authority figures. I raise that point because of the readings from Deuteronomy 7 and Romans 13, I refuse to condone or commit genocide and to support an oppressive government.
The context of Deuteronomy 7, certainly read in the context of two exiles, is the fact that sin is contagious; people influence each other. That fact, however, does not justify genocide, as the text does. Also, I cannot imagine Jesus commanding his followers to kill populations–or individuals.
As for Romans 13, certain leaders of the young and vulnerable church sought to avoid persecution of the church and counseled a “go along and get along” approach to the empire much of the time–except for sacrificing to false gods, of course. As I read Jesus in the Gospels, however, he died at the hands of the Roman Empire on the charge of being a threat to imperial security. He challenged authority, but not violently. St. Paul the Apostle was wrong in Romans 13:1-5.
Psalm 141, unfortunately, turns toward violence after verse 4. To choose not to be like evildoers is commendable. Sometimes violence might even be justifiable, as in the case of self-defense or the defense of others. But we must be careful not to become like our enemies as we resist them. If we fail in that objective, what good will we be able to commit?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 9, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT COLUMBA OF IONA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND ABBOT
THE FEAST OF GERHARD GIESCHEN, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHANN FRANCK, HEINRICH HELD, AND SIMON DACH, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITERS
THE FEAST OF THOMAS JOSEPH POTTER, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/resisting-evil-without-joining-its-ranks/
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Above: Cain and Abel
Image in the Public Domain
God’s Inscrutable Grace
MARCH 17, 2024
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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:
Genesis 4:1-16 or Isaiah 63:(7-9) 10-19
Psalm 101
John 8:31-47
Galatians 5:(1) 2-12 (13-25) or James 5:1-6 (7-10) 11-12 (13-20)
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Divine judgment and mercy share the stage with repentance in these readings. We who sin (that is, all of us) make ourselves slaves to sin, but Christ Jesus liberates us from that bondage and empowers us to become people who practice the Golden Rule–to be good neighbors, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, et cetera. Christ breaks down spiritual barriers yet many of us become psychologically attached to them. In so doing we harm others as well as ourselves.
Much of Psalm 101 seems holy and unobjectionable:
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
I will not set before my eyes anything that is base.
–Verses 2b-3a, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
So far, so good. But then we read verse 8:
Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of the LORD.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
That psalm is in the voice of the king. Given the human tendency to mistake one’s point of view for that of God, is smiting all the (alleged) evildoers morally sound public policy?
A clue to that psalm’s point of view comes from Genesis 4, in which we read that sin is like a predator:
And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.
–Genesis 4:7b, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
This quote, from God to Cain, comes from after God has rejected his sacrifice of “fruit of the soil” in favor of Abel’s sacrifice of “the choicest of the firstlings of his flock” and before Cain kills Abel. I know of attempts to explain God’s rejection of Cain’s sacrifice by finding fault with him. The text is silent on that point; God never explains the reason for the rejection. Nevertheless, we read of how badly Cain took the rejection, of how he reacted (violently), of how he expressed penitence and repented, and of how God simultaneously punished and acted mercifully toward the murderer.
The irony is pungent: The man who could not tolerate God’s inscrutable grace now benefits from it.
—The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014), page 17
Cain, spared the death penalty, must relocate and enjoys divine protection.
“God’s inscrutable grace” frequently frustrates and offends us, does it not? Is is not fair, we might argue. No, it is not fair; it is grace, and it protects even those who cannot tolerate it. “God’s inscrutable grace” breaks down barriers that grant us psychological comfort and challenges to lay aside such idols. It liberates us to become the people we ought to be. “God’s inscrutable grace” frees us to glorify and to enjoy God forever. It liberates us to lay aside vendettas and grudges and enables us to love our neighbors (and relatives) as we love ourselves (or ought to love ourselves).
Will we lay aside our false senses of justice and embrace “God’s inscrutable grace”?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 9, 2016 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT DENIS, BISHOP OF PARIS, AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS BERTRAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST
THE FEAST OF ROBERT GROSSETESTE, SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF WILHELM WEXELS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; HIS NIECE, MARIE WEXELSEN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER; LUDWIG LINDEMAN, NORWEGIAN ORGANIST AND MUSICOLOGIST; AND MAGNUS LANDSTAD, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, FOLKLORIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/gods-inscrutable-grace/
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Above: Candle Flame and Reflection
Image in the Public Domain
Resisting the Darkness with Light
MARCH 17, 2022
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The Collect:
Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world
through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son.
Help us to hear your word and obey it,
and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives,
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 28
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The Assigned Readings:
Daniel 3:19-30
Psalm 63:1-8
Revelation 2:8-11
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O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
–Psalm 63:1-8, The Book of Worship of the Church of North India (1995)
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Psalm 63:1-8 is the happy pericope for this day. The author praises God for divine, steadfast love and provisions. The other readings encourage readers and listeners to trust in God during extremely trying times. That is a positive and timeless message, but each of the other pericopes presents its own difficulties.
The story from Daniel 3 is ahistorical. That fact presents no problem for me, for I am neither a fundamentalist nor an evangelical. No, my difficulty with the account is that the monarch threatens anyone who blasphemes YHWH with death by dismemberment. I oppose blasphemy, but temporal punishment for it is something I refuse to support. Besides, one person’s religious expression is another person’s idea of blasphemy. I know of cases of (Christian) religious expression in foreign (majority Muslim) countries leading to charges of blasphemy and sometimes even executions (martyrdoms). Religious toleration is a virtue–one much of the Bible frowns upon severely.
The pericope from Revelation 2 comes from an intra-Jewish dispute. Non-Christian Jews were making life very difficult for Christian Jews at Smyrna. The Christian invective of “synagogue of Satan” (verse 9) is still difficult to digest, even with knowledge of the historical contexts. Passages such as these have become fodder for nearly two millennia of Christian Anti-Semitism, one of the great sins of the Church.
As we who call ourselves follow Jesus, may we cling to him during all times–the good, the bad, and the in-between. And may we eschew hatred, resentment, and violence toward those who oppose us. Christ taught us to bless our persecutors, to fight hatred with love and darkness with light. This is difficult, of course, but it is possible by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 18, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL JOHN STONE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ARTHUR TOZER RUSSELL, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT HILDA OF WHITBY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS
THE FEAST OF JANE ELIZA(BETH) LEESON, ENGLISH HYMN WRITER
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/resisting-the-darkness-with-light/
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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
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Tagged with Anger, Grief
Above: Lighting a Votive Candle
Image Source = AutoCCD
The Light Shining in the Darkness
MARCH 16-18, 2023
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The Collect:
Bend your ear to our prayers, Lord Christ, and come among us.
By your gracious life and death for us, bring light into the darkness
of our hearts, and anoint us with your Spirit, for you live and reign
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 28
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Samuel 15:10-21 (20th Day)
1 Samuel 15:22-31 (21st Day)
1 Samuel 15:32-34 (22nd Day)
Psalm 23 (All Days)
Ephesians 4:25-32 (20th Day)
Ephesians 5:1-9 (21st Day)
John 1:1-9 (22nd Day)
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You revive my spirit:
and guide me in right pathways
for your name’s sake.
–Psalm 23:3, A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989)
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1 Samuel 15 confuses me. The readings from Ephesians tell me to follow Christ as an example, to forgive people, to love them, and to deal generously with them. But 1 Samuel 15 tells a story in which King Saul falls out of favor with God for not committing enough violence. In a holy war an army was supposed to destroy and kill completely, but Saul’s forces did not do that. The concept of God in that chapter is not the one in my head.
No, I follow Jesus, who did not slaughter yet whom Roman imperial forces crucified. I follow Christ—victim and victor, sacrifice and priest. I follow Jesus, the light of the world, the light which
shines in the darkness.
Yet
…the darkness has never mastered it.
–John 1:5, The Revised English Bible (1989)
I read the Bible through the lenses of what the late Donald Armentrout called
Gospel glasses.
Thus I acknowledge the superiority of the four canonical gospels to the rest of the canon of Scripture. And I recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the template to follow.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 26, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIAN
THE FEAST OF ISAAC WATTS, HYMN WRITER
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/the-light-shining-in-the-darkness/
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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: Christ Episcopal Church, Norcross, Georgia, March 11, 2012
Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Exodus and Mark, Part I: Liberation Via Jesus
MARCH 17, 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 1:1-22
Psalm 84 (Morning)
Psalms 42 and 32 (Evening)
Mark 14:12-31
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Some Related Posts:
A Prayer to See Others As God Sees Them:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/a-prayer-to-see-others-as-god-sees-them/
A Prayer for Compassion:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/a-prayer-for-compassion/
A Prayer to Embrace Love, Empathy, and Compassion, and to Eschew Hatred, Invective, and Willful Ignorance:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/a-prayer-to-embrace-love-empathy-and-compassion-and-to-eschew-hatred-invective-and-willful-ignorance/
A Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Holy Eucharist:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/a-prayer-of-thanksgiving-for-the-holy-eucharist/
Prayer:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/prayer-for-the-fifth-sunday-in-lent/
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/
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Sin permeates and corrupts our entire being and burdens us more and more with fear, hostility, guilt, and misery. Sin operates not only within individuals but also within society as a deceptive and oppressive power, so that even men of good will are unconsciously and unwillingly involved in the sins of society. Man cannot destroy the tyranny of sin in himself or in his world; his only hope is to be delivered from it by God.
–Total Depravity Paragraph, A Brief Statement of Belief (1962), Presbyterian Church in the United States
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The midwives who spared Hebrew boys were heroines. Too often readers of Exodus might read past the names of Shiphrah and Puah quickly. Yet may we pause and repeat these names with much respect. They put themselves at great risk for strangers. It was the right thing to do.
Jesus, in the other main reading, was about to put himself at risk. (Look ahead: Gethsemane occurs in the next day’s Gospel lection.) He put himself at risk for those he knew and many more he did not–in his generation and succeeding ones. First, though, he instituted the Holy Eucharist, a sacrament in which we take him (literally) into our bodies. If we are what we eat and drink, may the Holy Eucharist make us more like our Lord and Savior.
I have heard and pondered a convincing theological case that the Exodus is the central theme of the Christian Bible. the miracle of the Exodus, according to the Book of Exodus, is not that the waters parted. 14:21 speaks of
a strong east wind
(TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures),
an attempt at a natural explanation. (If one accepts nature as an expression of God, divine workings through nature are natural, not supernatural; no they are just a form of natural we might not understand in the way in which we grasp other natural events.) No, the miracle of the Exodus is that God freed the Hebrews from slavery.
Is not the message of the living Jesus (from the Incarnation to the Resurrection) liberation? Is it not the message of liberation from societal sin (including economically exploitative and/or religiously-backed systems), not just personal peccadilloes? As a supporter of civil rights for all people, I know that this conviction has fueled movements to end Jim Crow in the United States and Apartheid in South Africa, to name just two examples. “Sacrament” derives from the Latin word for or an oath or a solemn obligation. (Thanks to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language for that information.) The solemn obligation I make every time I partake of the Holy Eucharist is to follow my Lord, including in social liberation for my fellow human beings.
Recently I spent a rather intense two days working on a local history project for a fellow parishioner. Athens, Georgia, is the home of the Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery, an abandoned resting place for the remains of African Americans in Clarke County. I prepared a spreadsheet presenting information (derived from death certificates issued from 1919 to 1927) and available from the State of Georgia online) for 236 people. How old were they when they died? Why did they die? What did they do for a living? As I worked two-hour shifts I learned a great deal. And I wondered what their lives were like. Many were former slaves. Others had been born after emancipation. But all who died between 1919 and 1927 lived at the height of Jim Crow in Georgia. And I know that many self-described God-fearing white Christians defended Jim Crow, as many had done for the same relative to slavery. Some argued that God had ordained slavery and segregation–or just segregation. (I have read some of these defenses. I have note cards full of citations and can point to secondary studies on the subject.) Those whites, I am convinced, did not love all of their neighbors as they loved themselves, for they would not have subjected themselves to such an oppressive system and second-class citizenship.
I wonder what my racial attitudes would have been had I been born in 1873, not 1973. It is easy for me to be a racially liberal white person in 2012, but what would I have thought in Georgia in 1912, given the socialization then? Damning racist forebears is like picking low-hanging fruit, not that there is anything wrong with that. Yet I need to examine my own attitudes for the higher-hanging fruit. Everyone needs to examine himself or herself for negative attitudes. Which neighbors (especially as defined by groups) do we love less than others? And which, if any, do we dismiss, despise, or consider inferior? Which, if any, do we think unworthy of fewer civil liberties and civil rights? Do not all of us bear the image of God? Yet we approve of these sinful hierarchies and place ourselves in privileged positions at the expense of others.
The liberation via Jesus is not just of others from ourselves and of each of us from our personal peccadilloes; it is also liberation from ourselves, our biases, our prejudices, and our blind spots. It is liberation to love all our neighbors, people who bear the image of God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 29, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE FIRST U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BOOK OF CONFESSIONS, 1967
THE FEAST OF JIRI TRANOVSKY, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS LUKE KIRBY, THOMAS COTTAM, WILLIAM FILBY, AND LAURENCE RICHARDSON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/exodus-and-mark-part-i-liberation-via-jesus/
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LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS 
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