The readings from the Hebrew Bible hail from different times. Psalm 80 is a national lament from the final days of the northern Kingdom of Israel. One may recall that the theology written into much of the Old Testament regarding the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles was that persistent, collective sin had brought them on. Isaiah 64 comes from the Third Isaiah portion of the Book of Isaiah, after return from the Babylonian Exile. The text, which one understands better if one reads Isaiah 63 first, indicates collective disappointment with the shambles the ancestral homeland had become.
Good news follows bad news in Mark 13. In a passage that obviously invokes the descent of “one like a Son of Man” in Daniel 7, Jesus will return. Yet one also reads a note of caution (“Keep awake.”) in the context of language to which one can correctly add,
or else.
St. Paul the Apostle anticipated that day was he wrote to the argumentative congregation in Corinth. Before he pointed out their faults he remined them that God had granted them awareness of the truth regarding God and Jesus Christ, as well as the means to speak of that truth.
The two great themes of the Hebrew Bible are exodus and exile. When exile ends, we may find that we have new problems. Yet we can rely on God, who continues to perform loving, mighty acts. Will we accept divine liberation, or will we exile ourselves?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 5, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DOROTHEUS OF TYRE, BISHOP OF TYRE, AND MARTYR
One of the great virtues of High Churchmanship is having a well-developed sense of sacred time. So, for example, the church calendars, with their cycles, tell us of salvation history. We focus on one part of the narrative at a time. Much of Protestantism, formed in rebellion against Medieval Roman Catholic excesses and errors, has thrown the proverbial baby out with the equally proverbial bath water, rejecting or minimizing improperly the sacred power of rituals and holy days.
Consider, O reader, the case of Christmas–not in the present tense, but through the late 1800s. Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas when they governed England in the 1650s. Their jure divino theology told them that since there was no biblical sanction for keeping Christmas, they ought not to do it–nor should anyone else. On the other hand, the jure divino theology of other Calvinists allowed for keeping Christmas. Jure divino was–and is–a matter of interpretation. Lutherans, Anglicans, and Moravians kept Christmas. Many Methodists on the U.S. frontier tried yet found that drunken revelry disrupted services. Despite this Methodist pro-Christmas opinion, many members of the Free Methodist denomination persisted in anti-Christmas sentiment. The holiday was too Roman Catholic, they said and existed without
the authority of God’s word.
Thus, as the December 19, 1888 issue of Free Methodist concluded,
We attach no holy significance to the day.
–Quoted in Leigh Eric Schmidt, Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), page 180. (The previous quote also comes from that magazine, quoted in the same book.)
Many Baptists also rejected the religious celebration of Christmas. An 1875 issue of Baptist Teacher, a publication for Sunday School educators, contained the following editorial:
We believe in Christmas–not as a holy day but as a holiday and so we join with our juveniles with utmost heartiness of festal celebration….Stripped as it ought to be, of all pretensions of religious sanctity and simply regarded as a social and domestic institution–an occasion of housewarming, and heart-warming and innocent festivity–we welcome its coming with a hearty “All Hail.”
–Quoted in Schmidt, Consumer Rites, pages 179 and 180
Presbyterians, with their Puritan heritage, resisted celebrating Christmas for a long time. In fact, some very strict Presbyterians still refuse to keep Christmas, citing their interpretation of jure divino theology. (I have found some of their writings online.) That attitude was more commonplace in the 1800s. The Presbyterian Church in the United States, the old Southern Presbyterian Church, passed the following resolution at its 1899 General Assembly:
There is no warrant for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holy days, but rather contrary (see Galatians iv.9-11; Colossians ii.16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel in Jesus Christ.
–Page 430 of the Journal of the General Assembly, 1899 (I copied the text of the resolution verbatim from an original copy of the Journal.)
I agree with Leigh Eric Schmidt:
It is not hard to see in this radical Protestant perspective a religious source for the very secularization of the holiday that would eventually be so widely decried. With the often jostling secularism of the Christmas bazaar, Protestant rigorists simply got what they had long wished for–Christmas as one more market day, a profane time or work and trade.
–Consumer Rites, page 180
I affirm the power of rituals and church calendars. And I have no fear of keeping a Roman Catholic holy day and season. Thus I keep Advent (December 1-24) and Christmas (December 25-January 5). I hold off on wishing people
Merry Christmas
often until close to Christmas Eve, for I value the time of preparation. And I have no hostility or mere opposition to wishing anyone
Happy Holidays,
due to the concentrated holiday season in December. This is about succinctness and respect in my mind; I am not a culture warrior.
Yet I cannot help but notice with dismay the increasingly early start of the end-of-year shopping season. More retailers will open earlier on Thanksgiving Day this year. Many stores display Christmas decorations before Halloween. These are examples of worshiping at the high altar of the Almighty Dollar.
I refuse to participate in this. In fact, I have completed my Christmas shopping–such as it was–mostly at thrift stores. One problem with materialism is that it ignores a basic fact: If I acquire an item, I must put it somewhere. But what if I enjoy open space?
I encourage a different approach to the end of the year: drop out quietly (or never opt in) and keep nearly four weeks of Advent and all twelve days of Christmas. I invite you, O reader, to observe these holy seasons and to discover riches and treasures better than anything on sale on Black Friday.
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SQUANTO, COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEING
THE FEAST OF JAMES OTIS SARGENT HUNTINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY CROSS
–Martin Luther; translated by William James Kirkpatrick
Yesterday I sang in my parish choir’s performance of the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. We dropped “His yoke is easy and his burden is light,” culminating instead in the Hallelujah Chorus. The concert was glorious and spiritually edifying for many people.
There are still a few days of Advent left. So I encourage you, O reader, to observe them. Then, beginning sometime during the second half of December 24, begin to say
Merry Christmas!
and continue that practice through January 5, the twelfth and last day of Christmas. And I encourage you to remember that our Lord and Savior was born into a violent world, one in which men–some mentally disturbed, others just mean, and still others both mean and mentally disturbed–threatened and took the lives of innocents. Names, circumstances, empires, nation-states, and technology have changed, but the essential reality has remained constant, unfortunately.
The Hallelujah Chorus, quoting the Apocalypse of John, includes these words:
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
That is not true yet, obviously. But that fact does not relieve any of us of our responsibilities to respect the Image of God in others and to treat them accordingly. We must not try to evade the duty to be the face and appendages of Christ to those to whom God sends us and those whom God sends to us. We cannot save the world, but we can improve it. May we do so for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
May the peace of Christ, born as a vulnerable baby and executed as a criminal by a brutal imperial government, be with you now and always. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2012 COMMON ERA
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
By your merciful protection awaken us to the threatening dangers of our sins,
and keep us blameless until the coming of your new day,
for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever . Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 18
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The Assigned Readings:
Micah 4:1-5 (Monday)
Micah 4:6-13 (Tuesday)
Psalm 79 (Both Days)
Revelation 15:1-8 (Monday)
Revelation 18:1-10 (Tuesday)
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Do not remember against us the sin of former times:
but let your compassion hasten to meet us, for we are brought very low.
–Psalm 79:8, The Alternative Service Book 1980
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Psalm 79 prays for divine violence against enemies while seeking forgiveness for sins and deliverance from the consequences of sin. Micah 4 and Revelation 18 speak of that deliverance, which comes with divine violence in Micah 5 and Revelation 15 and 18. Yet I recall Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:43-48 (The Jerusalem Bible):
You have heard how it was said: You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad man as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? For the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“Perfect,” in this case, indicates being suited to one’s purpose. Thus a sacrificial animal which met the standards was perfect, even though it had some physical imperfections. If our purpose as human beings is to love, glorify, and enjoy God forever, as the Westminster Catechisms tell us, that is our standard of perfection. Grace will enable us to attain it.
We cannot be suited to our high calling if we carry grudges around. This baggage is too heavy a burden and a distraction from our sacred vocation. Yes, sometimes oppressors refuse to cease oppressing, so good news for the oppressed is dire news for the oppressors, but the righteous ought not to rejoice in the bad fortunes of others. The Dalai Lama, a Tibetan Buddhist, has compassion for the Chinese oppressors of Tibetans. The Chinese oppressors are hurting themselves also, he says correctly. He puts many Christians to shame with regard to Christ’s teaching about loving one’s enemies. He puts me to shame in this matter.
Recognizing that a problem exists is the first step in the process of correcting it. I know well the desire for vindication at the expense of those who have wronged me. I also know the spiritual acidity of the desire for revenge. God has intervened in my life with regard to this issue. Grace has arrived and continues to be necessary, for I am weak. Yet I keep trying to become stronger. Even a minimal effort is something which God can use, I am convinced. A humble beginning plus ample grace equals wonderful results.
This is a devotion for Advent, the season of preparation for the arrival of Jesus. Liturgically the build-up is to Christmas (December 25-January 5), but the assigned readings include references the Old Testament Day of the Lord and to the Second Coming of Jesus. The expectation in such lessons is that Yahweh or Jesus will replace the old, corrupt, and exploitative human order with the new, divine, and just order. This has yet to happen, obviously, but that vision of how things ought to be should propel we who call ourselves Christians to oppose all that exploits our fellow human beings and denies them all that a proper respect for human dignity affords them. The test of whether we should support or oppose something comes from Jesus himself: Is it consistent with the command to love others as ourselves?
A perhaps apocryphal story tells of the aged St. John the Evangelist/Divine/Apostle. He visited a congregation, the members of which anticipated what he might tell them. The Apostle said,
My children, love one another.
Then he left the room where the congregation had assembled. One person followed John and asked an ancient equivalent of
That’s it? Is there not more?
The Apostle replied,
When you have done that, I will tell you more.
Often we cannot even love those similar to ourselves, much less pray for our enemies. Thus we are not suited to our divine calling. We can be so, however. May Christ, who entered this world long ago on a mission of mercy, find in many people metaphorical stables in which to continue arriving among us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 20, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARY A. LATHBURY, U.S. METHODIST HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT BERTILLA BOSCARDIN, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND NURSE
Advent receives inadequate attention. The season is certainly not commercial. Indeed, Christmas receives much commercial attention even before Halloween, for retailers need the money from Christmas-related sales to sustain stores through other times of the year. I admit to being of two minds. On one hand I do my rather limited Christmas shopping at thrift stores, so my deeds reveal my creed. Yet I know that many jobs depend on Christmas-related sales, so I want retailers to do well at the end of the year. Nevertheless, I am not very materialistic at heart; the best part of Christmas is intangible. And nobody needs any more dust catchers.
Observing Advent is a positive way of dropping out of the madness that is pre-December 25 commercialism. The four Sundays and other days (December 2-24 in 2012) preceding Christmas Day are a time of spiritual preparation, not unlike Lent, which precedes Easter. Garrison Keillor used the term “Advent Distress Disorder” (ADD) in a monologue last year. Indeed, finding positive news in the midst of apocalyptic tones of Advent readings can prove difficult. Yet the good news remains and the light shines brightest in the darkness.
So, O reader, I invite you to observe a holy Advent. Embrace the confluence of joy and distress, of darkness and light. And give Advent all the time it warrants through December 24. Christmas will arrive on schedule and last for twelve days. But that is another topic….
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 6, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM TEMPLE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF TE WHITI O RONGOMAI, MAORI PROPHET
THE FEAST OF SAINT THEOPHANE VERNARD, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN VIETNAM
Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and in the spirit, he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them…..
–1 Peter 3:18-20a, The New Jerusalem Bible
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The reading from Isaiah tells of the births of two boys. Immanuel’s arrival marked hope that the Syro-Ephraimite threat to Judah would end soon. It also contained a promise of divine judgment; read 7:17. The arrival of Maher-shalal-hash-baz marked the doom of the Syro-Ephraimite thread at Assyria’s hands. Hope and judgment, bound together, were part of the same message. The author of the Gospel of Matthew read a different meaning into Isaiah 7, relating it to Jesus. The combination of hope and judgment is also present there. That is sound New Testament-based theology.
As much as judgment is potent, so is mercy. 1 Peter 3:19 is one basis (see also 1 Peter 4:6) for the line (from the Apostles’ Creed) about Jesus descending to the dead. This passage indicates that Hell, at one time at least, had an exit. And it might have one again. There is always hope in God. If God does not give up on us–as I suspect is true–may we extend each other the same courtesy. Final judgment belongs to God, and I do not presume to a station higher than the one I occupy. But I do propose that certain ideas we might have heard and internalized relative to divine judgment might be mistaken. With God all things are possible; may we embrace that mystery.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 3, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN OWEN SMITH, UNITED METHODIST BISHOP IN GEORGIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN ASIA
