According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  The Angel in the Tomb

Image in the Public Domain

Hope and Fear, Part II

MARCH 31, 2024

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Isaiah 25:6-9

Psalm 118:1-2, 15-24

1 Corinthians 15:19-28

John 20:1-9 (10-18) or Mark 16:1-8

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O God, you gave your only Son

to suffer death on the cross for our redemption,

and by his glorious resurrection

you delivered us from the power of death. 

Make us die every day to sin,

so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection;

through 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), 20-21

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Almighty God the Father, through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ,

you have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. 

Grant that we,

who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection,

may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 47

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Isaiah 24-27, part of Third Isaiah, is a proto-apocalypse.  Daniel contains a fully fully-developed apocalypse in chapters 7-12, which date to the Hasmonean period.  Revelation (the Apocalypse of John) and some pseudepigraphal works are fully-developed apocalypses, too.  Isaiah 24-27 contains many of the features of those later writings.

The apocalyptic genre is optimistic, for it proclaims that God will win in the end.  The proto-apocalypse in Isaiah 24-27 is optimistic in so far as it speaks of the metaphorical resurrection of Judah while using the language of destroying death and reviving corpses.

The assigned readings, taken together, speak of an illness.  A conquered people may move into a better future.  And the resurrection of Jesus makes renewed individual and collective life in God possible.

As I write these words, I live in troubled, cynical times.  Anti-democratic forces, competing in elections around the world, have much popular support.  Sometimes they win elections.  Many candidates who speak favorably of family values engage in political bullying and celebrate cruelty and insensitivity.  Many such candidates frequently win elections, too.  The great web of mutuality that protects members of society–the most vulnerable ones, especially–continues to fray under the assault by a selfish variety of individualism.  The morally neutral act of remaining informed regarding current events becomes an occasion of inviting excessive stress into one’s life.  Hope seems to be in short supply.  Positive statements about the Kingdom of God may ring hollow.  One may feel like the women at the empty tomb of Jesus–afraid.  I do.

And, when we turn our attention to death itself, we may experience the depths of despair and the harsh reality of someone’s loss.  The light may go out of our lives, as it did for Theodore Roosevelt on February 12, 1884, when his mother and first wife died.

I understand my grief well enough to know not to resort to platitudes.  I comprehend that death stings.  I know from the past and from current events that the world has long been and continues to be rife with delusion and injustice.  I, as a student of history, grasp that history does not repeat itself, but that history rhymes.  It rhymes because many people fail to learn the lessons of the past.

Yet the Christian hope teaches me that the Reverend Doctor Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901) was correct:

This is my Father’s world,

O let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:

The battle is not done,

Jesus who died shall be satisfied,

And earth and heaven be one.

–Quoted in The Hymnal (1933), #70

Happy Easter!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 18, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT LEONIDES OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 202; ORIGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN; SAINT DEMETRIUS OF ALEXANDRIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT ALEXANDER OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN, AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL OF CYPRUS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MARTYR, 760

THE FEAST OF ROBERT WALMSLEY, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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Advertisement

According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Icon of the Raising of Lazarus

Image in the Public Domain

Metaphorical Resurrections

MARCH 26, 2023

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Ezekiel 37:1-3 (4-10) 11-14

Psalm 116:1-9

Romans 8:11-19

John 11:1-53 or John 11:47-53

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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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Life and death are themes in three of the four readings.

1. We read a portion of Psalm 116, by someone grateful to have recovered from a serious illness.
2. We read Romans 8:11-19, in which the relationship of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus enables our adoption as “sons” (literally, in verse 14) of God.  (Verses 16 and 17, in the Greek text, do use the neuter “children,” however.)  Through the Son of God, each Christian is a son of God, therefore, an heir.  That metaphor from the Hellenistic culture, in which sons, not daughters, inherited, may require explanation in 2022.
3. We read a portion of John 11, in restores his beloved friend, St. Lazarus of Bethany, to life.  The Fourth Gospel presents this event as the proverbial last straw that led to the crucifixion of Christ.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the odd reading out.  It is about the restoration of Judah, defeated and scattered, after the end of the Babylonian Exile.  Ezekiel 37:1-14 is not about the resurrection of the dead; the language is visionary and poetic.

In a poetic way, however, the four readings fit together well.  Individuals, communities, societies, congregations, institutions, et cetera, need metaphorical resurrection.  They need restoration to a better state in God.  I know this about myself.

The current version of myself is one of many who have existed.  The current version is not as happy and well-adjusted as the one who existed before Bonny, ma chèrie, died violently.  I need a resurrection and a restoration.

Perhaps you, O reader, relate to that analysis.  Maybe you resemble that remark.  Fortunately, hope for all of us exists in God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 28, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JAMES SOLOMON RUSSELL, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, EDUCATOR, AND ADVOCATE FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES, ANGLICAN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT GUNTRAM OF BURGUNDY, KING

THE FEAST OF KATHARINE LEE BATES, U.S. EDUCATOR, POET, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF RICHARD CHEVNIX TRENCH, ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN

THE FEAST OF SAINT TUTILO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND COMPOSER

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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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