It is my confident hope that nothing will prevent me from speaking boldly; and that now as always Christ will display his greatness in me, whether the verdict be life or death.

Above:  A Stamp Depicting Jonah in the Boat

Image in the Public Domain

The Inner Jonah, Part I

MARCH 15, 2023

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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:

Jonah 1

Psalm 121

Philippians 1:15-30

Matthew 26:20-35

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The story of Jonah is a work of satirical fiction that teaches timeless truths.  It is the tale of a reluctant prophet who flees God’s call before finally accepting the vocation and succeeding, much to his disappointment.  The book is a story about repentance, God’s mercy on our enemies, God’s refusal to conform to our expectations, and the foolishness of religious nationalism.

St. Paul the Apostle, perhaps writing from prison in Ephesus, circa 56 C.E., wrote:

–Philippians 1:20, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Christ, in Matthew 26, was obedient to God–soon to the point of death.  His final journey to Jerusalem had a result far different from that of the trek of pilgrims who sang Psalm 121.

Each of us has an inner Jonah.  Each of us likes certain categories more than we ought and other categories we should reject.  We like for God to bless people like ourselves and overlook our sis, and to smite our enemies, collective and individual.  To some extent, we define ourselves according to who we are not.  Therefore, if our enemies and those we dislike change, what does of identity become?

Defense mechanisms are frequently negative.  When we embrace them and flee from God, they certainly are.  When we embrace them and find divine grace scandalous, they are surely negative.  When we embrace them and choose not to speak the words of God boldly or at all, they certainly are idolatrous.

May we, by grace, eschew this and all other forms of idolatry.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 23, 2018  COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT IVO OF CHARTRES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/the-inner-jonah-part-i/

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Above:  Harvest

Image in the Public Domain

Yielding the Full Harvest of Righteousness

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

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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:

Obadiah 1-4, 11-15

Psalm 32

Philippians 1:1-14

Matthew 26:1-16

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The pericopes from Obadiah and Matthew recount perfidy.  In Obadiah, the briefest book in the Jewish Bible, with 291 Hebrew words, we read of the perfidy of the Edomites, descendants of Esau who, in the words of verses 12 and 13, gazed with glee and participated in the Fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E.  We read of God’s displeasure and promised judgment on the people of Edom.  The perfidy of Matthew 26:1-16 is that of those (including Caiaphas and Judas Iscariot) who plotted to kill Jesus.  In stark contrast to them, we read, was the unnamed woman of Bethany who anointed Jesus.

The author of Psalm 32 had recovered from a serious illness.  In his culture a common assumption was that such an illness was divine punishment for sin, regardless of what the Book of Job argued in its fullness.  The author seemed to accept that assumption, thus he focused on the confession of sins and linked that confession to his recovery.

Yielding the full harvest of righteousness (per Philippians 1:11) is possible only via grace.  One might have the best and most righteous of intentions, but free will, with which God can work, is a good start.  It is also insufficient by itself.  Confessing one’s sins is part of the process; repentance needs to follow it.  Loving one’s fellow human beings to the point of being ready, willing, and able to sacrifice for them, if that is what circumstances and morality require, is also part of yielding the harvest of righteousness, which we can do in community, not in isolation.

May our words and deeds glorify God and benefit others.  The difference between words and deeds proves hypocrisy, which undermines claims to moral authority.  Words also have power; they can tear down or build up.  Words can inspire justice or injustice, reconciliation or alienation, hatred or love or indifference, selflessness or selfishness.  Words can defile the one who utters or writes them or demonstrate one’s good character.

Yielding the full harvest of righteousness is a high and difficult calling.  It is a daunting challenge, but it is one we have a responsibility to accept.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 22, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK HERMANN KNUBEL, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

THE FEAST OF GEORG GOTTFRIED MULLER, GERMAN-AMERICAN MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN FOREST AND THOMAS ABEL, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS, 1538 AND 1540

THE FEAST OF SAINT JULIA OF CORSICA, MARTYR AT CORSICA, 620

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/yielding-the-full-harvest-of-righteousness/

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Above:  The Angel in Christ’s Tomb

Image in the Public Domain

Divine Power and Perfect Love

APRIL 9, 2023

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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 7:1-26

Psalms 71:15-24 or Psalm 75 or Psalm 76

John 5:19-30

2 Corinthians 1:1-17 (18-22) or Philippians 1:1-2 (3-11) 12-20

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Concepts of God interest me.  God, we read, delivers the faithful (sometimes).  On other occasions, faithful people suffer for the sake of righteousness, without deliverance.  God is a judge, we read, but God also acts mercifully and finds the Hebrew people attractive, despite the record of murmuring, of committing idolatry, and of committing other violations of the Law of Moses.

Deuteronomy 7, placed in the mouth of Moses long after his death, commands Hebrews to destroy the people of Canaan, not to marry them or to come under their influence otherwise.  That is a description of genocide.  That is something I cannot imaging Jesus advocating.  When I read Deuteronomy 7 I do so through the lenses of what the late Donald Armentrout called “Gospel glasses.”  To do otherwise would be for me to be disingenuous as a Christian.

Jesus died violently for a set of reasons.  Among them was the fact that some people considered him to be an enemy of God.  After all, Leviticus 24 orders the execution of blasphemers.  If I am to be consistent while condemning the execution of alleged blasphemers in the Islamic world because of my values of religious toleration and of attempting to emulate Christ, I must also condemn such violence committed in the name of God in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

One meaning of the crucifixion is that human beings executed Jesus unjustly.  One meaning of the resurrection is that God defeated the evil plans of those human beings–not with violence, but with power and perfect love.

May we leave terminal retribution to God, whose judgment is infinitely better than ours, and of whom mercy is also a quality.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 10, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANN NITSCHMANN, SR., MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND BISHOP; DAVID NITSCHMANN, JR., THE SYNDIC, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY BISHOP; AND DAVID NITSCHMANN, THE MARTYR, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY AND MARTYR

THE FEAST OF CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER, POET AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN LUDWIG BRAU, NORWEGIAN MORAVIAN TEACHER AND POET

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF LUCCA; AND JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/divine-power-and-perfect-love/

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Above:  The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, Bishop of Atlanta, at the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, December 14, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

In Defense of Ritualism

MAY 17 and 18, 2021

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The Collect:

Gracious and glorious God, you have chosen us as your own,

and by the powerful name of Christ you protect us from evil.

By your Spirit transform us and your beloved world,

that we may find joy in your Son, Jesus Christ,

our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with and

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

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 35

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The Assigned Readings:

Exodus 28:29-38 (Monday)

Numbers 8:5-22 (Tuesday)

Psalm 115 (Both Days)

Philippians 1:3-11 (Monday)

Titus 1:1-9 (Tuesday)

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Not to us, O LORD, not to us,

but to your name give glory;

because of your love and because of your faithfulness.

–Psalm 115:1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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God might be present and imminent, as I concluded in the previous new post, but how we approach God still matters.  We should do so with deep reverence.  That is why the priestly vestments in Exodus 28 were so elaborate and the ritualism of preparation for service to God in Numbers 8 occurred.  Likewise important in the texts is character, for not only must one person perform the rituals dressed properly, but one must do so according to other rules.  One of those rules is not to mistake any sacred ritual for a talisman which protects insincere people from the consequences of their sins.

One of the advantages of belonging to and attending a more formal church is participating frequently in a series of sacred rituals presided over by clergy in vestments.  The air of formality sets the rituals apart from other occasions in life.  With that formality comes reverence.  Many congregations, I am convinced, are too informal, especially with regard to the professional and ritual attire of ministers and to rituals themselves.  All this helps to explain why I am a practicing ritualist.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC OF SILOS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CANISIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

THE FEAST OF KATHARINA VON BORA LUTHER, WIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/20/in-defense-of-ritualism/

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Above:  Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, by Valentin de Boulogne

Image in the Public Domain

Compassion and Suffering

MARCH 30 AND 31, 2023

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race

you sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take on our nature and

to suffer death on the cross.  In your mercy enable us to share

in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of

his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the

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

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 29

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 16:11-13 (32nd Day)

Job 13:13-19 (33rd Day)

Psalm 31:9-16 (Both Days)

Philippians 1:1-11 (32nd Day)

Philippians 1:21-30 (33rd Day)

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But my trust is in you, O Lord.

I have said, “You are my God.

My times are in your hand;

deliver me from those who persecute me.

Make your face to shine upon your servant,

and save me for your mercy’s sake.”

–Psalm 31:14-16, Common Worship (2000)

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Sometimes people suffer because they have done something wrong; they reap what they sown.  Other times people suffer because they have done something for God.  When the light shines in the darkness, elements of the latter cannot or will not abide the former.  And sometimes neither of the above reasons applies.

The Book of Job establishes that the titular character was righteous, that God permitted his manifold and terrible sufferings, and that Job had bad excuses for friends.  Our excerpt from Job 13, in the voice of the titular character, rebuts Zophar, who had told him to confess his sins.

Be quiet! Kindly let me do the talking,

happen to me what may.

–Job 13:13, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

seems like a mild translation to me.  Job and Zophar did commit the same error—presuming to know how God does or should act.  But at least Job was not as annoying as his alleged friend.

God has worked in ways we do not always expect.  A young shepherd became a king.  A persecutor of nascent Christianity became one of its most important evangelists.  The most important figure of an age was a Palestinian Jewish carpenter and stonecutter, not any of the Roman Emperors.  And God continues to be full of surprises.

May we not presume to know more than we do.  More important than being right and proven so is acting compassionately.  I would rather be compassionate and objectively incorrect on some point of doctrine than mean-spirited or unkind in my dealings with people and objectively correct on points of doctrine.  Perhaps the character of Zophar thought that he was helping, but he was wrong.  Good intentions are insufficient.  What are the effects?

That is a difficult and high standard to pass.  May we succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 28, 2013 COMMON ERA

THANKSGIVING DAY (U.S.A.)

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN THE YOUNGER, DEFENDER OF ICONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH PIGNATELLI, RESTORER OF THE JESUITS

THE FEAST OF KAMAHAMEHA AND EMMA, KING AND QUEEN OF HAWAII

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/compassion-and-suffering/

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